Local Government Act 1972

First elections and meetings of new councilsE+W

5(1)At the first elections of councillors for a new area, the returning officer shall be an officer of the council appointed by such existing county, borough or urban or rural district council as the Secretary of State may by order designate and not a person appointed under section 41 above.

(2)Section 42(5) and (6) above shall not apply to any such election, but sub-paragraphs (3) and (4) below shall apply instead.

(3)All expenditure properly incurred by a returning officer or other officer in relation to the holding of the first elections of councillors for a new principal area shall be paid in the first instance by the council by whom the returning officer was appointed and shall be defrayed by the existing authorities concerned in such proportions respectively as may be agreed between them or, in default of such agreement, as may be determined by the Secretary of State.

(4)All expenditure properly incurred by a returning officer or other officer in relation to the holding of the first elections of councillors for a community shall be paid in the first instance by the council of the new district in which the community is situated, but any expenditure so incurred shall be chargeable only on that community.

(5)Section 42(7) above shall not apply to the first election of councillors for a community, but before a poll is taken at such an election the council of the new district in which the community is situated shall, at the request of the returning officer or of any person acting as returning officer, advance to him such reasonable sum in respect of his expenses at the election as he may require.

(6)In relation to the first election of councillors for a new area “the appropriate officer” in Parts II and III of the Representation of the M1People Act 1949 means the returning officer appointed under this paragraph instead of having the meaning assigned to that expression by section 55(6)(b) of that Act.

6(1)For the purpose of taking and receiving delivery of declarations of acceptance of the office of councillor of any new principal area under section 83 above before the first meeting of that council, the clerk of an existing authority designated by the committee established for the area under section 264 above shall be deemed to be and shall act as the proper officer of the council.

(2)Any such declaration delivered by virtue of this paragraph to the said clerk shall be transferred by him to the custody of the proper officer of the new council on the appointment of the latter.

7(1)The first meeting of each new principal council shall be held within 21 days immediately following the day of election and shall be treated as the annual meeting of the council for 1973.

(2)The meeting shall be convened by the clerk of an authority designated by the committee established for the area of the new council under section 264 above and shall be held at such place as he may appoint instead of such place as the council may direct as required by paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 12 to this Act.

(3)The notice of the meeting required by paragraph 4(2) of that Schedule shall be published at the place where the meeting is to be held instead of at the council’s offices and the summons to attend the meeting required by that paragraph shall be signed by the said clerk instead of by the proper officer of the council.

8(1)Until the completion of the election of a chairman at the first meeting of a new principal council, persons designated by the committee established for the area of the new council under section 264 above shall exercise any functions falling to be exercised by the chairman and vice-chairman of the council, but any person so designated shall not vote in the first instance at the election of the chairman unless he is a councillor for the new area.

(2)At the first meeting of a new principal council the clerk or deputy clerk of an existing authority so designated shall exercise any functions falling to be exercised by the proper officer of the new council in relation to the meeting.

(3)The standing orders for the regulation of the proceedings and business of an existing authority so designated shall apply at the first meeting of a new principal council.

9The Secretary of State may himself exercise a committee’s power of designation for the purposes of any provision of paragraph 6, 7 or 8 above if he is requested to do so on the ground that the committee is unlikely to exercise the power in time for that provision to operate.

10(1)The first meeting of a community council established by a direction under section 27(3) or (4) above shall be held within the 21 days immediately following the day of election in 1974 and shall be convened—

(a)where the community is coterminous with an existing borough, by the town clerk of that borough;

(b)where the community is coterminous with or wholly contained in an existing urban district, by the clerk of the council of that district.

(2)The first meeting of a community council established by virtue of section 27(2)(a) or (b) above shall be held before 23rd April 1974 and shall be convened by the clerk of the council of the parish or group of parishes, the area of which is co-extensive with the area of that community or group of communities, as the case may be.

(3)The first meeting of a community council shall be treated as the annual meeting of the council for 1974.

(4)The summons to attend the first meeting required by paragraph 26(2) of Schedule 12 to this Act shall be signed by the clerk by whom the meeting is convened instead of by the proper officer of the council.

(5)In relation to the first elections of the councillors of any community council and in relation to the first meeting of any community council required to be held by this paragraph, the powers conferred on the district council by sections 44(4) and 91 above shall, until 1st April 1974, be exercisable by the council of the existing county in which the area of the community is situated.