Statutes
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1964.tb01039.x |
| Date | 01 July 1964 |
| Published date | 01 July 1964 |
STATUTES
LONDON GOVERNMENT ACT,
1968
A
ROYAL
Commission under Sir Edwin Herbert was appointed in
1957
to examine and make recommendations upon the system and
working of local government in the Greater London area. Its
Report was presented in
1960,l
and
in
the following year the
Government published a White Paper accepting most of the
principal proposals. The introduction of the London Government
Bill
followed late in
1962,
but its enactment in July
1963
was fhally
secured only after the consumption of a remarkable amount of
parliamentary time.
In
the House of Commons, where some
1,000
amendments were suggested, the Bill occupied four days in a com-
mittee
of
the whole House and twenty4ne sittings in Standing
Committee; while the House of Lords considered
785
proposed
amendments in the course of its prolonged deliberations.
Sir Keith Joseph-who, as Minister of Housing and Local
Government, was responsible for piloting the Bill through the
House of Commons-said that its main provisions were
“
the
creation
of
an overall authority to meet needs which by their nature
are needs of Greater London as a whole, and the setting up of a
substantially uniform system of borough administration for all
other ~urposes.~’~ The area of Greater London, as
now
defined
in the is supposed to incorporate the greater part of the
continuous built-up development of present-day L~ndon.~
It
is an
area which, in the words of the Herbert Commission (at para.
279),
“
differs from the conurbations in the rest of the country by reason
of its size, density of population, history of growth and the over-
riding predominance of its one centre.” The ninety-four sections
and eighteen schedules of the London Government Act are an
attempt to take account of these differences.
The Structure
of
Local Government
The basic structure of the new system of local government in
London is
set
out in Part
1
(sections
1-8)
and
in
the first four
schedules of the Act.
See
J.
F.
Garner, “London Government and its Reform
::
1
Cmnd. 1164.
1961
P.L.
256;
W.
A.
Robson, “The Reform
of
London
Government
El
1961
Public
Administration
59;
(1962) 25
M.L.R.
224.
See [1962]
P.L.
at
pp.
4-5.
2
Cmnd. 1562.
8
Parl.Deb., Commons, Vol. 669 (5th Series), Col. 49 (December 10, 1962).
4
Certain fringe areas which the Herbert Commission had included within
Greater London were subsequently excluded-see Written Answer in House
of
Commons,
May
18,
1962.
5
See Parl.Deb., Lords, Vol. 251
(5th
Seriee), col. 64 (June
24,
1963).
447
To continue reading
Request your trial