Redcliffe-Maud Report

The commission was appointed on 7 June 1966, with the following terms of reference: "....to consider the structure of Local Government in England, outside Greater London, in relation to its existing functions; and to make recommendations for authorities and boundaries, and for functions and their division, having regard to the size and character of areas in which these can be most effectively exercised and the need to sustain a viable system of local democracy; and to report.

"[1]The members of the commission were Redcliffe-Maud (chairman), John Eveleigh Bolton (vice-chairman), Derek Senior, Sir James William Francis Hill, Victor Grayson Hardie Feather, Arthur Hedley Marshall, Peter Mursell, John Laurence Longland, Reginald Charles Wallis, Thomas Dan Smith and Dame Evelyn Adelaide Sharp.

These new unitary authorities were largely based on major towns, which acted as regional employment, commercial, social and recreational centres and took into account local transport infrastructure and travel patterns.

The shadow spokesman Peter Walker did not commit himself but instead held a series of regional conferences to ascertain party grassroots opinion.

Walker decided that a future Conservative government could not implement Redcliffe-Maud, but refused to disown the report completely.

[6] The Rural District Councils Association was immediately opposed to the proposals which would see their members subsumed in much larger authorities.

Swale Rural District Council was forced to opt out of the campaign due to the similarity of "R.E.

[8] By coincidence, Moate had moved the motion opposing Redcliffe-Maud at the Conservative Party conference.

[9] When the Conservatives won the 1970 general election, they did so on a manifesto committed to a two-tier system in local government.