§ Mr. ElletsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will direct the Local Government Commission to carry out the electoral reviews referred to in his answer of 14 March,Official Report, column 695, to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North. [24590]
§ Mr. CurryWe are today directing the Local Government Commission to carry out electoral reviews of the eight areas where my right hon. Friend announced on 14 March that he was accepting the commission's recommendation that there should be unitary authorities. The eight areas are Blackburn, Blackpool, Halton, Peterborough—including minor boundary changes which the commission recommended and we have accepted The Wrekin, Thurrock, Warrington, and the combined area of Gillingham and Rochester-upon-Medway.
We have asked the commission to submit its final reports by 3 December so that any new warding can be implemented in time for elections in May 1997.