Cooksey Commission
The new commission was under the chairmanship of Sir David Cooksey, previously the chairman of the Audit Commission. The commission published draft proposals on the districts referred back to it in September 1995. It recommended unitary status for Blackpool, Blackburn, Halton, Northampton, Peterborough, Thurrock, Warrington and the Wrekin, and also that Rochester upon Medway and Gillingham should form a Medway Towns unitary authority.
The final recommendations deleted Northampton from this list, deciding that "as with Exeter and Gloucester, the separation of Northampton from its county would have a significant and detrimental effect". The government announced its acceptance of these recommendations in March 1996, and these changes were implemented in 1998.
The Commission decided against unitary status for the three districts around Nottingham: Gedling, Broxtowe and Rushcliffe. Of the three, only Rushcliffe Borough Council supported a change. It considered but came down against unifying Dartford and Gravesham as a unitary authority (supported by Dartford but rejected by Gravesham). Exeter was considered too small. The Commission noted that Gloucester's proximity to Cheltenham would cause issues and that the two towns should be governed together. The Commission rejected the case of Huntingdonshire (a historic county, and the constituency of the Prime Minister, John Major), noting that there was "no exceptional county allegiance" and doubting the capacity of Huntingdonshire and the viability of the remaining Cambridgeshire. The Commission noted that tight boundaries for Norwich would cause a problem for unitary government, but that an extension would likely be strongly opposed. In Spelthorne the Commission was concerned about the lack of "internal coherence of the area" and its size.
While finding against a Basildon unitary authority, the Commission recommended the removal of Billericay and Wickford from Basildon district and their addition to Brentwood and Rochford districts, leaving Basildon district focused on the Basildon New Town. The boundary alterations proposed between Basildon, Rochford and Brentwood were never implemented.
The Commission also recommended boundary revisions between Peterborough and Huntingdonshire to incorporate the entire southern township of Peterborough in the city, and also boundary changes between Spelthorne and Runnymede as a result of changes in the path of the River Thames. The Peterborough changes were implemented as part of the Order for Peterborough, coming into force in 1998, and the alterations to the boundary between Runnymede and Spelthorne were implemented on 1 April 1997.
The Commission was directed in 1996 to review local government in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, as a result of local demand for Southport to be removed from that borough. The final report recommended no change in the existing structure of local government in Sefton.
In 1996, the Commission began a periodic electoral review of every local authority in England, reviewing the existing wards and electoral divisions and altering them to take into account changes in the electorate. This work was taken over by the Boundary Committee for England in 2002, and completed in 2004.
Read more about this topic: Local Government Commission For England (1992)
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—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)