Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024

Electoral arrangements reviews: principal councils

40 Considerations for a review of principal area electoral arrangements

(1) The 2013 Act is amended as follows.

(2) In section 30 (considerations for a review of principal area electoral arrangements), for subsection (1) substitute—

“(1) When considering whether to make recommendations for changes to the electoral arrangements of a principal area, the Commission must have regard to the following factors—

(a) the desirability of having a ratio of local government electors to the number of members of the council to be elected that is the same, or nearly the same, in every electoral ward of the principal area;

(b) special geographical considerations, including in particular the size, shape and accessibility of an electoral ward;

(c) any local ties (including local ties connected to the use of the Welsh language) that would be broken by such changes.”

41 Review period for principal area reviews

(1) The 2013 Act is amended as follows.

(2) In section 29 (review of electoral arrangements for principal area)—

(a) in subsection (3)—

(i) for paragraph (a) substitute—

“(a) the period of 12 years beginning on 30 September 2023, and”;

(ii) in paragraph (b), for “10” substitute “12”;

(b) after subsection (3), insert—

“(3A) The Welsh Ministers may by regulations amend subsection (3).”

(3) In section 71(2) (orders and regulations), after paragraph (ba) (inserted by paragraph 1(4)(b) of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to this Act) insert—

“(bb) regulations under section 29(3A),”.

(4) In the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 (asc 1), in section 138 (reviews of electoral arrangements), omit subsection (6).