Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926

The Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926
Dates
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the law with respect to the constitution and extension of county boroughs, and to amend the Local Government (Adjustments) Act, 1913.
Citation	16 & 17 Geo. 5 c.38
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Royal Assent	15 December 1926
Other legislation
Repealed by	Local Government Act 1929
Status: Repealed

Street nameplate on Rutland Road, Smethwick in April 2007, showing painted out "County Borough" lettering.

The Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act, 1926 (16 & 17 Geo. 5 c.38) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amended the Local Government Act 1888, changing the process by which county boroughs could be created or extended.

The Act responded to the problems caused by the fact that an increasing number of municipal boroughs were gaining county borough status as soon as they reached the requisite 50,000 population. This was leading to loss of territory by administrative counties. The consequent loss of population and rate base affected the finance of county councils.

On 16 February 1923, a Royal Commission had been appointed under the chairmanship of the Earl of Onslow to "inquire into the existing law and procedure relating to the extensions of county Boroughs and the creation of new County Boroughs in England and Wales, and the effect such extensions or creations on the administration of the Councils of Counties and of non-County Boroughs, Urban Districts and Rural Districts; to investigate the relations between these several local authorities; and generally to make recommendations as to their constitution, areas and functions".^[1]

The commission published its first report in 1925, and among their recommendations were that:

All proposals to constitute a county borough should be made by private bill, and not by provisional order under the 1888 Act.
Extensions to county boroughs should be by provisional order where there were no objections, and by private bill where objections were made.
The population requirement for the creation of a county borough should be raised to 75,000 from 50,000.
In dealing with applications for extensions to existing county boroughs, the wishes of the inhabitants of the added areas should be taken into account, except where there were "weightier considerations of public advantage".^[2]

The 1926 Act implemented most of the commission's recommendations by making the following changes:

The Minister of Health lost the power to constitute county boroughs by provisional order.
The corporation of a borough could not promote a bill constituting the borough into a county borough unless the population according to the last census was 75,000 or above.
County boroughs could not apply to the Minister for a provisional order extending the borough boundaries unless they had first sent a draft of their proposals to all the councils of the administrative counties, boroughs, rural and urban districts affected. The councils had four weeks to object.
The Minister could refuse to extend the boundaries due to objections by the affected councils, or for any other reason.
Where a provisional order to extend the municipal boundaries was refused by the Minister, the county borough corporation could promote a bill, having first informed all objectors of their intention.

The last county borough constituted under the 1888 Act was Doncaster, with a population of about 60,000, in 1927. Another county borough was not created until 1964.

The provisions of the Act were later incorporated in the Local Government Act 1933. The population limit for county boroughs was raised to 100,000 by the Local Government Act 1958.

References

↑ London Gazette, 16 February 1923
↑ First Report of the Royal Commission on Local Government: constitution and extension of county boroughs (Cmd. 2506)

Sources

Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926

United Kingdom legislation

Pre-Parliamentary legislation	List of English statutes Charter of Liberties Magna Carta

Acts of Parliament by states preceding the Kingdom of Great Britain	Acts of the Parliament of England to 1483 1485–1601 1603–1641 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660–1699 1700–1706 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland Acts of the Parliament of Ireland to 1700 1701–1800

Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain	1707–1719 1720–1739 1740–1759 1760–1779 1780–1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1801–1819 1820–1839 1840–1859 1860–1879 1880–1899 1900–1919 1920–1939 1940–1959 1960–1979 1980–1999 2000 to date Halsbury's Statutes UK Statute Law Database Short titles

Church of England measures	List Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919

Legislation of devolved institutions	Acts of the Scottish Parliament Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland Orders in Council for Northern Ireland

Orders-in-Council	Order in Council

Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments Scottish Statutory Instruments Act of Sederunt, Act of Adjournal

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