Local Government Act 1992

Implementation of recommendationsE+W

17 Implementation of recommendations by order.E+W

[F1(1)Where the Electoral Commission make recommendations to the Secretary of State for structural or boundary changes in response to a request by him under section 13, he may by order give effect to all or any of the recommendations, with or without modifications.]

[F2(1A)Where the Boundary Committee for England make recommendations to the Electoral Commission for electoral changes, the Commission may by order give effect to all or any of the recommendations, subject to any modifications to those recommendations agreed with that Committee]

(2)No order under this section shall be made before the end of the period of six weeks beginning with [F3the receipt of recommendations or the submission of a report]; and before making such an order, F4. . .

[F5(a)the Secretary of State may request the Electoral Commission to supply him with additional information or advice; and

(b)the Electoral Commission may direct the Boundary Committee for England to supply them with additional information or advice.]

(3)[F6Subject to subsection (3A) below,] an order under this section may, in particular, include provision which, for the purpose of giving effect (with or without modifications) to recommendations of the [F7Electoral Commission or of the Boundary Committee for England], makes provision with respect to—

(a)the area of any authority and the name of any such area;

(b)the name of any authority;

(c)the establishment of any new authority for any county or district or the winding up and dissolution of any existing authority;

(d)the total number of councillors of any authority, the apportionment of councillors among electoral areas, the assignment of existing councillors to new or altered electoral areas, and the first election of councillors for any new or altered electoral area;

(e)without prejudice to paragraph (d) above, the holding of a fresh election of councillors for all electoral areas in a local government area where substantial changes have been made to some of those areas, or the order of retirement of councillors for any electoral areas in the local government area in question;

[F8(ea)in the case of an order containing provision for a structural change by which the functions of district councils in relation to any area are transferred to a council for a county consisting of that area, the ordinary year of election and the order of retirement of parish councillors for any parish situated in the area]

(f)in the case of an order relating to the system of election of district councillors, the ordinary year of election and the order of retirement of parish councillors for any parish situated in the district;

(g)the constitution [F9, election and membership] of public bodies in any area affected by the order;

(h)the abolition or establishment, or the restriction or extension, of the jurisdiction of any public body in or over any part of any area affected by the order.

[F10(3A)An order made by the Secretary of State under subsection (1) above may not include provision as to the matters mentioned in paragraphs (d), (e) and (ea) F11 of subsection (3) above.

(3B)An order made by the Electoral Commission under subsection (1A) above may not include provision as to the matters mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c), (g) and (h) of subsection (3) above.]

(4)[F12 A power] to make an order under this section shall include power to make any such provision in relation to the other provisions of that order, or to the provisions of any previous order under this section, as is equivalent to that which may be contained in regulations under section 19 below or in an agreement under section 20 below.

(5)Without prejudice to the preceding provisions of this section, where charter trustees have been constituted under section 246 of the 1972 Act for an area which is altered by an order under this section and subsection (8) of that section (incorporation of whole or part of trustees’ area in parish) does not apply, the order may make such provision with respect to the charter trustees as appears to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.

[F13(6)The Secretary of State shall exercise his power to make orders under this section in relation to police areas in such a way as to ensure that none of the following areas—

(a)a county in which there are no district councils,

(b)a district in any other county, and

(c)a London borough,

is divided between two or more police areas; but this subsection shall not have effect so as to prevent the maintenance of any part of the boundary of the metropolitan police district as it exists [F14on 1st April 1995]].

[F15(7)An order under [F16subsection (1A) above.] may provide for an electoral division of a non-metropolitan county to return more than one councillor; and in such a case section 6(2)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 shall not apply.]

18 Consequences of structural changes etc.E+W

(1)Where an order under section 17 above gives effect to any structural change by which the functions of district councils in relation to any area are transferred to a council for a county consisting of that area, then the county council—

(a)shall, for any financial year beginning at the same time as or after the coming into force of the change, be a billing authority for the purposes of Part I of the M1Local Government Finance Act 1992 in relation to their area; and

(b)shall not, for any such year, be a major precepting authority for those purposes.

F17(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F18(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to have regard to any recommendations made by the [F19Electoral Commission] by virtue of section 14(5)(c) above in determining whether and how to exercise—

F17(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F20(b)his power to make a scheme under section 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (combined fire and rescue authorities),]

in relation to any areas which have been or are to be affected by any order under section 17 above, or in relation to any such area and other areas.

(5)This section shall be without prejudice to the power to make any provision by order under this Part or to any power to make incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary provision in connection with the provisions of any such order.

19 Regulations for supplementing orders.E+W

(1)The Secretary of State may by regulations of general application make such incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary provision as he thinks necessary or expedient for the purposes or in consequence of any orders under section 17 above, or for giving full effect to orders under that section.

(2)Regulations under this section may, in particular, include provision of general application with respect to—

(a)the transfer of functions, property, rights or liabilities from a local authority [F21or police authority]for any area to another local authority [F21or police authority]whose area consists of or includes the whole or any part of that area;

(b)the transfer of property, rights or liabilities, and of related functions, from an authority which ceases to exist to a residuary body established under section 22 below;

(c)the management or custody of transferred property (whether real or personal);

(d)the functions or areas of jurisdiction of any public body or of any of the following persons—

(i)any [F22justice of the peace other than a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts),], coroner or keeper of the rolls for a commission area F23. . .;

(ii)any lord-lieutenant, lieutenant or high sheriff;

(iii)any other officers (including police officers) within the area of any local authority affected by any such order,

[F24, and the functions of any District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts),]and the costs and expenses of such public bodies and persons.

(3)In their application in relation to any order under section 17 above, regulations under this section shall have effect subject to any provision made under that section.

(4)Any regulations under section 67 of the 1972 Act (regulations in connection with implementation of proposals under Part IV of that Act) which are in force at the commencement of this section shall have effect, without prejudice to their operation in relation to any order made under that Part after the commencement of this section (whether by virtue of section 24(3) below or otherwise) and subject to any regulations under this section, as if orders under section 17 above were orders under that Part.

20 Agreements as to incidental matters.E+W

(1)Any public bodies affected by an order under this Part may from time to time make agreements with respect to any property, income, rights, liabilities and expenses (so far as affected by the order) of, and any financial relations between, the parties to the agreement.

(2)Such an agreement may provide—

(a)for the transfer or retention of any property, rights and liabilities, with or without conditions, and for the joint use of any property;

(b)for the making of payments by either party to the agreement in respect of property, rights and liabilities so transferred or retained, or of such joint use, and in respect of the remuneration or compensation payable to any person; and

(c)for the making of any such payment either by way of a capital sum or of a terminable annuity.

(3)In default of agreement as to any disputed matter, the matter shall be referred to the arbitration of a single arbitrator—

(a)agreed on by the parties; or

(b)in default of agreement, appointed by the Secretary of State;

and the award of the arbitrator may make any provision that might be contained in an agreement under this section.

(4)In subsection (3) above “disputed matter” means any matter which—

(a)might be the subject of provision contained in an agreement under this section; and

(b)is the subject of such a dispute between two or more public bodies as is not resolved by or under provision contained in any order or regulations under this Part.

21 Joint authorities.E+W

(1)This section applies to any functions which are to be or have become functions of any authority as a result of any structural or boundary change if the Secretary of State considers, having regard to any recommendations to that effect made by the [F25Electoral Commission] by virtue of section 14(5)(c) above, that they should be carried out in accordance with joint arrangements.

(2)Where it appears to the Secretary of State that joint arrangements, or satisfactory joint arrangements, with respect to any functions to which this section applies—

(a)have not been made by the authorities in whom those functions are to be or have been vested;

(b)will not be in force when the structural or boundary change in question comes into force; or

(c)have ceased or will cease to be in operation,

he may, for the areas of those authorities, by order establish a joint authority, which may be a body corporate, to carry out those functions, from a date specified in the order until such joint arrangements as appear to him to be satisfactory are brought into force.

(3)An order under this section may make provision for enabling the Secretary of State to require the joint authority to submit to him a scheme for the winding up of the joint authority and for the transfer—

(a)to any of the authorities for whose areas the joint authority is established; or

(b)to any body established in pursuance of any joint arrangements made by or in relation to those authorities,

of any of the joint authority’s property, rights and liabilities or of any functions which it carries out.

(4)The Secretary of State may by order provide—

(a)for excluding any functions, or any functions in any area, from those falling to be carried out by a joint authority; and

(b)for giving effect (with or without modifications) to any scheme submitted to him under a provision made by virtue of subsection (3) above and for the dissolution of a joint authority.

(5)The power to make an order under any of the preceding provisions of this section shall include power to make such incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary provision as the Secretary of State thinks necessary or expedient, including provision for the transfer of property, rights and liabilities.

22 Residuary bodies.E+W

(1)The Secretary of State may by order establish one or more bodies (“residuary bodies”), which shall be bodies corporate, for the purpose of taking over any property, rights or liabilities, and any related functions, of local authorities which cease to exist by virtue of orders under section 17 above.

(2)An order under subsection (1) above may—

(a)make provision with respect to the constitution and membership of a residuary body;

(b)make provision with respect to the powers of a residuary body to make levies and to borrow and lend money and the treatment and distribution of capital and other money by such a body;

(c)make provision with respect to the keeping and auditing of accounts of a residuary body;

(d)make provision with respect to directions which may be given by the Secretary of State in relation to the carrying out by a residuary body of any of its functions;

(e)make provision for enabling the Secretary of State to require a residuary body to submit to him a scheme for the winding up of the body and the disposal of its property, rights and liabilities and related functions; and

(f)without prejudice to the generality of paragraphs (a) to (e) above, make any such provision with respect to a residuary body as was made by Part VII of the M2Local Government Act 1985 with respect to the residuary bodies established by that Part.

(3)The Secretary of State may by order provide—

(a)for the transfer to any other body or bodies (including any body or bodies corporate established under the order for the purpose) of any property, rights or liabilities, and any related functions, of a residuary body; and

(b)for giving effect (with or without modifications) to any scheme submitted to him under a provision made by virtue of subsection (2)(e) above and for the dissolution of a residuary body.

(4)The power to make an order under any of the preceding provisions of this section shall include power to make such incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary provision as the Secretary of State thinks necessary or expedient.

F2623 Staff commissions.E+W

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