| Hereford and Worcester | |
| Geography | |
| Status | Non-metropolitan county |
| HQ | Worcester |
| ONS code | 25 |
| History | |
| Created | 1974 |
| Abolished | 1998 |
| Succeeded by | Herefordshire (unitary) Worcestershire (shire county) |
| Subdivisions | |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-metropolitan districts |
Hereford and Worcester ( /ˈhɛrəfərd ən ˈwʊstər/) was an English county created on 1 April 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972 from the area of the former administrative county of Herefordshire, most of Worcestershire (except Halesowen and Stourbridge, which became part of the West Midlands) and the county borough of Worcester.[1]
It bordered Shropshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands to the north, Warwickshire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south, and Gwent and Powys in Wales to the west. It was abolished in 1998 and reverted, with some trading of territory, to the two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
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The Local Government Boundary Commission in 1948 proposed a merger of the two counties – the proposals of this Commission were abandoned and not implemented. A merger of Herefordshire with South Worcestershire was again proposed by the Redcliffe–Maud Report in 1969, and was retained in the Conservative Party's February 1971 White Paper (gaining more of Worcestershire), although no name was given. Under the Local Government Bill as introduced into Parliament in November 1971, it was named Malvernshire, after Malvern, a town roughly in the geographical centre of the new county. The name was subject to ridicule and was altered during the Bill's passage through Parliament. The name Wyvern was also suggested, combining the names of the rivers that run through the two cities: the River Wye through Hereford, and the River Severn through Worcester.[2] A commercial radio station for the area, Wyvern FM was set up in 1982 using this allusion, it was also used much later by the First Group who renamed their bus operations in the area First Wyvern as opposed to the more historical First Midland Red used previously.
Due to the disparity of sizes of the populations – Herefordshire had about 140,000 people,[3] much less than Worcestershire, which had a population of about 420,000[4] – it was perceived by Herefordshire as a takeover rather than a merger, and it never attracted the loyalties of residents. A "Hands off Herefordshire" campaign was set up, and the proposal was opposed by Herefordshire County Council.[5]
A Hereford bull was led down Whitehall on 6 April 1972, as part of a protest, which also involved a petition handed in at 10 Downing Street calling for the preservation of Herefordshire.[6]
Terry Davis, MP for Bromsgrove noted that the petition had been signed by 60,000 people. Clive Bossom, the MP for Leominster in Herefordshire, supported the merger, noting "much of South Worcestershire is very like Herefordshire".[7]
It was originally proposed to have a single large Herefordshire district within Hereford and Worcester. This was divided, with separate Hereford, South Herefordshire and Leominster districts, and part of Herefordshire in the Malvern Hills district.[8]
Hereford and Worcester was divided into nine districts:
| Map | No | District | Composition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyre Forest | Worcestershire: Bewdley, Kidderminster, Stourport, Kidderminster RD | |
| 2 | Bromsgrove | Worcestershire: Bromsgrove, Bromsgrove RD | |
| 3 | Redditch | Worcestershire: Redditch | |
| 4 | Wychavon | Worcestershire: Droitwich, Evesham, Evesham RD, most of Droitwich RD, most of Pershore RD | |
| 5 | Worcester | Worcestershire: County Borough of Worcester, Warndon from Droitwich RD, St Peter the Great County from Pershore RD | |
| 6 | Malvern Hills | Worcestershire: Malvern, Martley RD, Upton RD
Herefordshire: Bromyard RD, Ledbury RD |
|
| 7 | Leominster | Worcestershire: Tenbury RD
Herefordshire: Kington, Leominster, Kington RD, Leominster and Wigmore RD, Weobley RD |
|
| 8 | Hereford | Herefordshire: Hereford | |
| 9 | South Herefordshire | Herefordshire: Ross-on-Wye, Bore and Bredwardine RD, Hereford RD, Ross and Whitchurch RD |
As part of the 1990s English local government reform, the Local Government Commission under John Banham recommended that Herefordshire should become a unitary authority, with the rest of the county retaining a two-tier structure. This came into effect on 1 April 1998.[9] A new Herefordshire district was formed from the Herefordshire parts of Malvern Hills and Leominster, along with Hereford and South Herefordshire, and became a unitary authority. The remainder of those two districts became a new Malvern Hills district, in the new two-tier non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire, along with the remaining districts.
Despite the abolition, some remnants of Hereford & Worcester's existence remain. For example, there is still a Hereford and Worcester Fire Service. Also, the name is still used by some organisations, such as the BBC local radio station BBC Hereford and Worcester. There is also a Hereford and Worcester Chamber of Commerce.