country to reach remote areas. As Yorkshire was too large and unwieldy to have its own county council, separate county councils were created for the three ridings in 1889, but their area of control did not include the large towns, which became county boroughs, and included an increasingly large part of the population. Canals and turnpike roads were introduced in the late 18th century. In the following century the spa towns of Harrogate and Scarborough flourished, due to people believing mineral water had curative properties. Early 1900s: World wars During the Second World War, Yorkshire became an important base for RAF Bomber Command and brought the county and its productive industries into the cutting edge of the war, and thus in the targets of Luftwaffe bombers during the Battle of Britain. 1950s–present: Divided The County Borough of Teesside was created in 1968, drafted by the North Eastern General Review Area from 1962 to 1963 and executed under the Local Government Act 1958, adding settlements to the North Riding's north eastern edges, notably Stockton and Billingham. Twelve in total were placed into a county borough council area. This was the last county borough made and first county to use the local river and '-side' suffix before similar cross river focused counties were created in 1974. In 1974, they were large local government reforms throughout the United Kingdom. Some of the Local Government Act 1972 changes were unpopular, historic boundaries of Yorkshire and its ridings lost notability status as entities. In 1996, the 'East Riding of Yorkshire' was created from Yorkshire parts of abolished Humberside and North Yorkshire gained Yorkshire parts of Cleveland. The Government Office entity currently containing most of Yorkshire is the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. This region includes the north-eastern part of Lincolnshire, but not northern parts of Yorkshire, as these areas, located around the River Tees, are in the North East England region. Parts in the North West England region are: Saddleworth (Greater Manchester) Forest of Bowland (Lancashire) Sedbergh and Dent (Cumbria) One Yorkshire Devolved Deal proposal In 2018, eighteen of the twenty-two local councils in the Yorkshire and Humber region voted to elect a mayor to represent the county, including a devolved deal for Yorkshire that would in some regards reunite the county under one deal and mayor. The proposal would allow the mayor similar powers to those possessed by the Mayor of London