North Yorkshire is a
non-metropolitan or shire county,
located in the Yorkshire and
the Humber region of England
, and a
ceremonial county in
that region and also partly in North
East England. Created in 1974 by the
Local Government Act 1972 it
covers an area of , making it the
largest
ceremonial county in England.
The majority of the Yorkshire Dales
and all of the North York Moors
lie within North Yorkshire's boundaries, and around
40% of the county is covered by National
Parks.
Divisions and environs
The area
under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into a number of local
government districts; they are Craven,
Hambleton
, Harrogate
, Richmondshire
, Ryedale
, Scarborough
and Selby
.
The
Department for Communities and Local
Government
did consider reorganising North Yorkshire County
Council's administrative structure by abolishing the seven district
councils and the county council to create a North Yorkshire
unitary authority. The
changes were planned to be implemented no later than 1 April 2009.
This was rejected on 25 July 2007 so the County Council and
District Council structure will remain.
The
largest settlement in the administrative county is Harrogate
, while in the ceremonial county it is York
.
York
, Middlesbrough
and Redcar and Cleveland
are unitary
authority boroughs which form part of the ceremonial county for
various functions such as the Lord Lieutenant of North
Yorkshire, but do not come under county council control.
Uniquely
for a district in England, Stockton-on-Tees
is split between North Yorkshire and County Durham
for this purpose. Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, and
Redcar and Cleveland boroughs form part of the
North East England region.
The
ceremonial county
area, including the unitary authorities, borders East Riding of Yorkshire, South
Yorkshire
, West Yorkshire, Lancashire
, Cumbria
and County Durham.
Physical features
Within
North Yorkshire are the North York Moors
and most of the Yorkshire Dales
; two of eleven areas of countryside within England
and Wales to be officially designated as national parks.
Between
the North York Moors in the east and the Pennine Hills in the west lie the Vales of
Mowbray
and York. The
Tees Lowlands lie to the north of the North York Moors and the
Vale of Pickering lies to the
south. Its eastern border is the North sea coast.
The highest point is
Whernside
, on the Cumbrian border, at .The three major
rivers in the county are the River Swale
, River
Ure
and the River Tees
. The Swale and the Ure form the
River Ouse which flows through York and into the
Humber estuary.
The Tees forms the border between North
Yorkshire and County Durham and flows
from upper Teesdale
to Middlesbrough
and Stockton and to the
coast.
History
North
Yorkshire was formed on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, and
covers most of the lands of the historic North Riding, as well as the
northern half of the West
Riding, the northern and eastern fringes of the East Riding of Yorkshire
and the former county
borough of York.
York
became a unitary authority
independent of North Yorkshire on 1 April 1996, and at the same
time Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and areas of
Stockton-on-Tees south of the river became part of North Yorkshire
for ceremonial purposes, having been part of Cleveland
from 1974 to 1996.
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added for North
Yorkshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of
British Pounds Sterling.
| Year |
Regional Gross Value Added |
Agriculture |
Industry |
Services |
| 1995 |
7,278 |
478 |
2,181 |
4,618 |
| 2000 |
9,570 |
354 |
2,549 |
6,667 |
| 2003 |
11,695 |
390 |
3,025 |
8,281 |
Education
North Yorkshire
LEA has a
mostly
comprehensive education
system with 42 state schools secondary (not including
sixth form colleges) and 12 independent
schools.
Towns and villages
Italicised locations lie outside the current North Yorkshire
shire county.
- Ampleforth
, Appleton-le-Moors
- Bedale
, Bolton-on-Swale
, Boroughbridge
, Borrowby
, Borrowby
, Brompton
, Brotton
, Buckden
- Castleton
, Catterick
, Catterick Garrison
, Cawood
, Clapham
, Conistone
- Dalton
, Dalton
, Danby
Wiske
- Easby
, Easingwold
, Egton
,
Eston
- Filey

- Giggleswick
, Glasshouses
, Goathland
, Grassington
, Great
Ayton
, Grosmont
, Guisborough
- Harrogate
, Hawes
, Hebden
, Helmsley
, Horton in Ribblesdale
, Hunmanby
, Huntington
- Ingleton

- Kettlewell
, Kilnsey
, Kirkbymoorside
, Knaresborough
- Leyburn

- Malham
, Malton
, Masham
,
Marske-by-the-Sea
, Middleham
, Middlesbrough
- New Marske
, Northallerton
, Norton-on-Derwent
- Osmotherley

- Pateley Bridge
, Pickering
- Redcar
,
Reeth
, Richmond
, Rievaulx
, Ripon
, Robin Hood's
Bay
, Romanby
- Saltburn
, Scarborough
, Scorton
, Selby
, Settle
, Sheriff
Hutton
, Skelton
, Skipton
, Sowerby
, Stokesley
, Streetlam
, Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe
, Sherburn
- Tadcaster
, Thirsk
, Thornaby-on-Tees
- Whitby
, Westow
- Yarm
,
York
Places of interest
Italicised locations lie outside the current North Yorkshire
shire county.
News and Media
The County is served by
BBC
North East and Cumbria, and for more southerly parts of the
county
BBC Yorkshire.
Yorkshire Television and
Tyne Tees Television are also received
in most areas of the County.
BBC Tees is
broadcast to northern parts of the county, whist
BBC Radio York is broadcast more widely.
BBC Radio Leeds is broadcast to
southern parts of the county.
Transport
There are only two main
motorways that run
through North Yorkshire and they are the
A1 and the
A66.
A small stretch of the M62 motorway also
runs through North Yorkshire, close to Eggborough
. The other main non-motorway routes are the
A1
, the A19 and the
A66.
The
East Coast Main Line, of
which
East
Coast,
First TransPennine
Express and
Grand Central
are the principal passenger rail operators on the line.
Northern Rail operate the remaining branch
lines in the county including those services from York to
Harrogate, Scarborough to Hull, Darlington to Saltburn and the
Esk Valley
Line
from Middlesbrough
to Whitby
. Last but certainly not least, the
Settle-Carlisle Line runs through the
far west of the county with services again operated by Northern.
The county suffered very badly under the
Beeching cuts of the 1960s which saw places
like Richmond, Ripon, Tadcaster, Helmsley, Pickering and the
Wensleydale communities wiped from the
railway map.
Other notable closures were the Whitby to
Scarborough, York to Driffield and the secondary main line between
Northallerton
and Harrogate
via Ripon
.
The
Malton to Whitby line which closed in 1965 was reopened by
preservationists between Pickering
and Grosmont
in 1973 to form what we now know as the
North Yorkshire Moors
Railway. The Wensleydale Railway
is another success story with plans to fully
reinstate the link between Northallerton and Garsdale
on the Settle - Carlisle line which ran through
Hawes
. The line presently operates services between
Leeming
Bar
and Redmire
but they hope to be able to access
Northallerton station, on the busy East Coast Main Line, as soon as
an agreement can be made with the railway authorities.
Another notable reinstatement project in the county is a plan to
reopen the Harrogate - Ripon line.
York
is the largest station in the county with 11
platforms and is a major tourist attraction in its own
right. The station is immediately adjacent to the
world famous National Railway Museum
.
Bus services also run daily; most are controlled by
Arriva,
Harrogate
& District,
Scarborough & District,
Yorkshire Coastliner,
First and the local
Dales & District. In York,
FirstGroup run a
park
and ride service as well as normal bus routes around the city.
There are
no major airports in the county itself but
Durham
Tees Valley
in County Durham,
Newcastle
Airport
and Leeds
Bradford International Airport
are the closest.
Sports
North Yorkshire is home to several football clubs, the most
successful of which is
Middlesbrough
FC who play in the
Coca-Cola
Championship; others include
York
City FC who have played in the
Football League but today play in the
Conference National.
Whitby Town FC have reached the FA cup first
round seven times, and have played the likes of Hull City , Wigan
and Plymouth Argyle , they currently play in the Unibond Premier
league. No notable
rugby union teams
hail from the county but
York City
Knights are a
rugby league team and
play in the
Rugby League
National League 2.
North Yorkshire is home to many racecourses; these include Catterick
Bridge
, Redcar
, Ripon
and Thirsk
. It also has one motor
racing circuit, Croft
Circuit
; the circuit holds meetings of the British Touring Car
Championship, British
Superbike and Pickup Truck
Racing race series. Yorkshire County Cricket Club,
play a number of fixtures at North Marine Road
, Scarborough
.
References
- Arnold-Baker, C., Local Government Act 1972,
(1973)
- North East Assembly - List of local authorities and
members
- http://bubl.ac.uk/org/tacit/marilyns/chapter6.htm
- OPSI - The North Yorkshire (District of
York) (Structural and Boundary Changes) Order 1995
- Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
- includes hunting and forestry
- includes energy and construction
- includes financial intermediation services indirectly
measured
External links