Avon

[cidercity1987]

Why was Avon disbanded? 

Seemed a good idea to have the Greater Bristol area all under a common name. Surely now we just have 4 councils working against each other at the detriment of our region. 

Not to mention Bristol randomly stopping halfway through Filton, Rovers jokes aside.

Would we have an Arena by now if we were still Avon?

Just want to understand a little more.

[Spoons]

Stick Avon up your arse!!! It was a case of spend all the money on Bristol **** the rest of Avon! I'm happy in North Somerset thanks!

[Erithacus]

Avon? A good idea!

Bristol happens to have been a bit of a problem. It straddles the River Avon, but geographically falls into two old counties. Somerset covers the south, and the north is part of Gloucestershire, based around that city - a much older and therefore more influential place. Having a new upstart town start to generate some serious trade and political power was always going to cause friction. Today, Bristol is by far the bigger and more lucrative city.

Under a royal charter, Bristol was given the right to claim county rights on its own, but therein was a lot of the trouble. Some rights were not easily resolved against those already enshrined in laws. These inconsistencies remained thorns in the local backside and so, in the 1970s, a move was brought about to create a whole new county (and the legal powers) to encapsulate the ancient customs. The new and entirely logical County of Avon, with Bristol at its centre, came into being on April 1st, 1974. (No sniggering at the back!)

However, some technical and legally irritating problems still caused conflicts, many of which proved unresolved to this day. Local politics also seized an opportunity to ramp up the rancour (no kidding, you say!). After another governmental review, a decision was made to kill Avon off in 1996. The replacement set-up still stands nowadays. And that continues to rumble on - the row over the new arena being a prime example!

But just to add a little extra spice to the recipe for madness, a few 'Avon' anomalies that still exist today, like the Avon and Somerset police, the Avon fire services, Avon Wildlife Trust and so forth. Many online businesses have drop-down menus for addresses that still include the defunct county. If local politics are your thing then this story will be a goldmine for years to come. If you are simply a local, you will recognise how typical this sort of business has been for generations...

[Lanterne Rouge]

Avon was never going to work due to the issues @Erithacus has posted above any more than Humberside was (it`s interesting to see they still have a lot of the anomalous organisations like Avon does too). What would have worked IMO would have been a new County Of Bristol which encompassed areas of North Somerset & South Glos adjacent to the old City boundaries where development was bound to occur in the future (difficult to be sure where these would be but an educated guess would have been able to work out most of them).

Bristol isn`t unique by any means in having this situation of other authorities having control of areas which to most would appear to be part of the City - I`ve worked for many councils over the years that border a city and most have areas within their boundaries which are to all intents and purposes suburbs of that city. It`s just an effect of the rapid development that the country has seen over the last 50 years and is constantly changing so it would be almost impossible to define a city boundary today that would still be relevant in twenty years.