History of local government in Yorkshire


The history of local government in Yorkshire is unique and complex. Yorkshire is the largest historic English county and consists of a diverse mix of urban and rural development with a heritage in agriculture, manufacturing, and mining. After a long period of very little change, it has been subject to a number of significant reforms of local government structures in modern times, some of which were controversial. The most significant of these was the Local Government Act 1972 and the 1990s UK local government reform. It currently corresponds to several counties and districts and is mostly contained within the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

Ancient divisions

Yorkshire originated in antiquity as the Kingdom of Jórvík. It was traditionally divided into West, North and East ridings. The term originates from Old Norse þriðing, "third part", a legacy of the area's 9th century Scandinavian settlers. Each of the ridings was then further subdivided into smaller units called Wapentakes, which were administered by an early form of democratic representation termed a "Thing". Later the wapentakes were used as the basis for administration. In about 1823 the wapentakes were:
RidingWapentakes
EastBuckrose, Dickering, Harthill -, Holderness -, Howdenshire, Hullshire, Ouse and Derwent
NorthAllertonshire, Birdforth, Bulmer, Gilling East and West, Halikeld, Hang East and West, Langbaurgh East and Langbaurgh West, Pickering Lythe, Ryedale, Whitby Strand, City Of York
WestAgbrigg and Morley, Barkston Ash, Ewcross, Claro Lower and Upper, Morley, Osgoldcross, Skyrack Lower and Upper, Staincliffe East and West, Staincross, Strafforth and Tickhill Lower and Upper

Apart from these was the Ainsty wapentake to the west of the City of York.

Modern local government

The borough corporations of Beverley, Doncaster, Kingston upon Hull, Leeds, Pontefract, Richmond, Ripon, Scarborough and York were reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In 1889, as part of the Local Government Act 1888, Yorkshire was divided into administrative counties and county boroughs. The administrative counties closely followed the ancient ridings, with the exclusion of the large towns of Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Kingston upon Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Sheffield and York. Yorkshire continued to be classed as a single county under the act, although each of the ridings retained their own lieutenancies and shrievalties. York became associated with the West Riding for this purpose. In 1894 the remainder of the county, that was not a county borough or municipal borough, was divided into urban and rural districts by the Local Government Act 1894. Several new county boroughs were created from 1889 to 1974:
RidingHeadquartersCounty boroughs in 1889New county boroughs
EastBeverleyKingston-upon-Hullnone
NorthNorthallertonMiddlesbrough Teesside
WestWakefieldBradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Sheffield, YorkBarnsley, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Rotherham, Wakefield

The North Riding gained from County Durham when the Teesside county borough was created in 1968.

Distribution of population in 1971

With the creation and growth of county boroughs, and a movement of people from the country to the towns and cities, the population in the county boroughs began to outnumber those in the administrative counties. By 1971, 53% of the population of Yorkshire were living in the county boroughs. The division of population in 1971 was as follows:
RidingAdministrative
county		County
boroughs		Total
East257,340285,969543,309
North329,423396,233725,656
West1,793,4731,991,5403,785,013
Total2,380,2362,673,7425,053,978

Changes in 1974

Local government in England was reformed in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. Under the act, the ridings lost their lieutenancies and shrievalties and the administrative counties, county boroughs and their councils were abolished. The area of Yorkshire was divided between a number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties:
County after 1974Existing area
Cleveland Teesside and part of the North Riding
Cumbria Sedbergh Rural District from the West Riding
Durham Startforth Rural District from the North Riding
Greater Manchester Saddleworth Urban District from the West Riding
Humberside Kingston upon Hull and most of the East Riding plus Goole from the West Riding
Lancashire Bowland Rural District, Barnoldswick, Earby, and part of Skipton Rural District from the West Riding
North YorkshireYork; most of the North Riding; Harrogate, Knaresborough and Selby from the West Riding; and part of the East Riding around Filey
South YorkshireBarnsley, Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham from the West Riding
West YorkshireBradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds and Wakefield from the West Riding

The reform sought to amalgamate the urbanised parts of the West Riding in the South and West Yorkshire metropolitan counties. The other counties, known as non-metropolitan or shire counties, recognised the urbanised areas that had developed around the River Tees and the Humber, leaving North Yorkshire as a predominantly rural county. The metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties also became counties for purposes such as lieutenancy.

Royal Mail reaction

The Royal Mail adopted South, North and West Yorkshire as postal counties in 1974. It also recognised the transfers from Yorkshire to Cumbria, Durham and Lancashire and the creation of Cleveland. In Humberside, the part from Yorkshire became the North Humberside postal county. Greater Manchester could not be adopted as a postal county, so Saddleworth was included in the Lancashire postal county. Postal counties are no longer in official use.

District name changes

Some changes were unpopular, and a provision of the 1972 act allowed district councils to change the names of their districts. Within Humberside, the Borough of Beverley was changed to East Yorkshire Borough of Beverley and North Wolds district was changed to East Yorkshire in 1981, reflecting their historic association with Yorkshire.

1990s UK local government reform

A review of local government took place during the 1990s which made a number of changes to the counties created in 1974. As part of the review, Cleveland and Humberside were abolished in 1996 and their districts were reconstituted as unitary authorities. In addition to becoming a unitary authority, the East Riding of Yorkshire was reintroduced as a county for the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty and North Yorkshire gained territory for this purpose; the changes to the ceremonial counties were reconfirmed by the Lieutenancies Act 1997. The unitary districts created are as follows:
Unitary authorityCounty from 1974 to 1996Ceremonial county from 1996
East Riding of YorkshireHumberside: Beverley, Boothferry, East Yorkshire, HoldernessEast Riding of Yorkshire
HullHumberside: HullEast Riding of Yorkshire
MiddlesbroughCleveland: MiddlesbroughNorth Yorkshire
Redcar and ClevelandCleveland: LangbaurghNorth Yorkshire
Stockton-on-TeesCleveland: Stockton-on-TeesNorth Yorkshire and County Durham
YorkNorth Yorkshire: York and parts of Selby, Harrogate and RyedaleNorth Yorkshire

2000s UK local government reform

In 2003 the government put forward further proposals to restructure local government in North Yorkshire as part of proposals for regional assemblies. This was to replace the two-tier North Yorkshire council structure with a single tier of unitary authorities within a directly elected regional assembly, and would also address the drastic loss of population of Ryedale council where 50% of its population had been absorbed into an enlarged York.

Proposed options

With the proposals for larger unitary district councils Selby council would have been merged with the unitary East Riding of Yorkshire council. The City of York council had become an expanded unitary council in 1996.
In the first stage of consultations, North Yorkshire County Council supported the unitary county option, with the districts all arguing for the status quo, though with Scarborough acknowledging strengths of merging with Ryedale.
After initial consultation, the government adopted the single unitary county council option for second stage consultation. In part due to the unpopularity of the regional assembly that would also go with any reorganisation, the proposals were dropped.

Demography

The total area and population of Yorkshire from 1831 to 1991 is as follows. The area corresponds to the three ridings until 1971 and to West, North and South Yorkshire from 1981.
Year18311841185118611871188118911901
Area 3,669,5103,619,7903,826,5663,830,5673,882,8513,880,8723,809,5403,883,979
Population1,371,3591,582,0011,761,6922,033,6102,436,3552,837,0343,218,8823,512,838

Year19111921193119511961197119811991
Area 3,886,0283,885,7023,891,9673,897,9093,897,9393,918,6562,942,5302,941,247
Population3,897,6824,098,4904,389,6794,622,6594,725,9765,053,9893,967,1923,978,484

From 1831 to 1991 there was a rise in population density from 0.4 to 1.4 people per acre.