The Local Government Commission for England was established by the Local Government Act 1958 to review the organisation of local government, and make "such proposals as are hereinafter authorised for effecting changes appearing to the Commissions desirable in the interests of effective and convenient local government". Most of the commission's proposals failed to reach consensus and were not implemented, and the body was dissolved in 1967.
Membership The initial members of the commission were appointed by warrant dated 31 October 1958.London Gazette, issue no.41540, 4 November 1958 The chairman was Sir Henry Drummond Hancock and the deputy chairman was Michael Edward Rowe. The other members of the commission were Ruth Burton Buckley, Bernard Donald Storey and Ernest William Woodhead. They were joined on 14 January 1959 by Professor Ely Devons and on 15 July 1959 by Robert Hughes Parry.London Gazette, issue no.41611, 20 January 1959London Gazette, issue no.41771, 21 July 1959 On the death of Woodhead, Leslie Robert Missen was made a member.London Gazette, issue no.42620, 13 March 1962 The last member to be appointed was Professor Bryan Keith-Lucas on 24 June 1965.London Gazette, issue no.43702, 2 July 1965
The Review process The Commission carried out reviews of two types of areas: five Special Review Areas, covering the major conurbations outside London, and seven General Review Areas, covering regions comprising a number of administrative counties and county boroughs. The commission's remit did not extend to the Metropolitan Area which was under review by the Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London.
Review Area Review Commenced Draft Proposals Report presentedWest Midlands SRA3 April 19594 April 196031 July 1961†East Midlands GRA9 March 19594 April 196031 July 1961West Midlands GRA9 March 19594 April 196031 July 1961South Western GRA1 December 19597 July 19615 February 1963North Eastern GRA15 December 195913 April 196222 November 1963Tyneside SRA16 January 196016 February 196216 July 1963‡York and North Midlands GRA25 April 19607 September 196226 May 1964West Yorkshire SRA25 April 196020 July 196213 March 1964Lincolnshire and East Anglia GRA1 August 196117 May 19637 May 1965Merseyside SRA29 October 196217 December 1965Not presentedSouth East Lancashire SRA29 October 196217 December 1965Not presentedNorth Western GRA29 October 196229 October 1965Not presentedSouthern GRA17 May 1965Not presentedNot presented
† An enquiry into the Commission recommendations was ordered to be held, commencing on 18 October 1961.
‡ An enquiry into the Commission recommendations was ordered to be held, commencing on 23 March 1964.
The North-Western GRA consisted of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmorland (except those areas in the Merseyside and South East Lancashire SRAs), and the county boroughs of Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Carlisle, Chester, Preston, St. Helens, Southport, Warrington and Wigan.London Gazette. 22 June 1965
The Southern GRA consisted of the administrative counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, along with the county boroughs of Bournemouth, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading and Southampton.London Gazette, 2 March 1965
No reviews were commenced for the administrative counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, East or West Sussex, or in the county boroughs of Brighton, Canterbury, Eastbourne, Hastings or Southend-on-Sea. Parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey (including the county boroughs of East Ham, West Ham and Croydon) were included in the Metropolitan Area.
Dissolution On 10 February 1966, the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson announced in the Commons the appointment of a Royal Commission chaired by Lord Redcliffe-Maud, to review the structure of local government in England more radically."Radical Review of Local Government". The Times. 11 February 1966.
The reviews were formally brought to an end in 1967 by the Local Government (Termination of Reviews) Act 1967, which dissolved the commission. Most outstanding recommendations were abandoned by the government."Halt to local reorganization". The Times. 4 May 1967."How Local government Areas Stand Today", The Times, 12 February 1966
The Commission's recommendations The commission's reports made a number of recommendations for the completed reviews. Only some of these were carried into effect.
West Midlands Special Review Area (Report No.1) The special review area had been defined in Schedule 3 of the Local Government Act 1958. It comprised the conurbation of Birmingham and the Black Country, and included six county boroughs, four non-county boroughs and ten urban districts in the administrative county of Staffordshire, three boroughs in Worcestershire and two boroughs and two rural parishes in Warwickshire.
The commission recommended the creation of five enlarged county boroughs in the Black Country, based on the existing county boroughs of Dudley, Smethwick, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. Solihull was also to be constituted a county borough, while Aldridge and Brownhills urban districts were to merge to form Aldridge-Brownhills and a new non-county borough was to be formed from the borough of Stourbridge and the urban district of Amblecote. Draft proposals had Halesowen becoming part of the Smethwick borough."Mergers of Midland Counties Proposed". The Times. 2 March 1960.
The recommendations were largely implemented in 1966, with Solihull becoming a county borough in 1964. The enlarged county borough based on Smethwick was named Warley.
West Midlands General Review Area (Report No.2) The area consisted of the administrative counties of Herefordshire, Salop (or Shropshire), Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire (except the parts included in the West Midlands SRA), and the county boroughs of Burton upon Trent, Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent and Worcester. Local government Commission for England: Report. number 2. West Midlands general review area at BOPCRIS website
The main changes implemented in the area were the realignment of the Staffordshire/Warwickshire county boundary in the Tamworth area, with the abolition of the Tamworth Rural District and extension of the borough of Tamworth in 1965; the inclusion of a number of small urban districts and boroughs (which became rural boroughs) in rural districts in Shropshire in 1967; and the abolition of two small urban districts in Herefordshire in 1968.
The proposals to make Burton upon Trent and Worcester into non-county boroughs were not implemented : Burton had brought a court case challenging the action.
East Midlands General Review Area (Report No.3) The area consisted of the administrative counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Isle of Ely, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough; and the county boroughs of Leicester and Northampton.
The review area included some of the smallest (in both area and population) administrative counties in England."Outcry Grows Over Midland Counties", The Times, 8 March 1960. Draft proposals were quite radical, as follows Cambridgeshire, Isle of Ely, Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough to unite and form a new county of Cambridgeshire to this would also be added the Ketton Rural District from Rutland, Stamford from Kesteven in Lincolnshire, and Royston in Hertfordshire the remainder of Rutland - the Oakham Rural District, Uppingham Rural District and Oakham urban district - would be added to Leicestershire Cambridge would become a county borough
These proposals were greatly controversial (especially in Rutland, which put forth a counter-suggestions to add surrounding areas to Rutland instead from surrounding counties) and the final proposals were watered down somewhat"New amalgamations proposed for small counties". The Times. 2 August 1961.
merger of Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough, to which would be joined Thorney Rural District from the Isle of Ely merger of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely to form Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely (including Royston) the merger of Leicestershire and Rutland, which was to form a single rural district in a "county of Leicester and Rutland"
Extension of the two county boroughs of Leicester and Northampton was also recommended, and that the existing borough of Luton in Bedfordshire be constituted a county borough, but declined to recommend that Dunstable should be added to Luton.Local Government Commission for England: report and proposals for the East Midlands general review area (report number 3) at BOPCRIS website
The proposal to merge Leicestershire and Rutland remained controversial, and an inquiry into objections made to this part of the report was held between 17 and 26 July 1962. Objections were voiced by Rutland County Council, a number of district and parish councils in that county as well as local individuals and organisations."Report of the inquiry into objections to the proposal to amalgamate Leicestershire and Rutland, and to the recommendations that the present county of Rutland (subject to minor boundary adjustment) should form a single rural district'" at BOPCRIS website In August 1963 it was announced that the merger would not go ahead."New Amalgamations Proposed For Small Counties", The Times, 6 August 1961.
The other two mergers of administrative counties did take place, with the creation of new administrative counties of Huntingdon and Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely (excluding Royston) in 1965. A larger non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire, covering all four administrative counties, would be formed in 1974.
Luton became a county borough in 1964, and the extensions to Northampton and Leicester were made in 1966 and 1967 respectively.
South Western General Review Area (Report No.4) The area consisted of the administrative counties of Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire and Somerset; the Isles of Scilly; and the county boroughs of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester and Plymouth.
The commission's proposals included the creation of two new county boroughs: one based on the existing borough of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire (also including Charlton Kings urban district), the other to be formed from the areas of the borough of Torquay, the urban districts of Brixham and Paignton, and parts of Newton Abbot and Totnes rural districts in Devon. Extensions were also recommended for the existing county boroughs of Bristol, Gloucester, Bath and Exeter, and alterations were proposed for the Gloucestershire/Somerset Devon/Cornwall county boundaries.Local Government Commission for England: report and proposals for the South Western general review area (report number 4) at BOPCRIS website The draft proposals had not recommended the creation of these county boroughs.
Of the two proposed county boroughs, only the Devon one was formed, as Torbay, in 1967. None of the extensions of existing county boroughs was made, and no alteration in the boundary between Gloucestershire and Somerset was made. The county boundary between Devon and Cornwall was realigned by the abolition of Broadwoodwidger Rural District in 1966.
A number of small urban districts and boroughs were merged into rural districts in Devon in 1967 and Cornwall in 1968, under reviews made by the two county councils.
The final proposals also proposed transferring Lyme Regis from Dorset to Devon (with the backing of the local council which made a "unanimous decision" to seek the transfer). Ambitions of Wiltshire on Frome and Dorset on Yeovil were rejected."Somerset Unlikely to Lose Towns". The Times. 5 July 1961Letter to the Editor, by Ralph Oliver, Mayor of Lyme Regis, 27 December 1961"County borough status advised for Cheltenham and Torbay". The Times. 3 February 1963
The proposal for a Cheltenham county borough was rejected in October 1965.