Here's what I think ... Royal Mail's plans to phase out use of counties
W ITH regards to the Royal Mail's plans to phase out the use of counties between 2012 and 2016. In some ways this cannot happen soon enough.
I agree with Steve Wright's correspondence featured on August 27 and the "invented" County of Avon. This white elephant of a county was created in 1974 and goodness knows why, as it has created endless problems and arguments.
It was actually abolished in 1996 – 14 years ago and yet is still annoyingly in constant use. I get fed up of pointing out to all and sundry who insist my postal address is Bristol, Avon, that Bristol has reverted back to its own city and county status, as it was before the invention of the misnomer that was Avon.
All the creation of Avon has done is to actually confuse the difference of where people actually live from a postal point of view, with that of the county council which provides their services. Hence for example we now have people who insist they or certain establishments are within South Gloucestershire, when quite clearly that is not the case. This is where postcodes come in.
In order to have a postal address that comes within Gloucestershire, regardless of whether South Gloucestershire etc., your postcode will commence with the letters 'GL'. The clue being in these two letters alone. The GL being the first two letters of Gloucestershire. Should your postcode commence 'BS', then postally you reside within the boundary that is covered by Bristol, even if you live in such areas as Kingswood, Staple Hill, Downend etc., where your council services are provided by South Gloucester -shire County Council. Once again the clue being in the letters B and S which are the first and fourth letters of Bristol. Prior to Avon you would either have lived in the County of Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset etc. There was none of this South Gloucestershire, North Somerset or that bane of an invention, BANES.
So just for the record Jon, Horfield, Bristol., Josie Gibson, winner of BB11, is quite right to state that she is a Bristolian and from Bristol, as Westerleigh has a Bristol postcode of BS37.
We therefore have an unnecessary crossover in as much as people etc., postally living with the Bristol boundary, who insist they live in South Gloucestershire, when it's their council services that are provided by South Gloucestershire County Council. This is further confused by road signs, some of which are actually County Council services boundaries and others are old pre-1974 Bristol boundary signs, which have not taken into consideration in over 35 years of Bristol's urban sprawl.
The best thing that could happen to save all confusion under the circumstances would be to move all the boundaries so that the postal address boundaries are served by their respective county councils, ie all those with a BS postcode to be served by Bristol Council, all those with GL postcodes to be served by Gloucestershire Council etc. Oh and while we're on the subject, what were Avon Scouts prior to being just that? Another irksome annoyance, Scouts also using an area that ceased to exist 14 years ago. Come on get with the times. You must have changed from who or whatever you were then to that of Avon. If you could move with the times then, it's about time you moved with the times now.
Finally, how many of you out there realise that all that is needed in order for something to arrive at an address is the number of the property and it's full postcode?
You do not actually need to put the recipients' or company name, that of the road, the district or the county for that matter.
So unless someone is going to undertake the production of a full and correct publication once Avon has been removed and Bristol is once again correctly reinstated as the city and county it always was, of postcodes and their corresponding counties, then I for one shall gladly embrace the Royal Mail's decision and all future post, once such an undertaking has been completed, that is incorrectly addressed with "Avon" or the wrong country for the corresponding postcodes should be returned to sender.
L J Smith.
3 Comments
by Paul Arthurs, City and County of Bristol!
Tuesday, September 07 2010, 5:03PM
“L J Smith is confused on more than one point.
a. Just because a postcode begins 'BS' does not mean it is in Bristol. Is Weston-super-Mare in Bristol? Is Clevedon in Bristol? Obviously not.
b. Whether or not someone is a Bristolian surely depends on whether they're from Bristol; The City and County of Bristol. So, someone living in Westerleigh (which is in South Gloucestershire) would not be a Bristolian. The postcode prefixes that Royal Mail choose to use does not move city or county boundaries.
c. I agree that it is annoying when people put in their address "Bristol, Avon". But just as annoying is people that put "Kingswood, Bristol" (rather than South Gloucestershire) or "Portishead, Bristol" (rather than North Somerset).
Our addresses tell people where we are, they shouldn't be a matter of administrative convenience to Royal Mail; we should use our accurate address. If you live in a large town then there is no need to specify the county, if you live anywhere else then include your county in your address. And, by "county" I include "South Gloucestreshire", "North Somerset" and "Bath and North East Somerset".
Paul”
by Annette Hennessy, Portishead
Monday, September 06 2010, 2:00PM
“It is a shame that LJ Smith did not put their address (letter 6 Sept) and although I agree with their comments regarding Avon, they seem unaware of the pull picture. Postcodes linked homes to the depot that dealt with their mail. I was born in Portishead, Somerset with a postcode BS because letters were directed to Bristol for sorting. This excluded local letters which were managed at our old post office sorting office here in the town and residents used to write ¿local¿ in the bottom left hand corner to distinguish mail that did not need to leave Portishead. This made a lot of sense and saved time and money. However, our post is now more likely to be sorted in Taunton, than Bristol which has a TA postcode.
With Bristol being a county in its own right, many residents refused to put Bristol on their address because our county is Somerset and few took to the new title Avon when it was brought in. Weston-super-Mare has a Bristol postcode even though it is Somerset, albeit north of the county, and it would be ridiculous for someone to put Weston-super-Mare, Bristol when the local authority serving the town is North Somerset Council which is based in Weston! So L J Smith¿s ideas would not work unless they brought in a new NS postcode and I am sure there would be chaos including financial implications if Bristol served all homes with the current BS postcode. So I for one will not be embracing Royal Mail¿s proposal to phase out counties ¿ I was born in Somerset, am very proud of it and it will remain forever on my address as it always has been.”
by Philip, Bristol
Monday, September 06 2010, 12:26PM
“I read the letter from L J Smith with interest and was disappointed to note that Avon Scouts are to L J Smith "Another irksome annoyance".
I doubt whether our 11,000+ members across the "Avon" area would agree.
The Scouting Movement decided to retain local support at "Avon" level. This enables all our members across Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire to receive the specialist support that is needed to support the youth programme that we provide.
If, as I believe L J Smith is suggesting, we were to disband "Avon Scouts" then the constituent counties would not be able to provide the same level of support to provide the fun, challenge and adventure that young people enjoy. For example, by supporting Scouting across the Avon area we are able to financially manage a 36 acre campsite and activity centre at Almondsbury, two water activity centres in the docks at Bristol and a variery of specialist support including a sailing club, a rifle shooting club, and specialist advisers covering, for example, international activities, safeguarding (child protection), health and safety etc etc
I suspect that the many other organisations (including Avon Fire and Rescue Service) retain their "Avon" role for the same reason.
Philip Bird
Assistant County Commissioner
Avon Scouts
www avonscouts org uk
Avon Scouts supports Scouting in Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire!”