The April Fool in Yorkshire that wasn’t!

Today (April 1st) sees the 40th anniversary of the local government reorganisation in Yorkshire. On April 1st 1974 local government reforms came into place whereby Yorkshire saw the breakup of the thousand year old Ridings, saw traditional Yorkshire communities transferred to Lancashire, Durham and Cumbria and saw the creation of Cleveland and Humberside County Councils.

Nigel Sollitt, the Chairman of the Yorkshire Devolution Movement, has commented:

“Nobody could quite believe the reorganisation which destroyed centuries old traditions in Yorkshire. Every one hoped it was an April Fool’s Day joke, but sadly it was not.

“After much criticism the abominations that were Cleveland and Humberside have since been abolished. What we want is the restoration of the traditional pre-1974 boundaries of Yorkshire and we support all Yorkshire communities under non-Yorkshire local authority to return to Yorkshire administration.”