The district lost about half its population in 1996, when an expanded City of York became a unitary authority, specifically the parishes of Clifton Without, Earswick, Haxby, Heworth Without, Holtby, Huntington, Murton, New Earswick, Osbaldwick, Rawcliffe, Skelton, Stockton-on-the-Forest, Strensall, Towthorpe, and Wigginton.
It extends as a thin strip of land for about one and a half miles from Heworth Green to the Monk's Cross area in the parish of Heworth Without.