The Local Government Act 1958 (6 & 7 Eliz.2 c.55) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom effecting local government in England and Wales outside London. Among its provisions it included the establishment of Local Government Commissions to review the areas and functions of local authorities, and introduced new procedures for carrying these into action.

• Part I of the Act dealt with the finance of councils, in particular it introduced a general grant, payable to all councils, and a rate-deficiency grant for those councils whose area had lower than average per capita rates income. These measures replaced a number of earlier separate grants for different services, which reflected the increasing number of services being provided by local authorities. These grants were later replaced by the rate support grant by the General Rate Act 1967. Part I also dealt with the rating of the nationalised gas and electricity undertakings.

• Part II of the Act dealt with reviews of local government areas. It established a Local Government Commission for England who were charged with reviewing the organisation of local government in five special review areas, and also had the power to make reviews elsewhere in England outside a defined metropolitan area. A similar Local Government Commission for Wales (including Monmouthshire) was also formed, although no special review areas were designated in Wales. Each county council in England and Wales was required to make a review of the local government in its area. However, they were not empowered to make any proposals in any place included in a special review area, or in the metropolitan area. As the entire County of London was included in the metropolitan area, the London County Council was excluded from making reviews. If the county council, in the opinion of the Minister of Health, had failed to carry out a proper review, he could ask the relevant local government commission to carry out one. Local authorities were prohibited from promoting any private bill to parliament "forming any new area of local government, or for altering, or altering the status of, any area of local government" for a period of fifteen years from the commencement of the Act. Finally, the population required for the formation of a new county borough was increased from 75,000 to 100,000.

• Part III allowed county councils to delegate certain powers in relation to health, welfare and education to borough, rural or urban district councils.

• Part IV dealt with general and supplementary provisions of the Act. One section in this part of the Act - Section 59 - allowed the council of an administrative county or county borough to change the name of the borough or administrative county by agreeement with the Minister for Health. This section was quickly used by Southampton County Council, which changed the administrative county's name (and therefore the council's name) to Hampshire from April 1 1959.

The five special review areas consisted of major conurbations outside London: Tyneside, West Yorkshire, South East Lancashire, Merseyside and the West Midlands. A full review was only carried out in the West Midlands when much of the review area was incorporated into five large county boroughs. Later legislation was to reform local government areas and services in these areas. Several police forces in the review areas were combined under the Police Act 1964, the Transport Act 1968 created transport authorities for four of the areas and all of the review areas were eventually to form the nucleus of metropolitan counties in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972.

• The county boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, South Shields and Tynemouth
• Part of County Durham, namely: the municipal borough of Jarrow, and the urban districts of Blaydon, Felling, Hebburn, Ryton and Whickham
• Part of Northumberland, namely: the municipal boroughs of Wallsend and Whitley Bay, and the urban districts of Gosforth, Longbenton and Newburn.

These areas were all eventually included in the larger metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear (which also included the Sunderland area on Wearside) in 1974

• The county boroughs of Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds and Wakefield
• Part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, namely: the municipal boroughs of Batley, Brighouse, Castleford, Keighley, Morley, Ossett, Pontefract, Pudsey and Spenborough, and the urban districts of Aireborough, Baildon, Bingley, Colne Valley, Denby Dale, Denholme, Elland, Featherstone, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Horbury, Horsforth, Kirkburton, Knottingley, Meltham, Mirfield, Normanton, Queensbury and Shelf, Ripponden, Rothwell, Shipley, Sowerby Bridge and Stanley.

In 1974 this area formed the core of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, which also included some outlying rural areas and towns.

• The county boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Stockport
• Part of Cheshire, namely: the municipal boroughs of Altrincham, Dukinfield, Hyde, Sale and Stalybridge, the urban districts of Alderley Edge, Bowdon, Bredbury and Romiley, Cheadle and Gatley, Hale, Hazel Grove and Bramhall, Marple and Wilmslow, the rural district of Disley and the civil parishes of Carrington, Partington and Ringway in the Bucklow Rural District
• Part of Lancashire, namely: the municipal boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne, Eccles, Farnworth, Heywood, Middleton, Mossley], Prestwich, Radcliffe, Stretford and Swinton and Pendlebury, and the urban districts of Audenshaw, Chadderton, Crompton, Denton, Droylsden, Failsworth, Horwich, Irlam, Kearsley, Lees, Littleborough, Little Lever, Milnrow, Royton, Tottington, Urmston, Wardle, Westhoughton, Whitefield, Whitworth and Worsley

Despite the review area's name, much of it was in Cheshire. This was reflected in the area being referred to in later reviews as "south East Lancashire and North East Cheshire" or SELNEC. Although no local government reforms were made under the 1958 Act, a SELNEC passenger transport authority was formed in 1969. A metropolitan county of Greater Manchester was formed in 1974 for a similar area to the SRA, although it excluded Alderley Edge, Disley and Wilmslow.

• The county boroughs of Birkenhead, Bootle, Liverpool and Wallasey
• Part of Cheshire, namely: the municipal boroughs of Bebington and Ellesmere Port, and the urban districts of Hoylake, Neston and Wirral
• Part of Lancashire, namely: the municipal borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Huyton-with-Roby, Kirkby and Litherland, and the civil parishes of Aintree and Simonswood in the West Lancashire Rural District

In 1974 a metropolitan county of Merseyside was formed which had a different area than the 1958 Act SRA. While excluding Ellesmere Port and Neston, which remained in Cheshire, the 1974 boundaries included much more of Lancashire, including Formby, St Helens and Southport.

• The county boroughs of Birmingham, Dudley, Smethwick, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton
• Part of Staffordshire, namely: the municipal boroughs of Bilston, Rowley Regis, Tipton and Wednesbury, and the urban districts of Aldridge, Amblecote, Brierley Hill, Brownhills, Coseley, Darlaston, Sedgley, Tettenhall, Wednesfield and Willenhall
• Part of Warwickshire, namely: the municipal boroughs of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield, and thec civil parishes of Castle Bromwich and Kingshurst in Meriden Rural District
• Part of Worcestershire, namely: the municipal boroughs of Halesowen, Oldbury and Stourbridge

In 1964 Solihull, with altered boundaries, became a county borough. In 1966 an order altering local government in much of the "Black Country" part of the SRA came into effect creating five large county boroughs of Dudley, Walsall, Warley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton, which were also to share a police force, the West Midlands Constabulary. A West Midlands passenger tranport authority, including Birmingham, was formed in 1969. In 1974 a larger metropolitan county was formed, including Coventry and the intervening countryside.