Unitary Authority to replace District and County Councils 

On 4th November 2004, at the same time as the North-East Assembly referendum, Northumberland voters were asked to choose between a single authority Northumberland County and two new authorities Rural Northumberland and South-West Northumberland

A similar vote took place in County Durham

The Northumberland electorate voted decisively against a Single Northumberland Council.

Single Authority  51,560    Two-Tier Authority    66,140

This proposal would have seen rural Northumberland in one local authority - covering Hexham, Morpeth, Berwick and Alnwick, with the more populated South-East Northumberland (Blyth, Bedlington, Cramlington etc in a separate authority)

The voting in Tynedale District was

Single Authority  10,125    Two-Tier Authority    14,830

The NO vote in the regional assembly means this will not be implemented. However this is not the first time changes have been proposed and the Boundary Commission could renew these proposals on the basis of the vote.

In County Durham a small majority favoured a single County Council. 

The vote against Northumberland County Council was probably strongly influenced by the proposed middle school changes. 

Previous reports

Click here to download the reports (in PDF format).

Preliminary Boundary Commission Report - Dec 2003

Final Boundary Commission Report -  May 2004

What do you think? Should these changes still be carried out even without a regional assembly?

E-mail your views to unitary@mickley.plus.com