Lancaster to appoint Lord-Lieutenants for the shrunken Lancashire along with all of Greater Manchester and Merseyside. In England before the passing of the Act there had been 1086 rural and urban districts (including non-county boroughs) and 79 county boroughs. The number of districts was reduced about fourfold. Most of the new districts were groups of the whole areas of former districts, although 64 rural districts were split between new districts, and there were eleven urban districts or boroughs which saw their territory split between new districts: Teesside County Borough, Whitley Bay Municipal Borough, Ashton-in-Makerfield Urban District, Billinge and Winstanley Urban District, Golborne Urban District, Lakes Urban District, Queensbury and Shelf Urban District, Ramsbottom Urban District, Seaton Valley Urban District, Thurrock Urban District, and Turton Urban District. England Metropolitan counties Metropolitan districts Non-metropolitan counties Non-metropolitan districts A list of non-metropolitan districts can be found at List of English districts. The Local Government Boundary Commission originally proposed 278 non-metropolitan districts in April 1972 (still working with the county boundaries found in the Bill). A further eighteen districts were added in the final proposals of November 1972, which were then ordered. The splits were as follows (in most cases the splits were not exact, and many other changes to the borders of the districts took place at this time) Devon: Torridge/North Devon Dorset : Weymouth and Portland/Purbeck, North Dorset/East Dorset Durham : Wear Valley/Teesdale Hereford and Worcester : Hereford/South Herefordshire/Leominster Humberside: Holderness/North Wolds Isle of Wight: South Wight/Medina Lancashire: Hyndburn/Rossendale Leicestershire : Rutland/Melton, Harborough/Oadby and Wigston Lincolnshire: Boston/South Holland Northamptonshire: Daventry/South Northamptonshire Northumberland : Berwick-upon-Tweed/Alnwick Shropshire : Oswestry/North Shropshire, Bridgnorth/South Shropshire Somerset: Taunton Deane/West Somerset Suffolk: Forest Heath The new district in Suffolk was necessitated by the decision to keep Newmarket in Suffolk; which would otherwise have become part of the East Cambridgeshire district. Isles of Scilly Section 265 of the Act allowed for the continuation of the local government arrangements for the Isles of Scilly. The Isles of Scilly Rural District Council became the Council of the Isles of Scilly, and certain services were to continue to be provided by Cornwall County Council as provided by order made by the Secretary of State, although the Isles were not technically in Cornwall before or after 1974. Wales New counties New districts Map Elections Elections to the new authorities were held on three different Thursdays in 1973. Each new county and district was divided