2009 structural changes to local government in England

[1] Further proposals for unitary authorities in northern England, tied to the option of regional devolution, were put to a referendum in 2004 and were rejected.

Selected submissions went to a public consultation from March until June, with successful proposals announced in July.

Legislative requirements for implementation were in place following the enactment of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

One town and three cities were overlooked by the 1990s review: Ipswich, Oxford, Norwich and Exeter[2] proposed unitary status on their present boundaries, and commissioned a report jointly to press their case.

[18] Various county councils proposed they should become unitary authorities: Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Durham, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.

On 27 March 2007, the government announced that the proposals by Bedfordshire, Bedford, Cornwall, Cheshire, Cumbria, Durham, Exeter, Ipswich, North Yorkshire, Norwich, Shropshire, Somerset and Wiltshire to become unitary authorities would go into the next phase, as would the proposal of Chester for a two-unitary authority Cheshire and by the districts of Northumberland for a two-unitary Northumberland.

On 27 March 2007 Local Government Minister Phil Woolas announced that 16 councils bidding for unitary status had been shortlisted to go forward for public consultation.

[26] On 25 July 2007 Woolas' successor John Healey announced that nine proposals would proceed, subject to the approval of Parliament in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

‡ existing district The Boundary Committee for England has completed its structural reviews for Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon.

The committee was expected to make final recommendations by 31 December 2008, but these were delayed, due to legal challenges;[33] and because they didn't assess the potential new authorities in proposals which would have split up the counties between two or more unitaries in aggregate.

In all three counties the committee has stated that its preferred option is for a countywide unitary covering the whole of the existing two-tier area to be implemented.

[42] The final Exeter and Norwich orders were made on 24 March following a Government statement responding to the Lords vote.