Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

Part I — Local Government Areas, Authorities and Elections

New areas and councils

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Functions to include promotion of economic development.

2

Chairman

3

Election of Councillors

Term of office and retirement of councillors

4

Electoral divisions and wards

5

Returning officers

6–10

Conduct of local government elections

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• (1) Elections of councillors for local government areas shall be conducted in accordance with rules made by the Secretary of State, and accordingly references in the Act of 1949 and in the Representation of the People Act 1969 to local elections rules shall, as respects Scotland, be construed as references to rules made under this section.

• (2) Rules made under this section shall apply the parliamentary elections rules in Schedule 2 to the Act of 1949 subject to such adaptations, alterations and exceptions as seem appropriate to the Secretary of State.

• (3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2) above, rules made under this section shall prescribe that the nomination paper of a candidate for election as a councillor for a local government area shall contain a statement declaring that the candidate—

• (a) consents to be nominated as a candidate ;

• (b) if elected, will accept office as a councillor and will faithfully perform the duties of the office ;

• (c) has attained the age of 21 years and is a British subject or citizen of the Republic of Ireland and not subject to any legal incapacity; and

• (d) is not subject to any of the disqualifications for office set out in section 31 of this Act.

• (4) The statement mentioned in subsection (3) above shall also contain particulars of the candidate's qualification for office under paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 29(1) of this Act, in such form as may be prescribed by rules made under this section.

• (5) All expenditure properly incurred by a returning officer in relation to the holding of an election of a councillor to a local authority shall be paid by the council of that authority, but only (in cases where there is a scale fixed for the purposes of this section by that council) in so far as it does not exceed that scale.

• (6) Before a poll is taken at an election for a local government area, the council for that area 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.

• (7) A statutory instrument containing rules made under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

Day of ordinary election

8

In every year in which ordinary elections of councillors for local government areas are held, the day of election shall be the first Tuesday in May.

Election where poll abandoned or countermanded on death of candidate

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• (1) If at an election of a councillor for a local authority the poll is, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Representation of the People Act 1969, abandoned or countermanded by reason of the death of a candidate, the returning officer for the election which, by reason of such abandonment or countermanding, has not been duly held or has failed, shall order an election to be held as soon as practicable thereafter on a date to be fixed by him, and he shall remain the returning officer for that election.

• (2) At any such election, no fresh nomination shall be necessary in the case of a candidate who remained validly nominated for the election in respect of which the poll was abandoned or countermanded.

Provision in case of non-election of local authority, etc.

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• (1) If for any reason a local authority or members of a local authority are not elected in accordance with the provisions of this Act or of Part I of the Act of 1949 and the case is not otherwise provided for, or if there is for any reason no legally constituted local authority for any area or the number of members of a local authority then in office is less than the quorum ascertained in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 7 to this Act, the Secretary of State may direct the holding of an election for filling such vacancies as exist, and the election shall be held as soon as practicable thereafter on a date to be fixed by the Secretary of State.

• (2) The Secretary of State may, in the said direction, make such provision as seems to him expedient for authorising any person to act in place of a local authority pending the election of members of the authority by an election under subsection (1) above, and any direction under this section may contain such incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary provisions as may appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or proper.

Establishment of new local authorities and supplementary provisions

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Part II — Changes in Local Government Areas

Proposals by Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland

Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland

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• (1) There shall be a commission to be known as Boundaries Scotland which is to carry out the functions conferred on it by or under this Act or any other enactment.

• (2) The provisions of Schedule 4 to this Act shall have effect with respect to Boundaries Scotland.

Proposals for changes in local government areas

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Boundaries Scotland may, in consequence of a review conducted by it under this Part of this Act, make proposals to the Secretary of State for effecting changes appearing to Boundaries Scotland desirable in the interests of effective and convenient local government by any of the following means or any combination of those means (including the application of any of the following paragraphs to an area constituted or altered under any of those paragraphs):

• (a) the alteration of a local government area;

• (b) the constitution of a new local government area;

• (c) the abolition of a local government area;

• (d) a change of electoral arrangements for any local government area which is either consequential on any change in local government areas proposed under this section or is a change (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as a “substantive change”) which is independent of any change in local government areas so proposed.

Duty and power to review local government areas

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• (1) Subject to sections 15 and 16 of this Act, it shall be the duty of Boundaries Scotland, not less than eight nor more than twelve years after 1st April 1996 and thereafter at intervals of not less than eight nor more than twelve years from the submission of the last report of Boundaries Scotland on the previous review under this subsection, to review all local government areas for the purpose of considering whether to make such proposals in relation to all or any or any part of those areas as are authorised by section 13 of this Act and what proposals, if any, to make, and Boundaries Scotland shall formulate any such proposals accordingly.

• (2) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, Boundaries Scotland may at any time, subject to sections 15 and 16 of this Act, review all or any or any part of the local government areas for the purpose of considering whether to make such proposals in relation to them as are authorised by section 13 of this Act, and what proposals, if any, to make, and Boundaries Scotland shall formulate any such proposals accordingly.

• (3) If Boundaries Scotland receive a request from a local authority or from any person that it should conduct a review under subsection (2) above with respect to any local government area in which the authority or person appears to Boundaries Scotland to have an interest, Boundaries Scotland shall consider the request.

• (4) In any case where the Secretary of State has made an order under section 1 of the New Towns (Scotland) Act 1968 designating any land as, or as an extension of, a new town and the area of the new town as so designated or so extended is not wholly comprised within one district, he shall, as soon as practicable after the order has become operative, send to Boundaries Scotland a notice stating that the order is in operation and specifying the districts within which that area is situated, and on receipt of such a notice it shall be the duty of Boundaries Scotland, subject to section 15(3) of this Act, to review the areas of those districts for the purpose of considering whether to make such proposals in relation to them as are authorised by section 13 of this Act and what proposals, if any, to make, and Boundaries Scotland shall formulate any such proposals accordingly.

Powers of Secretary of State in relation to reviews

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• (1) The Secretary of State may by direction given to Boundaries Scotland vary the length of any interval specified in section 14(1) of this Act either as respects the whole review or as respects any particular case or cases.

• (2) Subject to section 16 of this Act, the Secretary of State may direct Boundaries Scotland to conduct a review of the local government areas as a whole, or of any one or more such areas or parts thereof, for the purpose of considering whether to make such proposals in relation to the areas as are authorised by section 13 of this Act and what proposals, if any, to make, and Boundaries Scotland shall formulate any such proposals accordingly.

• (3) The Secretary of State may direct Boundaries Scotland not to undertake during a specified period a review of any one or more local government areas or parts of such areas which it has the duty or power to review under section 14 of this Act.

• (4) The Secretary of State may give directions to Boundaries Scotland for its guidance in conducting reviews under this Part of this Act and in making proposals in consequence thereof, and the directions may relate to all such reviews or to any particular review or class of review.

• (5) A direction shall not be given under subsection (4) above with respect to any review conducted under this Part of this Act except after consultation with associations appearing to the Secretary of State to be representative of local authorities.

• (6) The Secretary of State may give directions to Boundaries Scotland with respect to the order in which areas are to be reviewed by it under sections 14 and 15(2) of this Act.

Substantive changes in electoral arrangements

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• (1) No review shall be conducted under section 14 or 15 of this Act for the purpose of making proposals for a substantive change of electoral arrangements, but the following provisions of this section shall have effect with respect to the making of such proposals.

• (2) Boundaries Scotland must review the electoral arrangements for a local government area for the purpose of—

• (a) considering whether to make proposals to the Scottish Ministers for a substantive change in those arrangements,

• (b) considering what proposals, if any, to make, and

• (c) formulating any such proposals.

• (2A) Boundaries Scotland must submit to the Scottish Ministers a report on its review of the electoral arrangements for a local government area under subsection (2)—

• (a) in the case of the first report on its review of that area after the coming into force of this subsection by, in so far as is reasonably practicable, no later than 31 December 2028, and

• (b) thereafter, in so far as is reasonably practicable, at intervals of not more than 15 years after the date of the submission of the report on its previous review of that area under subsection (2).

• (3) Without prejudice to subsection (2) above, Boundaries Scotland may at any time, whether at the request of a local authority or otherwise, review the electoral arrangements for a local government area for the purpose of considering whether to make proposals to the Secretary of State for a substantive change in those arrangements and what proposals, if any, to make and Boundaries Scotland shall formulate any such proposals accordingly.

Commission's reports and their implementation

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• (1) Boundaries Scotland must submit a report to the Scottish Ministers where it—

• (a) has a power or duty to formulate proposals to the Scottish Ministers, and

• (b) has been conducting a review of—

• (i) any area in accordance with section 14 or 15, or

• (ii) electoral arrangements in accordance with section 16.

• (2) Boundaries Scotland must—

• (a) include in the report either—

• (i) the proposals it has formulated following the review (or any part of the review), or

• (ii) a notification that it has no proposals to make following the review (or any part of the review), and

• (b) submit the report not later than the expiry of any time limit applicable to the review in question in terms of section 14, 15 or 16.

• (3) Where the report includes a proposal that the number of councillors to be returned in an electoral ward is two, Boundaries Scotland must include in the report an explanation as to why it considers the proposal to be appropriate unless the proposal relates to an electoral ward consisting wholly or partly of one or more inhabited islands (within the meaning of section 1(2) of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018).

• (4) As soon as practicable after Boundaries Scotland has submitted a report under this section, the Scottish Ministers must—

• (a) lay the report before the Scottish Parliament, and

• (b) if the report proposes an alteration to any local government area or to any electoral arrangements, either—

• (i) by regulations give effect to those proposals, or

• (ii) lay before the Scottish Parliament for approval by resolution a draft Scottish statutory instrument containing regulations giving effect to those proposals (“draft instrument”), in the case where the regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure.

• (5) Regulations under subsection (4)(b) are subject to the affirmative procedure if they—

• (a) abolish or alter the boundaries of—

• (i) any local government area,

• (ii) any electoral ward, or

• (b) increase or decrease the number of councillors to be returned in any electoral ward.

• (6) If the draft instrument is withdrawn, or if the motion for the approval of the draft instrument is rejected by the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Ministers must either—

• (a) amend the draft instrument to make such minor or technical alterations as they consider appropriate (“amended draft instrument”) and lay the amended draft instrument before the Scottish Parliament, or

• (b) notify Boundaries Scotland that it is required to conduct a further review of the proposals in accordance with section 17A.

• (7) As soon as reasonably practicable after laying for approval the amended draft instrument in accordance with subsection (6)(a), the Scottish Ministers must publish a statement setting out their reasons for making the minor or technical alterations to the draft instrument.

• (8) The Scottish Ministers must not withdraw a draft instrument or an amended draft instrument laid before the Scottish Parliament under subsection (4)(b)(ii) or, as the case may be, (6)(a) except with the agreement of the Scottish Parliament.

• (9) If the Scottish Parliament approves—

• (a) a draft instrument laid before it by the Scottish Ministers under subsection (4)(b)(ii), or

• (b) an amended draft instrument laid before it by the Scottish Ministers under subsection (6)(a),

the Scottish Ministers must make the regulations contained in the draft instrument or, as the case may be, the amended draft instrument.

• (10) The Scottish Ministers may lay before the Scottish Parliament under paragraph (b)(ii) of subsection (4) more than one draft Scottish statutory instrument containing regulations giving effect to proposals referred to in that subsection.

• (11) Accordingly, the references in subsections (6) to (8) to a draft instrument or an amended draft instrument include references to more than one draft instrument or amended draft instrument.

Conduct of Reviews

Procedure for reviews

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• (1) Where Boundaries Scotland propose to conduct a review under the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act, it must take such steps as it thinks fit to secure that persons who may be interested in the review are informed of the proposal to conduct it and of any directions of the Secretary of State which are relevant to it.

• (2) In conducting any such review, Boundaries Scotland shall—

• (a) consult—

• (i) the council of any local government area affected by the review, and such other local authorities, community councils and public bodies as appear to it to be concerned;

• (ii) any bodies representative of staff employed by local authorities who have asked Boundaries Scotland to consult them; and

• (iii) such other persons as it thinks fit;

• (aa) at least two months before taking any steps under paragraph (b) below to inform other persons of any draft proposals or any interim decision not to make proposals, inform the council of any local government area affected by the review of those proposals or that decision;

• (ab) before taking any such steps, take into consideration any representation made to it by such a council during the period of two months beginning on the day on which the council is informed under paragraph (aa);

• (b) take such steps as it thinks fit for seeing that persons who may be interested in the review are informed of any draft proposals or any interim decision not to make proposals, and of the place or places where those proposals or that decision can be inspected;

• (c) in particular, deposit copies of those proposals or that decision at the offices of the council of any local government area which may be affected thereby and require any such council to keep the copies available for inspection at their offices for a period specified in the requirement; and

• (d) take into consideration any representation made to it within that period.

• (2A) The Scottish Ministers may give directions to—

• (a) Boundaries Scotland,

• (b) the council of any local government area affected by a review,

in relation to consultation under subsection (2)(a) above.