North Somerset: History
The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering four former districts and part of a fifth, which were all abolished at the same time:
Axbridge Rural District (part, being Steep Holm island and parishes lying generally north of the River Axe and Mendip Hills, rest split between Mendip and Sedgemoor)
Clevedon Urban District
Long Ashton Rural District
Portishead Urban District
Weston-super-Mare Municipal Borough
The whole area had been part of Somerset prior to the 1974 reforms, but was transferred to the new county of Avon. The new district was named Woodspring after Woodspring Priory, an isolated medieval church near the coast in the parish of Kewstoke, north of Weston-super-Mare.
Following the Banham Review, the county of Avon was abolished in 1996, with the area being divided into unitary authorities responsible for both district and county-level functions. Woodspring became one of the unitary authorities, and the government gave the district the new name "North West Somerset" as part of the reforms. The area was also transferred back to Somerset for the ceremonial purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty.
In July 1995 the council resolved to change the name to "North Somerset" with effect from when the reforms came into effect on 1 April 1996. Some years later the government identified that the council's decision to rename in 1995 may not have been technically valid, and so in 2005 the council passed another resolution formally changing the name to put the matter beyond doubt.