Boundary Committee for England
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The Boundary Committee for England is an independent body in England responsible for defining borders for local elections; and for conducting reviews of local government areas. It is a committee of the Electoral Commission.
Between 1996 and 2004 it (before 2002, its predecessor the Local Government Commission for England) reviewed and proposed changes in the electoral arrangements for all district, unitary councils and county areas in England. The changes have been implemented as and when the respective authorities came up for one of their regular elections; the last was implemented in time for the elections on May 5, 2005.
Since 2006 it has been conducting further Electoral Reviews for certain districts referred by the Electoral Commission. These are the South Gloucestershire unitary authority and various districts in Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Northumberland, Somerset, Cumbria, Cheshire and Hampshire.
The Committee was also requested to draw up proposals for systems of unitary government in the North West England, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber regions, to be implemented if proposals for elected Regional Assemblies were approved by referendum. Draft proposals were produced for consultation on December 1, 2003 and final proposals were released on May 25, 2004. See Subdivisions of England#Proposed changes for details.
On Thursday 4 November 2004 the referendum for the North East decided by a margin of 78% to 22% against an elected regional assembly. On 8 November the Deputy Prime Minister announced "I will not therefore be bringing forward orders for referendums in either the North West, or Yorkshire and the Humber".
The equivalent bodies operating in other parts of the United Kingdom are the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales, the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland and the Local Government Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland.
