April 2024 marked 50 years since Wigan Borough was formed, uniting 14 districts into one shared identity under the Progress With Unity banner.
Throughout this year, Wigan Council and its partners will explore why the anniversary is an important moment in our social and cultural history.
It also provides an ideal opportunity to reflect on the amazing achievements seen across our borough over the last five decades
1974 was a big shake-up across the country. What happened and why?
It all started on a Monday.
Monday, April 1, 1974, to be precise.
The areas now covered by our borough stopped (for administrative purposes) being part of the county of Lancashire and the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan was formed.
Similar changes were happening up and down the country, all because of the Local Government Act 1972.
Why did the changes happen?
The Local Government Act 1972 attempted to streamline the local authority system across England and Wales, reducing the number of districts and boroughs (outside of London) from 1,245 to around 400.
There was general agreement in Westminster that the structure of local government required changes, although previous reform proposals, prior to the 1972 Act, had not been successful.
It was passed under the Edward Heath’s Conservative Government of the time and received Royal Assent (final confirmation that the proposals would be taking place) in October 1972.
It created new Metropolitan counties (including Greater Manchester and Merseyside) and elections to the new authorities were held in 1973.
What did it mean here in Wigan Borough?
On a local level, it saw 14 authorities merged into the new organisation.
This included the County Borough of Wigan, the Municipal Borough of Leigh, and the urban districts of Abram, Ashton, Aspull, Billinge and Winstanley, Atherton, Golborne, Hindley, Ince, Orrell, Standish and Tyldesley, and parts of the Wigan Rural District such as Haigh, Shevington and Worthington.
The outputs and services provided by these separate authorities therefore needed to be combined so a working group was set up in the years leading up to 1974 to help with the transition.
It was a huge administrative task, with papers, reports, records and documents needing to be shared from all areas of the borough, many of which are available to view at Archives: Wigan & Leigh.
Many of those services, such as education and schools, housing, libraries, welfare and waste collections, remained the same for residents given that it was only the management of them that had changed.
The first elections for the newly formed Wigan Council were held on May 10, 1973, with 72 seats up-for-grabs.