South Cambridgeshire is a mostly rural local government district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. It surrounds the city of Cambridge, which is administered separately from the district by Cambridge City Council. On the abolition of South Herefordshire and Hereford districts to form the unitary Herefordshire in 1998, it became the only English district to completely encircle another.
The district's coat of arms contains a reference to the coat of arms of Cambridge University. The motto, Niet Zonder Arbyt, means "Not Without Work" in old Dutch; it was originally the motto of Cornelius Vermuyden who drained The Fens in the 17th century. The district council's headquarters moved from Cambridge to Cambourne in 2004.
South Cambridgeshire has scored highly on the best places to live, according to Channel 4, which ranked South Cambridgeshire as the fifth best place to live in 2006. A Halifax survey rated South Cambridgeshire the best place to live in rural Britain.
The combined area of South Cambridgeshire, including both the South Cambridgeshire district and the city of Cambridge, is 1,017.28 km square.
Read more about South Cambridgeshire: List of Settlements, Local Government, Transportation, Economy
Famous quotes containing the word south:
“A friend and I flew south with our children. During the week we spent together I took off my shoes, let down my hair, took apart my psyche, cleaned the pieces, and put them together again in much improved condition. I feel like a car that’s just had a tune-up. Only another woman could have acted as the mechanic.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)