The Local Government Boundary Commission was established in 1945 to review the boundaries of local authority areas in England and Wales outside the counties of London and Middlesex. The commission produced its report in 1948 which proposed large changes to county-level areas of local government and changes in the structure and division of powers between tiers of administration. The commission's proposals were not acted on, and it was disbanded in 1949.
Background Alterations to local government boundaries had been suspended with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Previously they had been carried out by a number of processes: county boroughs could be constituted or extended by a local act of Parliament, while county councils were to carry out reviews of county districts (non-county boroughs, urban and rural districts) on a ten yearly cycle. There was no general procedure for adjusting boundaries between administrative counties, or for amalgamating them. The different procedures were not coordinated.
The wartime coalition government published a white paper in January 1945, entitled Local government in England and Wales during the period of reconstruction.Cmd. 6579 The document proposed the establishment of a Local Government Boundary Commission with executive powers to alter council areas, taking over the powers of the county councils and Minister of Health to change areas. In future all proposed changes by local authorities were to be submitted to the commission. The commission was to consider administration in each geographical county (the administrative county plus associated county boroughs) and see if there was a prima facie case for a review. If it felt a review was warranted the commission was to notify the Minister and the relevant county council, who could then require the holding of an inquiry into local government in the county.
The problem of local government in the counties of London and Middlesex were deemed to be a special case, with the extension of the County of London, the probable disappearance of Middlesex and annexing of parts of the surrounding counties envisaged. The commission was not to be allowed to consider these issues, which were to be considered by an "authoritative body" at a later stage. It was recognised that Middlesex contained a number of towns "large enough on any standard for county borough status" but the commissioners were not given the power to "entertain applications for county borough status in the county".
The commission was to have the power to:
Extend or create county boroughs Reduce the status of county boroughs to non-county boroughs Merge contiguous county boroughs Merge small administrative counties
The decisions of the commission were to be subject to parliamentary review. The proposals in the white paper were enacted as the Local Government (Boundary Commission) Act 1945 (8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 38). It received the royal assent on the last day in office of the caretaker government that had taken over from the coalition in May."Back to Planning", The Times, 6 October 1945 Outside observers considered that the establishment of the commission meant that the government did not intend to make any changes in the basic structure of local government, and noted that the commission lacked the power to recommend radical changes such as the establishment of regional councils.The Councillor's Handbook by H. Townshend-Rose and H. R. Page, 2nd Edition, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd, London, 1946, pp. 6–7.
Appointment of commissioners Following the 1945 general election, Aneurin Bevan was appointed the Secretary of State for Health in the new Labour government, and took over responsibility for the appointment of the Commission. The five commissioners were appointed by Royal Warrant on 25 October 1945.London Gazette, issue no.37325, 26 October 1945 The chairman was Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve and the deputy chairman Sir John Evelyn Maude. The three other members were Sir George Hammond Etherton, Sir Frederick Rees and Bill Holmes.
The Minister of Health made regulations governing the work of the commission. Any alterations in the status or boundaries of local government areas were to create "individually and collectively effective and convenient units of local government administration." The commission was given nine main factors which were to govern their decisions: Community of interest Development, or anticipated development Economic and industrial characteristics Financial resources Physical features, including, but not exclusively, suitable boundaries, means of communication, and accessibility of administrative centres and centres of business and social life Population size, distribution and characteristics Record of administration by local authorities concerned Size and shape of the area Wishes of the inhabitantsThe Boundaries of Local Government Areas, E. W. Gilbert, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 111, No. 4/6. (April – June, 1948), pp. 172–198
Work of the commission In April 1946 the commission wrote to county and county borough councils, asking for information on any boundary proposals they were considering. By August they had received replies from 80 of 83 county boroughs and 42 of 61 county councils, stating they were seeking boundary reviews.
Acting on the information they had received, the commission prioritised the review of areas into two categories, "A" and "B". Reviews of areas in category A were to proceed as soon as possible, while the review of category B areas would be held back until July, 1947 (except where they would affect the boundaries of areas in category A).
The first reviews concerned the claims of Dagenham, Ilford, Leyton, Luton, Rochester-Chatham-Gillingham, and Walthamstow for county borough status. Among the category A reviews were the boundaries of Bedfordshire, the areas of Surrey within the Greater London area, and a request by the municipal boroughs of Beckenham and Bromley to form a joint county borough.Local government boundaries – Commission's order of priority, The Times, 30 August 1946
First report On 22 April 1947, the commission presented its first report to Parliament, covering its work in 1946. The following investigations had been begun:Review of local boundaries – first decisions in May, The Times, 23 April 1947 Plymouth Bootle and Liverpool Luton Eleven Welsh counties (excluding Glamorgan) South-west Essex (East Ham, West Ham, Barking, Chingford, Dagenham, Ilford, Leyton, Romford, Walthamstow, Wanstead and Woodford, Chigwell and Hornchurch) Southampton Grimsby Twelve county boroughs in south and east Lancashire (Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, St Helens, Salford, Warrington and Wigan) Part of East Anglia (Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Ely, Lincolnshire (Holland, Kesteven and Lindsey), Soke of Peterborough, Rutland, Norfolk and the county boroughs of Great Yarmouth, Lincoln and Norwich) Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester Dudley, Smethwick, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton Bath and Bristol Cheltenham and Gloucester Portsmouth Sunderland
In addition, the report recommended the ending of the distinction between (non-county) boroughs, rural districts, and urban districts, with all to become known as "county districts". The privileges granted to boroughs under municipal charters were to be preserved, however.
The commission also sought an amendment of its powers, to extend its power to divide districts to municipal boroughs as well.
It was announced that decisions in the "urgent" category A areas would be given the following month.Local boundaries (editorial), The Times, 23 April 1947
First recommendations Decisions on the category A areas were announced 1 May 1947: Liverpool: The county borough council had sought to annex the county borough of Bootle and the borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Huyton-with-Roby and Litherland and much of West Lancashire and Whiston rural districts. The commission proposed a much smaller extension to include parts of the two rural districts. Bootle: The county borough was to be enlarged by gaining the borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Litherland and parts of West Lancashire rural district. The commission felt that without the extensions Bootle would no longer be a viable local government unit. Plymouth: the county borough had sought to annex a large area from the two adjoining counties. From Cornwall would have come the borough of Saltash, Torpoint urban district and part of St Germans rural district, and from Devon the entire Plympton St Mary rural district and the southern part of Tavistock rural district. The commission limited its proposed extension to two parishes from the Plympton rural district. Hull: The county borough was to be enlarged by the absorption of Haltemprice urban district and parts of Beverley and Holderness rural districts. Southampton: Interim recommendations were made to allow the county borough to acquire territory in order to provide housing following wartime damage. The corporation had sought to gain part of the borough of Eastleigh, but the extension was limited to small parts of the rural districts of Romsey and Stockbridge and Winchester. Grimsby: The commission deferred a decision on the county borough's boundary. Grimsby corporation sought to annex the adjacent borough of Cleethorpes and much of Grimsby rural district, which would probably have ceased to exist as a result. Luton: The borough had sought county borough status and an extension of its boundaries. The commission deferred a decision on the status of the borough, and proposed a small enlargement of its area. Suggestions that the borough should merge with that of Dunstable were rejected. Lancashire and North Cheshire: No final decision on the future of fourteen county boroughs in the area were made. If all the requests for extensions had been granted, much of south Lancashire would have been made up entirely of county boroughs, and the commission sought to review the areas around Manchester and Salford before making proposals for the fourteen boroughs. Eastern Counties: The commission considered that six administrative counties (Huntingdonshire, Isle of Ely, Holland, Kesteven, Rutland, and Soke of Peterborough) were too small to be effective units, and amalgamations would be necessary.Town and county boundaries – First decisions of the Commission, The Times, 2 May 1947
Two weeks later the commission issued a statement on further proposed changes: St Helens: The county borough had asked for an extension to absorb two neighbouring urban districts and six parishes. The commission issued an interim decision, restricting the proposed extension to most of the parish of Windle in the Whiston rural district, as the borough needed land for housing purposes. Further extensions were deferred until the consideration of the wider area. Oldham: The commission proposed extending Oldham county borough to absorb Lees urban district and part of Limehurst rural district, the rest of which was to be split between the borough of Ashton-under-Lyne and Failsworth urban district. As in St Helens, this was an interim decision to allow the borough's housing programme to progress. South-west Essex: The commission had not made a final decision on the area, but hoped to make a decision on "broad principles" within a year. Staffordshire: The commission also hoped to make a decision on seven county boroughs within a year, noting that the Ministry of Town and Country Planning was to carry out a comprehensive planning survey of the geographical county, which might effect local government reforms.Local government boundaries – Commission's proposals, The Times, 16 May 1947
Second report