Editing Avon (county) (section)

== Demise ==
[[Image:Greater bristol with everything.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of the former Avon area, now sometimes called [[Greater Bristol]]]]
Avon was one of the counties in the "first tranche" of reviews conducted by the [[1990s UK local government reform|Banham Commission]] in the 1990s. The Commission recommended that it and its districts be abolished and replaced with four [[unitary authorities]]. The Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995 was debated in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] on 22 February 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-02-22/Debate-14.html |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 22 Feb 1995 |access-date=2010-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604194829/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-02-22/Debate-14.html |archive-date=4 June 2011 }}</ref> The Order came into effect on 1 April 1996. The four authorities that replaced Avon are:

# The City and County of [[Bristol]]
# [[South Gloucestershire]] – formed from the [[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire|Kingswood]] and [[Northavon]] districts.
# [[North Somerset]] – formed from the [[Woodspring]] district.
# [[Bath and North East Somerset]] – formed from the [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] and [[Wansdyke (district)|Wansdyke]] districts.

For ceremonial purposes, the post of [[Lord Lieutenant of Avon]] was abolished and Bristol regained its own Lord Lieutenant and [[High Sheriff]], while the other authorities were returned to their traditional counties. Suggestions to alter Bristol's boundaries (either by drawing new boundaries or by merely incorporating the mostly urbanised borough of Kingswood into it) were rejected.