ABSTRACT
Regional Boards for Industry were appointed to advise Ministers and their Departments on industrial conditions within their regions and on methods of making fuller use of regional resources. The Boards were intended to inform local industry of government policy and to inform Whitehall of the views held in the regions on industrial questions. The fact that the Government proposes important new departures in regional administration with only a ritual bow to elected representative institutions suggests that there may be a gradual reversion to older forms when the shires were administered by agents of the Crown.’ The Association of Municipal Corporations expressed concern lest the Regional Economic Planning Councils should be unable to exercise an effective check on the planning boards, and deplored the small extent of local government participation. In May 1964, the Association declared that any approach to local government reform must have as its prime objective the maintenance of the democratic control of local services.
