h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ok, couldn't resist starting this before work -

"Devon Defined

Devon as a single political entity ceased to exist in 1996 when the county that most people recognise as Devon has Plymouth and Torbay split from it to form Unitary Authorities.

However , most people still think of Devon as the that area that borders Cornwall on one side and Somerset and Dorset on the other.

Therefore Devon is made up of 8 Local Authorities ( East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon South Hams Teignbridge, Torridge, West Devon) and the two unitary authourities of Plymouth and Torbay (Local gov reoganisation explained http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/local_gov.asp) – this will be the definition of Devon used here.

The latest population estimates (Mid Year Population Estimates 2004 - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14084&image.x=19&image.y=8&image=View) estimate Devon’s population as 1,102,000."



CHawke

This is great, C, but we already have an outline of geographical Devon. This is the 'definition' of Devon the Eds are after; not one drawn on political lines.

However, feel free to have a free reign on the political situation here. Most of this section is usable; though I'd have to remove suggestions that this is a strict definition of Devon to avoid confusion

More recent population estimates are fantastic . I used the old versions to make particular points - Devon is very rural (each person has 1.33 hectares each outside the the three urban hotspots), fairly poor economically (20% less income than the rest of the UK). If you can make the statistics *say* something to the average reader, that would be ideal.

Thanks for your work; I'll wait for you to get back before I include anything

yep, I was going to get on to the rural/urban breakdown later today.

CHawke