The Tyneside Commission In a letter in our correspondence columns
Dr. Henry Mess points out some of the difficulties involved in the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Local Govern- ment in the Tyneside Area. The Report is indeed startling. In the Tyneside Area, at present, there are no fewer than 16 local government authorities, with great disparities in rating, financial status, and administrative methods, and much waste and duplication of services. The simplest solution has for long seemed to be to amalgamate all the towns on the Tyne into one great city, under a single authority. The Com- mission, however, with one dissentient, recommends that local government services be divided into two classes, " local " services, and " regional " services, such as highways and public assistance, which can be best administered over a large area. " Local " services should be given to a new municipal borough, the City of Newcastle-on-Tyne, with a population of 9oo,000, amalgamating all the towns on Tyneside. " Regional " services should be administered by a new type of county council, the Northumberland Regional Council, including all Northumberland and urbanised Tyneside, into which fall four towns at present in the administrative county of Durham. These proposals involve creating two new types of administrative authority; their practicability is doubtful, and their very novelty may afford an excuse for postponing speedy action.
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