Bath and North East Somerset: History
Bath and North East Somerset was created in 1996, as part of larger reforms to English local government that took place in the 1990s.
The boundaries of what is now the unitary authority area were first defined in 1974, when the non-metropolitan county of Avon was created from the county boroughs of Bristol and Bath and parts of the administrative counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. Avon was divided into six non-metropolitan districts including Wansdyke and Bath, the two of which together covered the same area as the current unitary authority area.
Avon and its districts were abolished in 1996, under the provisions of the Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995. The same order established Bath and North East Somerset by creating a new non-metropolitan district and non-metropolitan county with the same area as the former districts Wansdyke and Bath.