Office of Public Sector Information

174 Power of local authority to submit amending schemes to Secretary of State

(1) A new local authority whose area lies wholly or partly within the area of a board established by virtue of a scheme made under section 172 or 173 of this Act may, together with any other such authority whose area lies wholly or partly within the area of that board, submit to the Secretary of State for his approval a scheme for the amendment or revocation of such a scheme.

(2) The provisions of sections 172 and 173 of this Act shall, so far as applicable, have effect in relation to an amending or revoking scheme made under this section subject to any necessary modifications and to the provisions of this section.

(3) Before making an amending or revoking scheme under this section, the authority or authorities concerned shall consult the Scottish Tourist Board.

(4) The power conferred on new local authorities by subsection (1) above may be exercised in relation to an amending or revoking scheme approved by order under this section.

(5) The Secretary of State may by order approve any scheme submitted to him under this section.

(6) An order under this section shall be made by statutory instrument; and such instrument shall, where it contains provision such as is mentioned in section 173(2)(a) of this Act, be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

175 Provision of assistance to boards by old authorities

District, islands and regional councils may provide financial and other assistance to any area tourist board established by a scheme made under section 172 of this Act whose area lies wholly or partly within the areas of such councils in respect of anything done in pursuance of subsection (11) of that section before 1st April 1996.

176 Powers to carry on tourism-related activities

For section 90 of the 1973 Act there shall be substituted the following section—

“90 Powers of local authority to carry on tourism-related activities

(1) A local authority may—

(a) provide, or encourage any other person to provide, facilities for leisure, conferences, trade fairs and exhibitions or improve, or encourage any other person to improve, any existing facilities for those purposes;

(b) promote, by advertisement or otherwise, facilities provided by that local authority (whether such facilities are owned by the authority or otherwise);

(c) organise, or assist others in the organisation of, and promote, by advertisement or otherwise, conferences, trade fairs and exhibitions;

(d) participate in the area tourist board whose area includes the area of that authority.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, a local authority shall not have power to—

(a) encourage persons, by advertisement or otherwise (and whether inside or outside the United Kingdom)—

(i) to visit their area for purposes relating to leisure; or

(ii) to hold conferences, trade fairs or exhibitions within their area;

(b) provide information about accommodation and facilities and services relating to leisure in their area or provide a booking service for such accommodation, to persons visiting their area;

(c) carry on such other activities relating to those mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) above as the Secretary of State may by regulations specify.

(3) A local authority shall have power to do any of the things mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (2) above—

(a) in so far as it is necessary to do any of those things for the purposes of carrying on the activities mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) above; or

(b) where the Secretary of State has given his prior consent (subject to such conditions as he considers necessary or expedient) in writing.

(4) A local authority shall not, for the purposes of carrying on activities relating to tourism other than—

(a) those such as are mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (1) above; or

(b) by virtue of subsection (3) above, those such as are mentioned in subsection (2) above,

form, acquire or join with any person or body corporate.

(5) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, a local authority may contribute towards expenses incurred by any person—

(a) doing anything mentioned in paragraph (a) of that subsection; or

(b) organising and holding a conference, trade fair or exhibition.

(6) A local authority may appoint officers for the purposes of enabling the authority to carry out any of their powers under this section; and section 65 of this Act shall apply in relation to any officers appointed under this subsection subject to the following modifications—

(a) references to “another local authority” shall be construed as if they were references to an area tourist board; and

(b) in subsection (2), the words from “but” to the end shall be omitted.

(7) A statutory instrument containing regulations under subsection (2)(c) above shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(8) In this section—

(a) “area tourist board” means a board established by virtue of an order made or, as the case may be, approved under section 172, 173 or 174 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;

(b) “participate” means participation in any one or more of the following ways—

(i) a local authority or any person representative of a local authority being a member of the area tourist board whose area includes the area of that authority;

(ii) provision by a local authority to such a board of financial assistance for the purposes of the board’s carrying out activities relating to tourism;

(iii) provision by a local authority to such a board of staff; and

(c) section 171A(3) of this Act shall apply to this section with the substitution for any references to a person of references to an area tourist board.”.