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On 1 April 2024, we celebrated the 50th anniversary for hundreds of councils across the country created under the Local Government Act 1972. We designed a suite of graphics and logos for councils to download, edit and post on social media to help mark the occasion.
The Local Government Act 1972 brought about the introduction of the two-tier system we have today and reduced the number of councils from 1,245 to 412. Since 1974, the number of councils has dropped further to 317.
The anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate those councils, recognise and highlight the important contribution they make to their communities, and showcase the value of local government.
It was also an opportunity to focus on the people – leaders, councillors and officers – who have served their local residents over the last half century.
We marked this important milestone with features in our member magazine, first, and across social media.
To help councils celebrate, we created a 50th anniversary set of graphics which could be downloaded, edited and used by councils across social media: X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, using the hashtag #LocalGov50 when posting.