North Somerset Totally Explained

Everything about North Somerset totally explained

North Somerset District

Geography
Status:	Unitary district
Region:	South West England
Historic county:	Somerset
Ceremonial county:	Somerset
Area: - Total	Ranked 125th 374.68 km²
Admin. HQ:	Weston-super-Mare
ONS code:	00HC
Demographics
Population: - Total - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	98.6% White
Politics
North Somerset Council http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	Liam Fox (C) John Penrose (C)

North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it's administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters are in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare.
North Somerset borders the local government areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and Sedgemoor. North Somerset contains the parliamentary constituencies of Weston-super-Mare and Woodspring, although the latter will be renamed North Somerset at the next general election.

History

Between April 1 1974 and April 1 1996, it was the Woodspring district of the county of Avon (named after Woodspring Priory, an isolated mediaeval church near the coast just north east of Weston-super-Mare). The district of Woodspring was formed from the municipal boroughs of Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead urban districts, Long Ashton Rural District, and part of Axbridge Rural District.

Settlements and communications

The principal towns in the district are the coastal towns of Weston-super-Mare, Portishead and Clevedon and the commuter town Nailsea.

Abbots Leigh,
Backwell, Banwell, Barrow Gurney, Blagdon, Bleadon, Bourton, Brockley, Burrington, Butcombe,
Chelvey, Christon, Churchill, Clapton in Gordano, Claverham, Clevedon, Cleeve, Congresbury
Downside, Dundry
East End, East Rolstone, Easton in Gordano
Failand, Farleigh, Felton, Flax Bourton
Ham Green, Hewish, Hutton
Icelton
Kenn, Kewstoke, Kingston Seymour
Leigh Woods, Locking, Long Ashton, Lower Langford, Lower Failand, Loxton, Lulsgate Bottom
Maiden Head, Milton
Nailsea, North End
Portishead
Pill, Portbury, Puxton
Redcliff Bay, Redhill, Regil, Rickford
Sandford, Sheepway, Sidcot, St Georges, St Mary's Grove
Tickenham
Uphill, Upper Town
Walton in Gordano, West Wick, West Hill, West End, West Town, Weston in Gordano, Weston-super-Mare, Wick St. Lawrence, Winford, Winscombe, Worle, Wraxall, Somerset, Wrington
Yatton

Places of interest

North Somerset's natural environment and coastal towns attract visitors from the nearby cities. Notable geographical features include:

Gordano Valley

Mendip Hills – the ridgeway forms part of the district boundary

Sand Bay and Sand Point

Worlebury Hill

Burrington Combe, Goblin Combe, Brockley Combe

North Somerset Levels The district is noted for the religious buildings at:

St. Paul's Church, Kewstoke

Woodspring Priory

Economy

North Somerset's economy is traditionally based on agriculture, including sheep raised for wool on the Mendip Hills and dairy farming in the valleys. During the Georgian era tourism became a significant economic sector in the coastal towns, most notably Weston-super-Mare which grew from a small village to a large resort town. Though tourism declined in the mid to late-20th century, in common with most British coastal resorts, this sector of the economy has stabilised.
In the 19th century the major port city of Bristol found that modern ships had outgrown the narrow river approach and the Port of Bristol company began seeking locations for new docks on the coast. The first of these was Portishead Dock, which handled coal from South Wales, though this too has seen shipping outgrow its facilities. The newer Royal Portbury Dock is noted for the large volume of car imports.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of North and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire at current basic prices (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

Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Demographics

Further Information

Get more info on 'North Somerset'.

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