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Communities in Control

My hon. Friend will accept that the unitary authority proposals came from communities and local authorities. They were not imposed from the top, with central Government saying, ““You must have unitary authorities.”” Communities were asked whether they wanted to put forward proposals on local governance, so that the proposals could be tested to see which would be the most effective. Obviously, decisions were made in respect of the local authorities to which he has referred, but the process was from the bottom up.