§ 71. Mr. Blenkinsopasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will make a statement on local government reorganisation on Tyneside.
§ Mr. CrossmanI have told local authorities on Tyneside, in a letter they will have received today, that I believe that Tyneside should have its own self-contained urban local government. But I consider that Boldon, which lies in the green belt between Tyneside and Sunderland, is still an independent community and should remain in County Durham.
As regards the form of urban government best suited to Tyneside, the overriding need seems to me to be for a unified administration to deal with the many common and interlocking problems which affect Tyneside as a whole. This need would be met either by the continuous county proposed by the Local Government Commission or by the alternative 68W proposal for a single county borough. However, I recognise that among the local authorities on Tyneside there is strong support for a pattern of four county boroughs and before coming to a conclusion I am proposing to call a conference of the county borough, borough and district councils which will be involved in the new urban government system, so that I can hear their views at first hand.