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The first proposal was the quite uncontroversial one to make [[Isle of Wight]] a single unitary authority. The island had been split quite artificially between [[South Wight]] and [[Medina (borough)|Medina]] boroughs, with a Wight County Council, since [[1974]].
From the first tranche, the commission recommended that [[County of Avon|Avon]], [[County of Cleveland|Cleveland]] and [[Humberside]] should be abolished and broken up into four unitary authorities each. It also recommended that the rump [[Somerset]] be broken up into three unitary authorities (overriden by John Gimmer). It suggested that North Yorkshire be split into three unitary authorities - one for [[York]], and two others called [[West Riding of Yorkshire]] and [[North Riding of Yorkshire]]. TheIt latterrecommended twono werechange rejected,in [[Lincolnshire]] and so[[Gloucestershire]]. an expanded YorkThe becamegovernment aaccepted most of unitarythese authorityrecommendations, withbut also kept the reststatus ofquo in Somerset, and in North Yorkshire, remainingto remain a rump two-tier North Yorkshire without York. ItThese recommendedchanges nowere changeimplemented in [[Lincolnshire]] and [[Gloucestershire1996]].
From the second and later tranches, it recommended [[Buckinghamshire]], [[Bedfordshire]] and [[Berkshire]] county councils to be abolished. Elsewhere, it operated rather inconsistently. Some counties were recommended to have no change, others to be split into large unitary authorities, with large districts sometimes being recommended for unitary status, but sometimes not. In early [[1995]], soon after the report had been delivered, John Banham resigned as head of the Commission.
The government considered the final report of the Banham Commission. Avon, Cleveland and Humberside were creations of theIn [[1974Buckinghamshire]] reform and were unable to stop their abolition. However, in Buckinghamshire and [[Bedfordshire]] it did not accept the recommendations of the Commmission, which was for an entirely unitary structure, and decided to only make [[Luton]] and [[Milton Keynes (borough)|Milton Keynes]] unitary, with the rest of those counties retaining a two-tier structure. The proposal to abolish Berkshire County Council was accepted, however. This had been strongly supported by the County Council earlier, though as implementation drew closer, and the political composition of the Council altered, it changed its mind. Another county council that was recommended to be abolished was [[Dorset]], where four unitary authorities were proposed. Two of these were accepted, [[Bournemouth]] and [[Poole]], whilst the rest of the county remained two-tier. Most of the recommendations from this round of the review were implemented in [[1997]], a few being held over till 1998.
In many counties that were to remain unchanged, the government accepted the Report, with reservations about specific districts. The Environment Secretary referred the cases of twenty-one districts to the newa commission, under [[David Cooksey]]. These were [[Basildon (district)|Basildon]], [[Blackburn with Darwen|Blackburn]], [[Blackpool]], [[Broxtowe]], [[Dartford]], [[Exeter]], [[Gedling]], [[Gillingham]], [[Gloucester]], [[Gravesham]], [[Halton (borough)|Halton]], [[Huntingdonshire]], [[Northampton]], [[Norwich]], [[City of Peterborough|Peterborough]], [[Rochester upon Medway]], [[Rushcliffe]], [[Spelthorne]], [[Thurrock]], [[Warrington]], and [[Telford and Wrekin|the Wrekin]]. About half of these were accepted by the Commission, and these changes were were implemented in [[1998]].
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