Original sentence: In the 1940s, Billericay and Essex County Councils, who were concerned about the lack of amenities on the area and how it had evolved, petitioned the Government to create a New Town, and on January 4 1949, Lewis Silkin, Minister of Town and Country Planning, officially designated Basildon as a 'New Town'
Edited sentence: In the 1940s, Billericay and Essex County Council, who were concerned about the lack of amenities on the area and how it had evolved, petitioned the Government to create a New Town, and on January 4 1949, Lewis Silkin, Minister of Town and Country Planning, officially designated Basildon as a 'New Town'