Hereford and Worcester /ˈhɛrəfərd ən ˈwʊstər/ was an English county created on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 from the areas of the former administrative county of Herefordshire, most of Worcestershire (except Halesowen, Stourbridge and Warley, which became part of the West Midlands) and the county borough of Worcester. An aim of the Act was to increase efficiency of local government: the two counties are among England's smaller and less populous counties, particularly after the same Act transferred some of Worcestershire's most urbanised areas to the West Midlands. The merger aroused much opposition from Herefordshire people, many of whom regarded it as not a merger but a takeover by Worcestershire.