Traditional county names prove hard to shift

MORE than four in 10 people are still using traditional county names to describe where they live, rather than more modern administrative districts.

A poll by Yougov found that 45 per cent of people used historic county names in their postal addresses despite the fact that many have been replaced by modern administrative districts.

This means that, for example, people in Warrington say they live in Lancashire, rather than Cheshire, or those in Birmingham are part of Warwickshire rather than the more modern West Midlands. Both changes were made in the 1974 local government reform.

Similarly, people living in Enfield often say their homes were in Middlesex (abolished in 1965) rather than in London, according to the research by the British Counties Campaign. The campaign, which wants to change the law to bring back traditional county names, has won the support of MPS after launching a parliamentary campaign.

It is proposing a law so that the word “county” would only apply to the historic 92 counties of the UK. Local authority areas would be called simply “council areas”.

The Yougov study, commissioned by the campaign, also found that 53 per cent of people over 45 were in favour of bringing back the historic county names. Gerard Dughill, the campaign’s manager, said: “People still are using the historic county definitions when they are asked what county they live in or what county they come from, they still are clinging on – using their historic county names, and we want to encourage continued use of that.”