 The proposal was approved on 8 July 2013 by the General Synod.The new diocese was created on Easter Day, 20 April 2014, becoming the first new diocese in the Church of England since 1929 and the largest diocese in England by area, covering and 2.3million people, served by 656 churches.Effective 1 January 2017, several of the diocese's deaneries were reorganised.