Timetable
| On 1 April 1995, the Isle of Wight became a unitary authority.
Two small areas were ceded from Surrey and Buckinghamshire to Berkshire, giving it a border with Greater London. |
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| On 1 April 1996, the unpopular counties of Avon, Humberside and Cleveland were split into unitary authorities. Avon became Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bristol. Each of Cleveland's four districts became a unitary authority. The part of Humberside north of the River Humber became part of the new East Riding of Yorkshire, apart from Hull, which constituted a unitary authority itself. In the Lincolnshire part of Humberside, two new unitary authorities, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, were formed. Also at this time, the City of York was expanded and separated from North Yorkshire. | ||
| On 1 April 1997, the districts of Bournemouth, Darlington, Derby, Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, Poole, Portsmouth, Rutland and Southampton became unitary authorities. Brighton and Hove were merged to form the Brighton and Hove unitary authority. | ||
| On 1 April 1998, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen (a renamed Blackburn), Halton, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent, Southend-on-Sea, Swindon (Thamesdown), Telford and Wrekin (The Wrekin), Torbay, Thurrock and Warrington became unitary authorities. Rochester upon Medway and Gillingham were merged to form the Medway unitary authority.
Also, Hereford and Worcester was abolished and replaced by the unitary authority of Herefordshire and the shire county of Worcestershire. Berkshire was split into six unitary authorities, but not formally abolished. |
Read more about this topic: Local Government Commission For England (1992)