Editing Avon (county) (section)

== Legacy ==

The demise of the County of Avon was the focus of a [[BBC]] documentary called ''The End of Avon'', produced by Linda Orr and [[Michael Lund]] and broadcast in 1996. In 2006, the [[BBC Somerset]] presenter Adam Thomas, in a [[BBC One]] regional programme ''Inside Out West'', investigated why Avon refuses to die.  Systems inertia means that the county continues to be included in the databases of large corporations as part of addresses in the area.  Some private organisations such as the [[Avon Wildlife Trust]] choose to retain their name.  The [[Royal Mail]] indicated that it is not necessary to include Avon (or any other postal county) as part of any address as it had abandoned their use in 1996.
[[File:AvonParliamentaryConstituencies2007.svg|thumb|For the purposes of parliamentary constituency boundaries, Avon is still used]]
Some public bodies still cover the area of the former county of Avon: for example, [[Avon Fire and Rescue Service]], the Avon Coroner's District, [[Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust]], the West of England Strategic Partnership, Intelligence West, and until 2006 the Avon Ambulance Service, when it merged with the [[Gloucestershire]] and [[Wiltshire]] ambulance services to form the [[Great Western Ambulance Service]], which subsequently merged with [[South Western Ambulance Service]]. The former county and its southern neighbour form the area covered by [[Avon and Somerset Constabulary]] (governed by the [[Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner]]). Though there is no longer a single council, the four unitary authorities still co-operate on many aspects of policy, such as the Joint [[Local Transport Plan]].<ref>B&NES, Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire Councils, 2005. [http://www.greaterbristoltransportplan.org Greater Bristol Joint Local Transport Plan 2006–2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615142059/http://www.greaterbristoltransportplan.org/ |date=15 June 2006 }}</ref> Currently, the term "[[West of England]]" is used by some organisations to refer to the former Avon area, such as the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.<ref>[http://www.westofenglandlep.co.uk/ West of England Local Enterprise Partnership homepage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115203651/http://www.westofenglandlep.co.uk/ |date=15 January 2011 }}. Retrieved 7 July 2013</ref> Avon continued to be used unofficially in [[Boundary Commission for England|boundary reviews]] for [[United Kingdom Parliament constituencies|parliamentary constituencies]].{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

The term ''CUBA'', the "County (or Councils) that Used to Be Avon", was coined to refer to the Avon area after abolition of the county. The term [[Severnside]] is sometimes used as a substitute for "Avon",<ref>See for example the renaming of the Avon Valuations Tribunal to Severnside, in 1996 [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1996/Uksi_19960043_en_4.htm SI 1996/43] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605142243/http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1996/Uksi_19960043_en_4.htm |date=5 June 2008 }}</ref> although the term can also be used to refer to the stretch of shoreline from [[Avonmouth]] north to [[Aust]], or from [[Newport, Wales|Newport]] to [[Chepstow]]. "[[Greater Bristol]]" is also used.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbsts.com/study_area.html |title=Study Area|publisher=Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040619215315/http://www.gbsts.com/study_area.html|archive-date=19 June 2004}}</ref>

The [[Forest of Avon Trust|Forest of Avon]] is a [[community forest]] covering part of the area of the four local authorities. Other relics of Avon's existence include the Avon Cycleway (first designed and promoted by [[Sustrans#History|Cyclebag]]), an 85-mile (137&nbsp;km) circular route on quiet roads and cycle paths, which was a precursor of the [[National Cycle Network]]. Also, Avon County Council helped fund [[Sustrans]]' first cycleway, the [[Bristol and Bath Railway Path]]. The [[Avon Green Belt]] has continued in place as a jointly agreed policy in the [[development plan]]s of the successor local authorities.
[[File:West of England Combined Authority map (within South West England).svg|thumb|The [[West of England Combined Authority]] (1–3), alongside North Somerset (4), covers the same area as the defunct county of Avon]]
In 2016 the government proposed that the four local authorities that replaced Avon come together in a [[West of England Combined Authority]] with a "[[Directly elected mayors in England and Wales|metro mayor]]" who would oversee a new combined authority, to create a "Western Powerhouse" analogous to the government's [[Northern Powerhouse]] concept.<ref name="bbc-20160316">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-35823771 |title=West of England £1bn devolution deal announced in Budget |work=BBC News |date=16 March 2016 |access-date=17 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160612044809/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-35823771 |archive-date=12 June 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bp-20160316">{{cite news |url=http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Metro-mayor-1-billion-investment-Greater-Bristol/story-28934187-detail/story.html |title=Metro mayor and £1 billion investment for Greater Bristol announced in Budget 2016 |author=Gavin Thompson |newspaper=Bristol Post |date=16 March 2016 |access-date=17 March 2016}}</ref> North Somerset council rejected the proposal but the other three authorities accepted the deal; the combined authority was subsequently established in 2017, with the inaugural [[2017 West of England mayoral election|mayoral election]] taking place in the May of that year.

As of 2024, a multi-operator unlimited travel daily or weekly bus ticket called AvonRider covering the former county area was still available, supported by local councils.<ref name=travelwest-20180215>{{cite web |url=https://travelwest.info/bus/fares/rider-ticket-information/avonrider |title=AvonRider |publisher=travelwest |access-date=30 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902152057/https://travelwest.info/bus/fares/rider-ticket-information/avonrider |archive-date=2 September 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>