Derek Senior

Derek Senior (4 May 1912 – 6 December 1988) was a British freelance writer principally known for being a member of the Royal Commission on Local Government in England, chaired by Lord Redcliffe-Maud.

Senior attended six elementary schools before going to Manchester Grammar School; he then attended Balliol College, Oxford. In 1937 he joined the editorial staff of the Manchester Guardian. After working as a leader writer, reporter and bridge correspondent, he began to specialise in planning matters, where he built up a reputation as a distinguished specialist journalist. Senior studied the disputes between Manchester City Council and the Cheshire authorities over overspill housing very closely.

In 1956, commissioned by Cambridgeshire County Planning Department, he wrote "A Guide to the Cambridge Plan" which explained the detailed planning document in non-technical language. That year he was made an Honorary Associate Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

In 1960, Senior left the staff of The Guardian (as it had then become) and became a freelance. He also worked for the Civic Trust. At the national conference of the Town and Country Planning Association in December 1964, he spoke in favour of the "City Region" as being the only way to make regional planning effective. The next year, he expanded on this theme in a high-profile article in The Political Quarterly, followed by a book of conference papers called "The Regional City".

Senior was named as a member of the Royal Commission on Local Government in England in May 1966. The proceedings of the Royal Commission were kept confidential, but when it was published on 11 June 1969, the Report was found to include a memorandum of dissent by Senior as long as the main report itself.

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