The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has launched a statutory consultation on proposals to reorganise local government across the areas currently administered by Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Blackpool Council.
Five competing proposals have been submitted, ranging from two to five new unitary authorities covering the existing council areas. The consultation invites views on how these new administrative structures should be configured.
However, the area under discussion represents barely half of historic and geographic Lancashire. Large parts of true Lancashire have been administered separately since 1974, while some districts included within the consultation footprint belong to the West Riding of Yorkshire. Despite this, the administrative area created in 1974 has continued to be described simply as “Lancashire”, reinforcing a long-standing public misconception that local government boundaries define the county itself.
The Campaign for Historic Counties is not taking a position on the number, size or configuration of any proposed unitary authorities. Decisions about administrative efficiency and service delivery are properly matters for government and elected representatives.
What we are calling for is straightforward: whatever structure emerges from this process must clearly recognise and respect the historic counties.
Local government areas are administrative constructs. Historic counties are the enduring geographic counties of the nation. They were not abolished in 1974, nor have they been altered by subsequent reforms.
This constitutional and statistical reality is explicitly recognised by the Office for National Statistics. In its Index of Place Names User Guide (2024), the ONS states that the historic counties continue to exist, form the enduring geography of the country, and should be used as such.
Any new councils created through this reorganisation must therefore:
1. Avoid implying that they constitute or redefine historic and geographic Lancashire.
2. Make a clear distinction between administrative areas and historic counties in official publications and communications.
3. Ensure correct historic county attribution, particularly where areas in Yorkshire are concerned.
Repeated rounds of local government restructuring have too often blurred the distinction between administrative convenience and historic identity. This consultation provides an opportunity to correct that course.
Local government boundaries may change. Historic counties do not.
The Campaign for Historic Counties urges ministers and councils alike to ensure that the outcome of this process reflects that simple and enduring truth.
Britain's Historic Counties 