 Bath and North East Somerset ( commonly referred to as BANES or B & <unk> ) is a unitary authority created on 1 April 1996 , following the abolition of the County of Avon . Bath and North East Somerset occupies an area of 220 square miles ( 570 km2 ) , two @-@ thirds of which is green belt . BANES stretches from the outskirts of Bristol , south into the Mendip Hills and east to the southern Cotswold Hills and Wiltshire border . The city of Bath is the principal settlement in the district , but BANES also covers <unk> , <unk> Norton , <unk> and the Chew Valley . BANES has a population of 170 @,@ 000 , about half of whom live in Bath , making it 12 times more densely populated than the rest of the district . 
