Urban District Council (UDC) Bus Operators

I was wondering, the other day, which UDC�s operated buses and came up with this list.
I�m not aware of any Rural District Councils (RDC�s) operating any, but you never know!
Geographically, they are interesting, with five in the South Wales Valleys, North Wales� Llandudno was a latecomer and one solitary English one.

Bedwas & Machen
Caerphilly
Galligaer
Llandudno
Merthyr Tydfil
Pontypridd
West Bridgford

I surely can�t have mentioned them all and other ones thought of would be welcome!

Chris Hebbron

11/07/15 - 15:28

Ramsbottom UDC, merged into SELNEC in 1969.
Cleethorpes UDC (definitely in 1936), merged with Grimsby Corporation in 1956.

Dave Farrier

11/07/15 - 16:01

The West Monmouthshire Omnibus Board was jointly owned by two UDCs -Bedwellty UDC and Mynyddislwyn UDC.
Aberdare was also a UDC.

David Call

11/07/15 - 16:56

Aberdare has been missed - they operated trams, trolleybuses and motorbuses and disappeared under local government reorganisation in 1974.
A typo I think showing Gelligaer, which until 1954 had been Gellygaer.
Merthyr Tydfil was never an Urban District Council.
Eston Urban District Council was a two-thirds stakeholder in Teesside Railless Traction Board.
West Mon was a Joint Board formed from two UDCs - Mynyddislwyn and Bedwellty.
Todmorden had been a UDC from 1894 to 1896 but became a Borough in the latter year, some ten years before they started bus operation.
There were many UDCs that owned stretches of tram track (and even some RDCs) and a few tram operators such as Erith and Farnworth.

David Beilby

11/07/15 - 16:57

Chris, another that springs readily to mind is Ramsbottom UDC.

Brendan Smith

11/07/15 - 17:22

Delving into 'The Little Red Book 1965/66', all the UDCs from that period appear to have been covered in the replies to Chris. In alphabetical order the book gives: Aberdare, Bedwas & Machen, Caerphilly, Gelligaer, Llandudno, Pontypridd, Ramsbottom and West Bridgford. (I've also enjoyed conjuring up the lost liveries and vehicles of each in my mind's eye as I've typed this).

Brendan Smith

12/07/15 - 06:48

In addition to those mentioned, according to the Motor Transport Year Book, Colwyn Bay UDC operated a pair of routes (one summer only)- c 1930 at least - using 24 Guy runabouts. A number of other UDCs had powers to operate omnibuses, either directly or by agreement with others. Cannock UDC's powers resulted in a service run and maintained by Wolverhampton Corporation. Risca (Mon) powers resulted in a service run by Lewis and James.
The UDCs at Rhondda, Skegness, Spenborough and Stretford also had obtained bus operating powers, although whether any service run in those areas was as a result of those powers I don't know.

Peter Delaney

12/07/15 - 06:50

Well, I never expected to have the whole gamut of UDC/RDC bus operators covered in such double quick time! Rhetorical probably, but I wonder why so many of them were in South Wales? Coal mining might be an answer, but why there and not other parts of the UK when, post-WWI, mining was much more extensive? Was West Bridgford a mining area in those days, for example? Anyway, thanks folks.

Chris Hebbron

13/07/15 - 06:14

Chris H, West Bridgford wasn't really a mining area but it was outside the city boundary and therefore outside the jurisdiction of Nottingham City Council. It's largely a residential area and it's residents needed services into the city centre from the many roads and streets of houses which make up the area. It had the added bonus of having Nottingham Forest football ground and Trent Bridge Cricket Ground within it's domain!

Chris Barker

13/07/15 - 06:16

Chris, no West Bridgford was definitely not a coal mining area. In fact it was (and some would say still is) a rather pretentious suburb that was proud of being separated from the great unwashed of Nottingham by the River Trent! Locals often call it "Bread and Lard Island" - an epithet suggesting that after the residents had bought posh curtains for the windows they could only afford bread and lard on the table. For many years WB was famously devoid of pubs. I think originally they resisted the idea of having Nottingham Corporation buses defiling their roads (not streets - please!) Accordingly they were only allowed to operate as far as the city boundary at Trent Bridge. Later, of course, most of the services were run jointly with Nottingham City Transport and extended into the city centre.

Stephen Ford

13/07/15 - 16:52

Thx for your comments on West Bridgford, Chris B/Stephen, painting a picture far removed from that of a mining community and sounding much like Solihull on the outskirts of Birmingham, where not one blade of grass appears to be more than 3/4" high anywhere in the borough! Both places fit the lifestyle description (like the bread and lard one) an old aunt used to quote of 'Champagne manners on lemonade money!"

Chris Hebbron

13/07/15 - 16:53

I've been checking in Reg Wilson's book Municipal Buses in Colour, and he states that Cleethorpes UDC ran buses from 1930, and took over the tramway company in it's area in July 1936. However, he states that Cleethorpes was chartered as a borough in November 1936. From then, I take it that it ceased to be a UDC, and was known as Cleethorpes Corporation Transport, merging with it's Grimsby neighbour on 1st January 1937. Just a piece of historical data, as I hadn't realised that Cleethorpes was originally a UDC.

Browsing again into Reg Wilson's book reveals further info -
(1) The Bedwas and Machen and West Mon operations were in Monmouthshire, which was legally in England until 1974 (although sometimes referred to as Wales and Monmouthshire).
(2) Colwyn Bay was known as Colwyn Bay and Colwyn UDC until 1926, when it became Colwyn Bay UDC, and became a borough in 1934. It's first few toastrack saloons were purchased just before the 1926 change.
(3) Heysham UDC existed until it's merger with Morecambe in 1929. It took over the Leyland petrol trams in it's area in 1924, but does not appear to have operated the replacement buses.
(4) Rhondda UDC had a joint tram operation with Pontypridd UDC, but it isn't clear what happened when the tramways ended for Rhondda UDC.
(5) Municipal trams were operated by these UDCs - Barking, Bexley, Cleethorpes, Dartford, Erith, Farnworth, Leyton, Matlock, St Annes, and Walthamstow. Reg Wilson's book indicates that others owned tramways but did not operate the trams themselves.
(6) The section on Burnley notes that Burnley leased tramlines to others, including Reedley Hallows Parish Council, making this the only parish council in Britain to own a tramway.
Thank you Chris, for raising such a fascinating question, and all the other replies.

Michael Hampton

18/07/15 - 06:13

I think the list of one time UDC bus operators is a little longer.
Haslingden operated it's own fleet until 1968 and then formed the joint operation with Rawtenstall and was a UDC until 1974.
Somewhat similarly, the Burnley, Colne and Nelson joint operation included the UDCs of Colne and Nelson for several decades, prior to which they had operated their own fleets.

Orla Nutting

18/07/15 - 09:55

Orla,a week or so ago I sent in a comment about Haslingden but then asked for it to be withdrawn as I thought as you do, but then found I was wrong. Haslingden was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1891. Prior to that the area was a civil parish. I've done some research which shows Haslingden Coropration's first bus ran between Haslingden and Helmshore in 1907.

Phil Blinkhorn

Michael H, Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport came into being on 1.1.1957, rather than 1937, and was run jointly by the two undertakings until its sale to Stagecoach. There was no general union between Grimsby and Cleethorpes until 1996, when they became covered by the North East Lincolnshire unitary authority.
Orla, I haven't managed to find convincing evidence that either Nelson or Colne were ever UDCs.

David Call

19/07/15 - 06:17

Orla, I have re-checked the Reg Wilson book I referred to previously, and also looked at the Leyland Society's Fleet Series for Burnley Colne and Nelson. In neither of these are Colne or Nelson referred to as UDCs, at least in their tram or bus operating modes before the setting up of the Joint Committee in 1933. If they were UDC's at some point, they must have become Boroughs before the onset of municipal public transport provision. Unless both books ignored the UDC style in their descriptions?

Michael Hampton

20/07/15 - 05:30

Nelson was not publicly recognised until the first official recognition of the town came, in 1864, with the formation of a Local Board for the district of Nelson. By 1890, the town had grown sufficiently to be granted......... municipal borough status. Source: Nelson Town Council website)
Colne was made an urban district in 1894 and designated a borough in 1895. (Source: Wiki)
So, if they're reliable sources, Nelson wasn't ever a UDC, but Colne was, albeit briefly.

Chris Hebbron

20/07/15 - 05:30

Nelson became a Municipal Borough in 1890. It is now a Civil Parish in the Borough of Pendle. Colne became a UDC in 1894 but was upgraded to a Municipal Borough the following year. It is now a Civil Parish in the Borough of Pendle.

Phil Blinkhorn

20/07/15 - 05:31

Hmm, after further research I entirely agree with the foregoing comments. Apparently Colne only existed as a UDC for one year before becoming a municipal borough in 1895.

Orla Nutting

20/07/15 - 16:37

Thank you, David C, for your correction to my input date re Grimsby Cleethorpes Joint operation. I always knew it was 1957, somehow I mis-typed it, perhaps because I was looking at other 1930's dates when I was working on it. And of course it was a Joint operation, not a merger at that time.

Michael Hampton

Comments regarding the above are more than welcome please get in touch via the 'Contact Page' or by email at

Quick links to the - Best Bits - Comments - Contact - Home