[1] The document proposed the establishment of a Local Government Boundary Commission with executive powers to alter council areas, taking over the powers of the county councils and Minister of Health to change areas.

The proposals in the white paper were enacted as the Local Government (Boundary Commission) Act 1945 (8 & 9 Geo.

[2] Outside observers considered that the establishment of the commission meant that the government did not intend to make any changes in the basic structure of local government, and noted that the commission lacked the power to recommend radical changes such as the establishment of regional councils.

The first reviews concerned the claims of Dagenham, Ilford, Leyton, Luton, Rochester-Chatham-Gillingham, and Walthamstow for county borough status.

[11] It contained a notably strong section outlining the deficiencies with the existing system of local government,[12] and therefore the report made comprehensive proposals for local government areas throughout England, and suggestions for Wales.

The commission felt that in order to provide effective local government a county must have a population of more than 200,000 and less than a million.

The small counties requiring union were: Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Ely, Lincolnshire (Parts of Holland), Lincolnshire (Parts of Kesteven), Rutland, East Suffolk, West Suffolk, Soke of Peterborough, Westmorland and Worcestershire.

Although the Isle of Wight was below the population limit it was to be preserved because it was an island and cannot conveniently be united with the mainland.

"[5] The large counties needing division were Cheshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.

On 25 March 1949, the Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan replied to a written question in the House of Commons stating that "it will not be practicable to introduce comprehensive legislation on local government reconstruction in the near future".

The minister praised the work done by the commission, but noted that it did not have the power under the 1945 act to alter the structure or vary the functions of local government.

It was therefore repealing the act creating the body, restoring the situation for local boundary reviews to that pertaining in 1945.

The government was to carry out a review of the structures and functions of local administration, including London, although the Minister was unable to give a date for its commencement.

"[18] The statement effectively delayed reform until the next parliament, a fact not lost on the commission's former chairman who wrote to The Times bemoaning the fact that "The Government's review of local government structure, which was stated in 1949 to be already in being, appears to have led nowhere.

This lack of decision is bad enough for local government, but surely the reconstitution of district authorities, without previous consideration of any of the functions or boundaries of the existing counties and county boroughs, or even any power to consider them simultaneously, would be a farce.