Greater Bristol is a term used for the conurbation which contains and surrounds the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

in the South West of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. There is no official "Greater Bristol" authority, but the term is sometimes used by local, regional and national authorities, and others as a synonym for either the "Bristol Urban Area" or a wider area of the former County of Avon (sometimes the whole of the former County of Avon area), and by some, TfGB (Transport for Greater Bristol), to refer to the Province of Bristol as defined by

C. B. Fawcett Charles Bungay Fawcett (25 August 1883 – 21 September 1952)Derek Senior Derek Senior (4 May 1912 – 6 December 1988) was a British freelance writer principally known for being a member of the Royal Commission on Local Government in England, chaired by Lord Redcliffe-Maud. Early life and career Senior was born 4 May ...

(1969). The Bristol post town covers a wider area than the city of Bristol.

Definitions

Bristol Built-up Area

One definition of "Greater Bristol" is the "Bristol Built-up Area" (previously termed the "Bristol Urban Area"), as defined by the UK

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

(ONS).Office for National Statistics, ''2011 Built-up Areas – Methodology and Guidance'', p.3
This covers the contiguous built-up area around Bristol, including the Kingswood, Mangotsfield,

Stoke Gifford Stoke Gifford is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England, in the northern suburbs of Bristol. It had around 11,000 residents at the 2001 census, increasing to 15,494 at the 2011 census. It is home to Bristol Parkway station a ...

Bradley Stoke Bradley Stoke is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated northeast of Bristol,OS Explorer Map, Bristol and Bath, Keynsham & Marshfield. Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey B4 edition (2013). It is near the Severn Estuary of ...

Patchway Patchway is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north-north west of central Bristol. The town has become an overflow settlement for Bristol and is contiguous with Bristol's urban area, along with the nearby towns of Filton and ...

Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church d ...

Almondsbury Almondsbury () is a large village near junction 16 of the M5 motorway, in South Gloucestershire, England, and a civil parish which also includes the villages of Hortham, Gaunt's Earthcott, Over, Easter Compton, Compton Greenfield, Hallen a ...

, Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne areas within

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming par ...

; Pill, Leigh Woods and Easton-in-Gordano within

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the ...

; and part of Whitchurch which falls within the administrative area of

Bath and North East Somerset Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a unitary authority district in England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. T ...

. However, this ONS definition does not include the city of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, or the towns of

Yate Yate is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. It lies just to the southwest of the Cotswold Hills and is northeast of Bristol city centre and from the centre of Bath, with regular rail services to Bristol and Glouceste ...

, Keynsham, Portishead,

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 ...

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmi ...

. The ONS give a figure for the Bristol Urban Area of 617,280, making it the tenth largest conurbation in England and Wales. The 2001 census figure was 551,006 and the 1991 census figure was 522,784. The urban area is subdivided into the following: Bristol-BUA-2011-border-titles

Former Avon County

The wider "Greater Bristol" area – that is, the former

Avon county Avon () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England that existed between 1974 and 1996. The county was named after the River Avon, which flows through the area. It was formed from the county boroughs of Bristol and Bat ...

area – has since 1996 been divided for local government purposes between Bristol City Council, and

, and

councils, and is shown on the map on this page. The boundaries of the County of Avon, which administered the area from 1974 to 1996, were similar to those of the Bristol

travel to work area A travel to work area or TTWA is a statistical tool used by UK Government agencies and local authorities, especially by the Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentres, to indicate an area where the population would generally commute to a ...

as originally defined in the 1950s. The former county area is still used in some official UK statistics and by local and regional authorities, for example in transport planning, with the South West Regional Government Office commissioning a Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study in 2005, and the local authorities presenting a Joint Local Transport Plan to the DfT in 2006. Other alternative names occasionally in official use for the former Avon area include the West of England and Severnside. The term "CUBA" (''county that used to be Avon'') has also occasionally been used unofficially. The 2001 population of the former county of Avon was 983,860. By 2017 the

West of England Combined Authority The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is a combined authority within the West of England area, consisting of the local authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset. The combined authority is led by ...

reported the population of the area to be 1.1 million.

Other

Transport for Greater Bristol (TfGB) has also used 'Greater Bristol' to refer to a travel to work area of 50 miles radius around Bristol which it wishes to be covered by an Integrated Transport Authority (ITA). This is similar to the 'Province of Bristol' described by geographer

C. B. Fawcett Charles Bungay Fawcett (25 August 1883 – 21 September 1952)Avon Green Belt The Avon Green Belt, also known as the Bristol and Bath Green Belt (or Bath and Bristol Green Belt), is a non-statutory green belt environmental and planning policy that regulates urban expansion and development in the countryside surrounding t ...

* List of places in Bristol *

MetroBus (Bristol) MetroBus (stylised as metrobus) is a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, created as a joint project between Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils. The first route, service m3, began operations on 29 May 2018, foll ...

* MetroWest (Bristol) * North Fringe of Bristol *

Transport in Bristol Bristol is a city in south west England, near the Bristol Channel coast, approximately 106 miles (170 km) west of London. Several factors have influenced the development of its transport network. It is a major centre of employment, reta ...

* West of England *

References

{{coord, 51, 28, N, 2, 35, W , region:GB , display=title Metropolitan areas of England

Bristol