    south yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the yorkshire and the humber region of england. it has a population of 1.34&nbsp;million (2011). it consists of four metropolitan boroughs: barnsley, doncaster, rotherham and sheffield. south yorkshire was created on 1 april 1974 as a result of the local government act 1972.arnold-baker, c., local government act 1972, (1973) lying on the east side of the pennines, south yorkshire is landlocked, and borders derbyshire (to the west and south-west), west yorkshire (to the north-west), north yorkshire (to the north), the east riding of yorkshire (to the north-east), lincolnshire (to the east) and nottinghamshire (to the south-east). the sheffield urban area is the [[li
Counties_of_England_established_in_1974 Metropolitan_areas_of_England Metropolitan_counties