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The Association of British Counties (ABC) is one of a small number of outsider pressure groups in the United Kingdom dedicated to promoting the traditional counties of Britain. Its current president is the astrologer Russell Grant. The chairman of the Association is Peter Boyce.
The significance of ABC is hard to ascertain, there being no data on membership published on its website, and no evidence of widespread coverage in the British news media.
No mainstream political parties have a current manifesto commitment to support the group or adopt its cause. The United Kingdom Independence Party has said it would "dismantle regional government and return powers to traditional county and borough councils" in its local-issues manifesto , but the national manifesto does not mention the word "traditional" so this might be a reference to administrative, not geographic, counties.
ABC has declared that it does not want further local government reorganisation . Instead it would rather see an official distinction made between current administrative units known as counties, and those areas known as counties prior to the Local Government Reforms of 1974, which it claims still have an informal, non-administrative existence .
The "traditional counties movement" as a whole does claim some successes. These include the restoration of traditional counties such as Herefordshire and Rutland to local government and ceremonial status, and the abolition of unpopular administrative counties such as Avon, Cleveland and Humberside. However, there is no evidence of ABC's role in these.
Claims
ABC claims that the traditional counties are an important part of Britain's cultural heritage and as such should be preserved and promoted. To this end it has produced a postal directory putting British place names in the corresponding traditional county with respect to the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, in addition to cross-referencing this with various other administrative areas, noting alternatives where the correct county is debatable and providing detailed discussion of these instances where they occur. The boundaries and designations of counties have changed a number of times in British history, so the designation of the asserted boundaries as "historic" or "traditional" is itself contentious. For example, the historic county of Fife, in Scotland, might more justifiably be characterised as the historic Kingdom of Fife.
It also seeks to bring about an official change in government terminology to bring it in line with its interpretation of the Local Government Act 1888 — the original piece of legislation which created the county councils in England and Wales, though there have since been several further changes. The Act specifically called the areas it created "administrative counties" (although it also amended what it called the "counties" ), and the ABC wishes to see this terminology consistently used to describe them. Also it wishes to see the term "county" stripped from the unitary authorities that use it, a measure which it claims will remove what it sees as confusion resulted from the status of various entities termed counties since 1889. In particular, ABC uses scare quotes around the word "county" when not referring to the traditional counties.
Other policies
Other policies include:
- Compelling the Ordnance Survey to mark the county borders it espouses on their maps
- Lobbying for the erection of boundary signs at these boundaries
- Making the ceremonial counties match the historic ones
- That the English regions should be redefined in to order ensure that counties 'be brought wholly within one region or another'
Parliamentary support
A Private Members Bill, the Historic Counties (Traffic Signs and Mapping) Bill, was twice introduced into the 2001-2005 Parliament, first by John Randall (Conservative, Uxbridge) in 2003, and again in 2004 by Adrian Flook (Conservative, Taunton), who " tribute to the Association of British Counties for trailblazing the campaign". The Bill did not proceed to second reading in either year.
John Butcher, Conservative MP for Coventry South West until 1997, was an active member of the group, campaigning in Parliament during the 1990s UK local government reform. In 1991, he suggested to the Secretary of State for Wales the use of the traditional county names Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire and Monmouthshire for unitary authorities in Wales In a 1996 debate, declaring he was honorary president of the ABC, he noted his approval of the abolition of the postal counties, meaning that "people who live in places like "Birmingham, Walsall and Coventry can now use in their addresses the ancient pre-1974 counties".
Successes
Successes for the "traditional counties movement" are claimed to include:
- Successfully lobbying the Royal Mail to have traditional counties included in the Postcode Address File's Alias record, which now gives the ability to determine the traditional county for any UK postcode.
- The erection of signs marking the traditional boundary between Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire on the A59.
Two minor political parties, the English Democrats Party and the UK Independence Party, have in the past included measures apparently supportive of the traditional counties movement in their local or national manifestos, but neither party has a current manifesto commitment as of March 2006. The English Democrats statement of principles states "We favour recognition for traditional counties, which would include the reunification of Yorkshire" . The British National Party's manifesto for the 2005 general election denounced the removal of power from the "traditional counties" and proposes their restoration for local government purposes. A fourth party, the recently formed Popular Alliance, does have current manifesto commitments supportive of the movement.
The role of ABC in achieving these is not known.
See also
References
- "Sections 2.2, 3.2 & 4.4 of ABC's Aims and Objectives". www.abcounties.co.uk. Association of British Counties. Retrieved 2006-03-30.
- Local Government Act 1888
- http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo041020/debtext/41020-04.htm. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 20 October 2004. col. 895.
{{cite book}}:|chapter-url=missing title (help) - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199091/cmhansrd/1991-06-17/Debate-1.html. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 17 June 1991. col. 30.
{{cite book}}:|chapter-url=missing title (help) - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199596/cmhansrd/vo960704/debtext/60704-11.htm. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 4 July 1996. col. 1073.
{{cite book}}:|chapter-url=missing title (help)
- Russell Grant (1996). The Real Counties of Britain. Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-479-4.