The Local Government Boundary Commission for England a body established to review boundaries of local government areas in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and their electoral arrangements.

History and establishment

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009

Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The legislation places a duty on local authorities to promote understanding of the functions and democratic arrangements of the authority among local people...

, which received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009, provided for the establishment of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), and for the transfer to it of all the boundary-related functions of the Boundary Committee for England

Boundary Committee for England

The Boundary Committee for England was a statutory committee of the Electoral Commission, an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. The Committee’s aim was to conduct thorough, consultative and robust reviews of local government areas in England, and for its recommendations to be...

 of the Electoral Commission

Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)

The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...

. The transfer took place in April 2010.

Responsibilities and objectives

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is responsible for three types of review: electoral reviews; administrative boundary reviews; and structural reviews.

Electoral Reviews

An electoral review considers whether the boundaries of wards or divisions within a local authority need to be altered to take account of changes in electorate. The Electoral Commission directs the Commission to undertake electoral reviews and is also responsible for implementing them.
The Commission also looks at the number of councillors, the number of wards or divisions and whether the wards or divisions should be represented by a single councillor, or jointly by two or three councillors.

Administrative Boundary Reviews

At the request of the Department for Communities and Local Government or of a local authority, or at the Local Government Boundary Commission for England's instigation, the Commission can undertake administrative boundary reviews, which review the external boundaries of a local authority.

Structural Reviews

A structural review is used to establish whether one or more single, all-purpose councils, known as unitary authorities

Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...

, should be established in an area instead of the district and county

Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England

Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties are one of the four levels of subdivisions of England used for the purposes of local government outside Greater London. As originally constituted, the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties each consisted of multiple districts, had a county council and...

councils of the existing two-tier system.