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Local Government (Structural Changes) (Areas and Membership of Public Bodies in Bedfordshire and Cheshire) Order 2009

My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister. I agree about the common sense of the order, and I particularly take the point about the timing to enable new members to take part in budget discussions. Try as I might, I could find few comments on the order save but a couple. The Minister said that there had been five supportive responses from the Bedfordshire and Cheshire police authorities and one that was neutral. I understand that there has been controversy as to how the places on the policy authority should be allocated between the constituent authorities. I hope, as do colleagues in the area, that this can be resolved by agreeing that representation should be proportionate to population. There was another common sense comment about how cumbersome it would be to name all four local authorities shared by the Cheshire Constabulary if it has to be done too often. Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington is a bit of a mouthful, and it would be useful if, in time, the emergency services could simply be known as Cheshire. It occurred to me when the Minister referred to Cheshire and Bedfordshire that we are already using almost historical titles. I am sure that we will go on doing so because that is common sense; that is our understanding of the geography. However, whatever the history leading to the creation of these new unitaries, we wish the authorities well.