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East Riding of Yorkshire — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Prehistoric

When the last glacial period ended, the hunter gatherers of the Palaeolithic period followed the animal herds across the land between continental Europe and Britain. Then, as conditions continued to improve and vegetation could support a greater diversity of animals, the annual range of seasonal movement by Mesolithic communities decreased, and people became more fixed to particular localities. Until about 6000 BC, Mesolithic people appear to have exploited their environment as they found it. As communities came to rely on a smaller territorial range and as population levels increased, they started to try to modify or control the natural world. In the Great Wold Valley, pollen samples of Mesolithic date indicate that the forest cover in the area was being disturbed and altered by man, and that open grasslands were being created. The Yorkshire Wolds became a major focus for human settlement during the Neolithic period as they had a wide range of natural resources. The oldest monuments found on the Wolds are the Neolithic long barrows and round barrows. Two earthen long barrows in the region are found at Fordon, on Willerby Wold, and at Kilham, near Driffield, both of which have radiocarbon dates of around 3700 BC.

From around 2000 to 800 BC, the people of the Bronze Age built the 1,400 Bronze Age round barrows that are known to exist on the Yorkshire Wolds. These are found both in isolation and grouped together to form cemeteries. Many of these sites can still be seen as prominent features in the present-day landscape. By the later Bronze Age, an open, cleared, landscape predominated on the Wolds. It was used for grazing and also for arable cultivation. The wetlands on either side of the Wolds in the River Hull valley, Holderness and the Vale of York were also being used for animal rearing at this time. In the Iron Age there were further cultural changes in the area. There emerged a distinctive local tradition known as the Arras Culture, named after a site at Arras, near Market Weighton. There are similarities between the chariot burials of the Arras Culture and groups of La Tène burials in northern Europe, where the burial of carts was also practiced.

Landscape

The Wolds area takes the form of an elevated, gently rolling plateau, cut by numerous deep, steep-sided, flat-bottomed valleys of glacial origin. The chalk formation of the hills provides exceptionally good drainage, with the result that most of these valleys are dry. Surface water is quite scarce throughout the Wolds. At Flamborough Head the Wolds rise up to form high chalk cliffs, where there are water-worn caves and stacks along the shore. Flamborough Headland is designated a Heritage Coast. Coastal erosion around Flamborough Head has led to visitors being warned by the Humber Coastguard to be very careful on coastal paths.

The Holderness landscape is dominated by deposits of till, boulder clays and glacial lake clays. These were deposited during the Devensian glaciation. The glacial deposits form a more or less continuous lowland plain which has some peat filled depressions (known locally as meres) which mark the presence of former lake beds. There are other glacial landscape features such as drumlin mounds, ridges and kettle holes scattered throughout the area. The well-drained glacial deposits provide fertile soils that can support intensive arable cultivation. Fields are generally large and bounded by drainage ditches. There is very little woodland in the area, and this leads to a landscape that is essentially rural but very flat and exposed.

The Holderness coastline suffers the highest rate of coastal erosion in Europe: 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) a year on average or 2 million tonnes of material a year. Some of this is transported by longshore drift with about 3% of material being deposited at Spurn Head spit, to the south. The coastline has retreated noticeably in the last 2,000 years, with many former settlements now flooded, particularly Ravenser Odd and Ravenspurn, which was a major port until its destruction in the 14th century. Erosion is an ongoing concern in the area. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council has been carrying out cliff erosion defences between Sewerby and Kilnsea since 1951. The Holderness area drains mostly into the Humber and the eponymous River Hull drains the area north of Hull.

The western part of the district in the Vale of York borders on and is drained by the River Derwent. The landscape is generally low-lying and flat although minor ridges and glacial moraines provide some variations in topography. Where there are dry sandy soils there are remnants of historic heathlands and ancient semi-natural woodlands. Arable fields dominate the land cover of the area and grasslands are infrequent. There are very few flood meadows left, although some significant areas remain on the lower reaches of the River Derwent.

Administrative history

The administrative division of the East Riding of Yorkshire originated in antiquity. Unlike most counties in Great Britain, which were divided anciently into hundreds, Yorkshire was divided first into three ridings and then into numerous wapentakes within each riding. The separate Lieutenancy for the riding was established after the Restoration, and the ridings each had separate Quarter Sessions. For statistical purposes in the 19th century an East Riding of Yorkshire registration county was designated, consisting of the entirety of the Poor Law Unions of Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Howden, Hull, Patrington, Pocklington, Sculcoates, Skirlaugh and York.

In 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, administrative counties were formed on the existing historic county boundaries in England, but in Yorkshire, given the vast size of the county area, three administrative county councils were created, based on the historic boundaries of the three Ridings. A county council for the East Riding of Yorkshire (the East Riding County Council) was set up in 1889, covering an administrative county local government area centred on Beverley and which had the same boundaries as the historic riding. It also acted as the ceremonial county (Lieutenancy) area established for the area. At the same date a separate county borough of Kingston upon Hull, was created. The East Riding County Council and the county borough of Kingston upon Hull remained in place for 86 years until being removed for new administrative tiers of local government.

In 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, the historic established Lieutenancy and the local government administrative county were disbanded, being replaced by the newly created Humberside County Council which included most of the East Riding and additional parts of the West Riding and parts of Lincolnshire. The creation of this cross-Humber authority was unpopular on both banks of the Humber. Due to this local unpopularity with the new county council name, two of the nine districts formed in the 1972 Act included East Yorkshire in their titles, though they only covered a fraction of the geographical East Yorkshire area (East Yorkshire district, East Yorkshire Borough of Beverley). Continued disquiet culminated in a number of local government reviews in the 1980s and 1990s. Humberside County Council was abolished on 1 April 1996, after 22 years of existence. The area north of the Humber Estuary (i.e. the city of Hull, whose boundaries would remain unchanged, the former districts of East Yorkshire, Beverley, and Holderness, and the northern part of the former Boothferry district, including the Goole area) formed two unitary authorities. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council unitary authority and the Kingston upon Hull City Council unitary authority were formed on 1 April 1996. The ceremonial county, the area in which the Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire represents the Crown, was re-established the same day, covering the City of Kingston upon Hull as well as the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area as did predecessor authorities.

The East Riding of Yorkshire is entirely parished; the City of Hull has no parishes. From 1996 Beverley had Charter Trustees to maintain the charter of the borough of Beverley: these were replaced by a Beverley Town Council in 1999, and Bridlington was parished in 1999. The unparished area consisting of the urban district of Haltemprice was divided into various parishes in 1999 and 2000.

Demographics

Until 1 April 2009, the East Riding was the largest district and the largest unitary authority in England by area and the second-largest non-metropolitan district in England by population. Following the 2009 structural changes to local government in England it fell to fifth place by area and sixth place by population.

The East Riding of Yorkshire covers 240,768 hectares (930 mi2) and has a population of 335,049 (2008 Office for National Statistics mid-year estimates), a density of 1.4 people per hectare. The most populous parishes in the main 2001 census were Bridlington (34,000), Goole (17,000), Beverley (17,000), Cottingham (17,000, by Hull), Hessle (15,000, by Hull), Driffield (11,000), Anlaby with Anlaby Common (10,000, by Hull), Hornsea (8,000) and Willerby (8,000), Pocklington (8,000) and Elloughton-cum-Brough (7,000). Half the district's population reside in these 11 parishes, with the other half living in the other 160 parishes. In comparison, Hull's population according to the same census was 243,589. The population density of the district was around 135 people per square km, which made it the least densely populated unitary authority after the Isles of Scilly, Rutland and Herefordshire.

The East Riding has a larger than average number of residents aged 40 and above. There is a particularly strong deficit in the number of young adults. There is a higher-than-average level of car ownership. 36.4% of all households do not have a car. Less than 5% of the population travel to work by public transport compared with 15% nationally. The district is one of the lowest non-white populations, with the census reporting 98.8% of the inhabitants being white. Hull itself is also quite monoethnic for a city of its size, with the census reporting 97.7% white.

Areas of the East Riding show significant signs of affluence, including the Parliamentary constituency of Haltemprice and Howden which consists of middle-class areas such as: the suburb of Willerby, suburb of Kirk Ella, village of North Ferriby, and village of Swanland. Much of the area is affluent and has one of the highest proportions of owner-occupiers in the country.

Other parts of the county are more diverse, including the suburbs of Hessle, Cottingham and Anlaby with Anlaby Common. These areas consist of a mix of housing tenures in a real range of properties, from small ex-authority estates, to grand period homes. Hessle and Cottingham in particular have seen a considerable amount of home building, supporting the regeneration and development of the city of Hull. Beverley, a market town, is generally associated with affluence but, like any other town of its size, it also has areas that face disadvantage.

Other areas of the East Riding of Yorkshire face significant deprivation. The seaside towns of Withernsea and Bridlington face similar challenges with unemployment, low educational attainment, and socioeconomic inequality. South East Holderness, consisting of small rural communities, deals with limited access to services, inadequate public transportation, and the decline of traditional industries. Goole, an inland port town, has experienced a decline in its socioeconomic characteristic. Akin to much of the West Riding, this has coincided with the decline of industry over the latter half of the 20th century.

The crime rate in the East Riding is lower than the national average in robbery, sexual offences, theft of a vehicle, theft from a vehicle, violence against a person and burglary.

Christianity is the religion with the largest following in the area, with 53.3% residents so identifying in the 2021 UK census. These census figures show no other single religion returned affiliation, as a percentage of population, above the national average for England. At the time of the 2021 census the population of the East Riding was 342,215 and its ethnic composition was 97.4% white, compared with the English average of 81.0%. The area has a slightly higher elderly population, of 26.4% in 2021, than the national average.

Economy

The district is generally rural, with no towns approaching the size of Hull. There are a few market towns such as Beverley, Driffield, Goole, Market Weighton and Pocklington, and the coastal towns of Bridlington, Hornsea and Withernsea. In the south the district contains areas such as Hessle which are part of the Hull urban area but outside the city boundaries. Rural areas tend to have a greater business stock than urban areas, reflecting the number of agricultural businesses and small businesses in rural areas. 20% of all VAT registered businesses in the East Riding are in agriculture and related sectors, although the number of such businesses fell by 40% between 1997 and 2003.

Easington, on the coast, is the site of a natural gas terminal, Easington Gas Terminal, used for the Langeled pipeline, as well as three other gas terminals operated by BP and Centrica.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of East Riding of Yorkshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British pounds sterling.

a Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

b includes hunting and forestry

c includes energy and construction

d includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

The East Riding is characterised by a high employment rate and a relatively low unemployment level. The overall unemployment rate is 4.3%, which is 1.2 percentage points lower than the national average. However, there are unemployment hotspots in Bridlington, Goole and Withernsea. Unemployment levels tend to fluctuate over the course of the year with lower levels during the summer months due to increased employment in the tourism and food production sectors. A major year-round employer in the East Riding is the Defence School of Transport at DST Leconfield, which trains 14,000 personnel from the Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Marines each year and provides more than 1,000 civilian jobs.

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council has joined Hull City Council, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire Councils in the Hull and Humber Ports City Region Partnership.

Public services

Both the East Riding and Hull are still covered by the Humberside Police area and the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service. Piped water is supplied by Yorkshire Water who also maintain the sewerage system. About 1% of the population use water from private supplies. They are usually in the more remote parts of the East Riding. The majority are bore holes but they can be wells or natural springs.

NHS East Riding of Yorkshire provides health services such as district nursing, health visiting, school nursing, intermediate care and therapy services. It works with local GP practices, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists and ambulance services to provide a primary healthcare service.

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust provides hospitals at Castle Hill Hospital, Hull Royal Infirmary and Beverley's Westwood Hospital. Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust runs Bridlington Hospital and also provides health care from the Alfred Bean Hospital at Driffield and the Malton Community Hospital which are run by the local primary care trusts (NHS East Riding and NHS North Yorkshire and York). Small cottage and community hospitals provide a range of services at Hornsea Cottage Hospital and Withernsea Community Hospital.

There are ten household waste recycling sites across the East Riding. In the 2004–05 financial year 210,112 tonnes (206,794 long tons; 231,609 short tons) of municipal waste was collected by East Riding and 154,723 tonnes (152,279 long tons; 170,553 short tons) by Hull. Between 2003–04 and 2004–05 the amount of waste collected in Hull increased by 1.77% (2,696 tonnes [2,653 long tons; 2,972 short tons]) and in the East Riding by 4.80% (9,629 tonnes [9,477 long tons; 10,614 short tons]). Target 45+ is a joint sustainable waste-management strategy developed in partnership by Hull City Council and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. The overall aim is to achieve 45% recycling or composting by 2010 and then go beyond this. At the outset it was anticipated that recycling rates in the East Riding by the end of 2005–06 would be 22.4% and in Hull the rate would be 17.4%.

The Waste Recycling Group is a company working in partnership with the Hull City and East Riding of Yorkshire councils to deal with waste. The company has plans to build an energy from waste plant at Saltend to deal with 240,000 tonnes (240,000 long tons; 260,000 short tons) of rubbish and put waste to a productive use by providing power for the equivalent of 20,000 houses.

The East Riding of Yorkshire is notably high for recycling rates. The county was marked the first Unitary Authority in England for household waste recycling, composting and re-use rate in 2021. Figures highlight that 60.8% of household waste in the county was recycled or composted, ahead of second-place North Somerset who were marked at 60.4%.

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