Many people who live on the fringes of Bristol could be forgiven for being perplexed about which county they officially live in. Although a lot of people from areas such as Staple Hill and Filton identify as Bristolians, their suburbs come under the control of South Gloucestershire Council.
But this creates some confusion - is South Gloucestershire part of the county of Bristol or Gloucestershire? And can these areas really be referred to as Bristol?
A local councillor seems to have some definitive answers. Ian Boulton, who represents Staple Hill and Mangotsfield for South Gloucestershire Council, chimed in to a debate on Facebook this week about where people in the county actually live - after one resident raised confusion about which they should list as their county on an online form.
Read more: What county is Bristol in and does Avon exist?
Cllr Boulton explained that although South Gloucestershire has its own council, it is actually in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. A ceremonial county is an area of England to which the ceremonial political roles of Lord Lieutenants and High Sheriffs are appointed.
This change happened in 1996 when the county of Avon was abolished and split into four areas - the city and county of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. Each of these four was given its own council with elected representatives to make decisions.
When this happened, the former Kingswood and North Avon District Councils merged to become the unitary authority council of South Gloucestershire, and this council became part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire.
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Gloucestershire County Council's own map shows the extent of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, split into the areas administrated by Gloucestershire County Council plus a separate section the administrated by South Gloucestershire, which does not fall within the county council's remit nor its official statistics despite geographically falling within the county boundary.
But although this would seem to settle the matter, it leaves another question unanswered - why do areas in South Gloucestershire have Bristol postcodes, if they are part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire?
However, Cllr Boulton also had an explanation for this too. He explained that postcodes are just there to help the Post Office sort through the mail, rather than indicating local boundaries.
This is why areas such as Weston-Super-Mare in North Somerset have postcodes beginning 'BS', while areas of South Gloucestershire such as Marshfield have the Swindon 'SN' postcode, he advised.
As for which county Bristol falls under, and whether or not Avon still exists? That's a whole other story.
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