HC Deb 09 August 1966 vol 733 cc303-4W
Mr. Arthur Davidson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will indicate the stages reached by individual police authorities in considering his proposals for amalgamation.

Mr. Joy Jenkins

Since my statement of 18th May, which listed 30 proposed amalgamation schemes, the following police authorities have agreed in principle to amalgamation, subject to satisfactory agreement on the details of schemes:

Scheme Authorities
1 … Lancashire
Barrow-in-Furness
3 … Liverpool
4 … Cheshire
… Wallasey
Birkenhead
5 … Cumberland
Carlisle
6 … Durham
Sunderland
8 … Sheffield
9 … West Riding
Dewsbury
Halifax
11 … Worcestershire
Worcester City
Shropshire
Herefordshire
12 … Leicestershire and Rutland
Leicester City
13 … Staffordshire
14 … Derbyshire
15 … Warwickshire
16 … Lincolnshire—Lindsey
Lincolnshire—Holland
Lincolnshire—Kesteven
Lincoln City
Grimsby
17 … Nottinghamshire
18 … Norfolk
19 … East Suffolk
West Suffolk
Ipswich
20 … East Sussex
West Sussex
Eastbourne
Hastings
21 … Essex
22 … Reading
Oxford
23 … Somerset (agreed before 18.5.66)
Bath
24 … Dorset
Bournemouth
25 … Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Portsmouth
Southampton
26 … Devon and Exeter
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
Plymouth
27 … Denbighshire
28 … Glamorganshire
Swansea
29 … Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire
Pembrokeshire
30 … Monmouthshire
Newport

In the schemes numbered 4, 6, 11, 12, 16, 19, 24, 25, 26 and 30, all the authorities concerned have agreed in principle and I hope will soon agree on the details of the amalgamation schemes.

I have considered but rejected alternative proposals made by the following authorities:

North Riding; East Riding; York; Buckinghamshire; Berkshire; Oxfordshire; Stoke-on-Trent; Rotherham; Nottingham City; Bootle and Liverpool; Manchester; Salford; Oldham and Rochdale.

I am considering further representations on behalf of Nottingham City, and of the North Riding, East Riding and York; and an alternative proposal has just been submitted to me on behalf of Cheshire and Stockport. A number of authorities contemplated alternatives which would have involved legislation; I have now informed them of my decision not to introduce amending legislation, and asked them to resume consideration of my original proposals.

Three authorities—Cardiff, Mid-Wales and Tees-side—have said they are not prepared to amalgamate, and I have asked them to reconsider this view.