Local Government Boundary Commission for England (1972)

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) was the statutory body established under the Local Government Act 1972 to settle the boundaries, names and electoral arrangements of the non-metropolitan districts which came into existence in 1974, and for their periodic review. The stated purpose of the LGBCE was to ensure "that the whole system does not get frozen into the form which has been adopted as appropriate in the 1970s". In the event it made no major changes and was replaced in 1992 by the Local Government Commission for England.

The commission was initially formed as the Local Government Boundary Commission for England Designate, a provisional body. The Commission only became permanent when the Local Government Bill received the royal assent in October 1972.

On 25 November 1971, Peter Walker, Secretary of State for the Environment, announced the membership of the commission designate. The chairman was Sir Edmund Compton, who had been the first Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (or Ombudsman), and the Deputy Chairman was John Mitchell Rankin QC. There were five other members.

Schedule 7 of the 1972 Act placed the commission on a statutory basis, It provided that "The Commission shall be a body corporate consisting of a chairman, a deputy chairman and not more than five other members." All were to be appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment for fixed terms.

The first task of the LGBCE Designate was to divide England outside of Greater London and the metropolitan counties into non-metropolitan districts. In February 1972 it was announced that the government wished to hold elections for the new district councils in June 1973, requiring the commission to finalise its scheme by November 1972, five months earlier than originally envisaged. It was expected that there would be about 300 districts.

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