The boundary between the City of Hull and the East Riding was settled as part of local government reorganisation in 1996. Proposals put forward by Hull City Council during that review for the extension of the City boundary to the west and to the east of the City were not accepted.
Hull City Council has now sought to re-open this debate. On 20 March 2014, Hull City Council resolved to establish a commission of inquiry to examine the case for extending Hull City Council’s administrative boundaries.
As a consequence, at its full council meeting on 4 April 2014, East Riding of Yorkshire Council unanimously resolved that the Council would strongly resist any attempts by Hull City Council to expand its administrative boundaries into the East Riding and to hold a referendum on the East Riding's administrative boundary.
The referendum established the views of East Riding residents in a number of wards or parts of wards as to whether they wish to remain part of the East Riding or become part of an expanded city of Hull.
What a referendum is
A referendum is a vote by citizens who are registered to vote on a question asked by the government. In this case, its purpose is to give residents the opportunity to voice their opinion and vote on whether or not to remain in the East Riding or become part of Hull.
Please note: this vote was to gauge public opinion only and no boundary change will be made as a direct result of the votes.
Potential outcomes of the referendum
The referendum demonstrated public opinion in respect of changes to the local government boundaries between Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council. If necessary, this information will be provided to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England to inform any review they may undertake, or any decision whether to undertake a review. No changes to local government boundaries can take place unless there has been a review and the agreement of the Secretary of State.