THE counties of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire are to be amalgamated to form a new county to be called Severnshire, the Gazette can exclusively reveal.

Following rumours that changes were afoot, the Gazette this week spoke to Bob Down, of the Boundary Commission for England and Wales, who confirmed that the new county would officially come into being later this year.

Mr Down also revealed that the administrative centre of the county would be moved to the more central town of Wotton-under-Edge, with Shire Hall in Gloucester and the present Kingswood and Thornbury council offices being closed, saving taxpayers millions of pounds.

"The confusion that has arisen from having two counties with Gloucestershire in their names has long been recognised as far from satisfactory", said Mr Down.

"Tourists in particular have been so confused they have avoided both counties in their droves, to the detriment of the local economy and the turnover of postal people has risen sharply since South Gloucestershire emerged from the ashes of the old Avon".

He admitted that there might be some confusion between Devonshire and Severnshire when Severnsiders or Devonians gave their addresses over the telephone but it was felt that as the two names began with different letters this problem could be avoided with careful enunciation.

He added that advance warning would be given in plenty of time for residents and businesses to order new stationery before the change came into effect but in any event sticky address labels would be available at a knock down price from the new Wotton county headquarters.