§ Mr. Mark RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will issue guidance to the local government commission and announce its work programme.
§ Mr. HowardI have today issued to the local authority associations and other organisations with an interest the policy guidance I intend to issue to the new local government commission. It takes account of the comments we received on the draft guidance issued last November. I have also today issued draft procedure guidance for the local government commission. Copies of both documents have been placed in the Library of the House and additional copies are available in the Vote Office.
I intend to direct the local government commission to undertake a rolling programme of reviews of the shire counties of England, area by area. Review will be carried out in five tranches. The areas to be covered in each tranche are:
First
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- Avon
- Gloucestershire
- Somerset
- Cleveland
- Durham
- Derbyshire
- Humberside
- Lincolnshire
- North Yorkshire
- Isle of Wight
Second
- Cambridgeshire
- Cumbria
- Lancashire
- Devon
- Hampshire
- Leicestershire
- Nottinghamshire
- Staffordshire
Third
- Bedfordshire
- Berkshire
- Oxfordshire
- Buckinghamshire
- Cheshire
- East Sussex
- West Sussex
- Kent
- Northamptonshire
Fourth
- Dorset
- Essex
- Hereford and Worcester
- Norfolk
- Suffolk
- Wiltshire
Fifth
- Cornwall
- Hertfordshire
- Northumberland
- Shropshire
- Surrey
- Warwickshire
This represents a balanced and manageable programme for the commission and gives priority to those areas where there is a history of dissatisfaction with the existing local government structure. I expect structural changes following the commission's reviews to take effect between 1994 and 1998.