South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire is a district with a unitary authority in South West England. It is geographically and historically in Gloucestershire.

South Gloucestershire Council
http://www.southglos.gov.uk/

South Gloucestershire District
Geography
Status:	Unitary district
Region:	South West England
Traditional county:	Gloucestershire
Ceremonial county:	Gloucestershire
Area: - Total	Ranked 102nd 496.94 km²
Admin. HQ:	Thornbury
ONS code:	00HD
Demographics
Population: - Total () - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	97.6% White
Politics
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	Roger Berry, Doug Naysmith, Dan Norris, Steve Webb

The present district was created in 1996, when the administrative county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon. The district borders the City and County of Bristol, the Bath and North East Somerset unitary district and the shire counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

South Gloucestershire was also for some years (1950 to 1980 approximately) the name of a roughly coterminous Parliamentary constituency - its MPs were in turn Tony Crosland, Frederick Corfield and John Cope.

Geography

The River Severn forms the north-western edge of the area, with a wide coastal plain terminated by the Severn Escarpment. East of this is the wide River Frome Valley drainage area. Further east is another escarpment running roughly north-south, passing between Yate and Chipping Sodbury and west of Pucklechurch. The Cotswolds Escarpment forms the eastern edge of South Gloucestershire.

A small part of the Cotswolds and the National Trust site of Dyrham Park are also in the district. South of the motorways are suburbs of Bristol while areas north are rural areas. Some of the inner green belt has been taken away by developments like Bradley Stoke in recent years.

Much of the population is in the northern and eastern suburbs of Bristol, although there are also large population centres in the Yate-Sodbury, Winterbourne-Frampton Cotterell and Thornbury areas. All of the villages are well within the commuting belt for Bristol, Bath, Gloucester, Cheltenham and even London.

Aerospace industries dominate the Filton-Patchway area. A former polytechnic, The University of the West of England is nearby. A notable business park is Aztec West, which is adjacent to the M5/A38 and M4/M5 interchanges.

South Gloucestershire is a major transport hub for the West of England where the M4 and M5 motorways meet. Other major routes include the A38, the Avon Ring Road and part of the M32. It also has major connections to the railway network, with major routes from London through the Severn Tunnel to South Wales, and from the South-West to Birmingham and beyond, crossing at Bristol Parkway railway station. It is home to the eastern ends of the two famous Severn bridges, which are the main routes by road to and from South Wales.

Major towns in South Gloucestershire

Other towns and villages

Abson, Acton Turville, Almondsbury, Alveston, Aust, Awkley
Badminton, Bagstone, Bitton, Bradley Stoke, Bridgeyate
Cadbury Heath, Catbrain, Charfield, Chipping Sodbury, Churchend, Coalpit Heath, Codrington, Cold Ashton, Cowhill, Cromhall
Dodington, Downend, Doynton, Duckhole, Dyrham
Easter Compton, Elberton, Emersons Green, Engine Common
Falfield, Frampton Cotterell
Gaunt's Earthcott
Hawkesbury, Hawkesbury Upton, Hill, Hillesley, Hallen, Hambrook, Hanham, Harry Stoke, Hinton, Horton
Ingst, Iron Acton, Itchington
Latteridge, Little Badminton, Little Sodbury, Little Stoke, Littleton-upon-Severn, Longwell Green
Marshfield, Milbury Heath, Upper and Lower Morton
Nibley, Northwick
Oldbury Naite, Oldbury-on-Severn, Old Down, Oldland Common, Old Sodbury, Olveston, Over
Pilning, Pucklechurch
Rangeworthy, Redwick, Rockhampton, Rudgeway
Severn Beach, Shepperdine, Siston, Soundwell, Staple Hill, Stoke Gifford
Tockington, Tormarton, Tortworth, Tresham, Tytherington
Upton Cheyney
Wapley, Warmley, West Littleton, Westerleigh, Whitfield, Wick, Wickwar, Winterbourne

Places of interest

Parliamentary Constituencies

Under the current Boundary Commission proposals, which are due to come into force before the next General Election, the authority will be divided between three new constituencies, all lying within the authority boundary. These are:

Thornbury & Yate (County - 63,320 electorate)
Filton & Bradley Stoke (County - 62,299 electorate)
Kingswood (Borough - 60,936 electorate)

County/Borough is a legal term denoting the type of constituency. County is a rural area, Borough is an urban area.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of North and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	5,916	125	1,919	3,872
2000	8,788	86	2,373	6,330
2003	10,854	67	2,873	7,914

includes hunting and forestry

includes energy and construction

includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

South Gloucestershire | Unitary authorities in England

South Gloucestershire | South Gloucestershire | Gloucestershire du Sud | South Gloucestershire | South Gloucestershire