Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947

PART I

County Councils.

1 (1) A county council shall in every year hold such meetings of the council as are required for the purpose of complying with this Act or any other enactment or any statutory order and such other meetings as are considered necessary for the transaction of the general business of the council.

(2) A meeting of the council shall be held in the year of the election on Tuesday fourteen days after the day of election, or on such other day within three weeks after the day of election as the council have, prior to the election by standing order or otherwise, determined, and in other years on such day in the month of November or December as the council determine. The said meeting held in the year of election may for the purposes of this Act and of any other enactment be referred to as the first meeting of the county council after the election of county councillors.

(3) Meetings of the county council shall be held in the case of the first meeting after the election at twelve noon or at such other hour as the council have, prior to the election by standing order or otherwise determined, and in the case of other meetings at such hour and on such dates as the council may by standing order or otherwise fix, or if no hour is so fixed at twelve noon.

(4) Meetings of a county council shall be held at such place either within or without the county as the council may direct.

Convening meetings.

2 Subject to any administrative scheme under this Act or to any standing orders made by a county council, the following provisions shall have effect with respect to convening meetings of the council and of committees and sub-committees thereof:—

(1) Notice of the time and place of a meeting of a county council shall be given by or on behalf of the county clerk not less than seven days before the meeting by being left at or sent by post to the usual place of residence or the place of business of every member of the council, and shall specify the business proposed to be transacted at the meeting:

Provided that want of notice to any member of the council shall not affect the validity of a meeting.

(2) The county clerk shall call a meeting of the county council at any time on being required so to do by the convener of the county or on receiving a requisition in writing for that purpose specifying the business proposed to be transacted at the meeting signed by one-fourth of the whole number of members of the council, which meeting shall be held within fourteen days of receipt of the requisition.

(3) Except in the case of business which has to be transacted at a meeting of the council required to be held by this Act or any other enactment or any statutory order, no business shall be transacted at a meeting of the council other than that specified in the notice of the meeting.

(4) The provisions of all the sub-paragraphs of this paragraph shall apply to committees and sub-committees of the council in like manner as they apply to the council, with the substitution of references to the committee or sub-committee, as the case may be, and to the chairman of the committee or subcommittee for references to the council and to the convener respectively, and the chairman of the committee or sub-committee, as the case may be, shall for the purpose of ascertaining whether a valid requisition for a meeting has been made determine whether any matter mentioned in the requisition is a matter in respect of which the county councillors representing a large burgh exercise a deliberative vote.

Emergency meeting.

3 Where it appears to the convener of the county that an item of business demands special urgency, a meeting of the council shall if he so requires be called by the county clerk to be held at a time which does not permit of notice being given in accordance with sub-paragraph (i) of the last preceding paragraph, or the standing orders, but any resolution passed at such a meeting shall not be valid and binding on the council unless a majority of the whole members of the council are present at the meeting or the resolution is confirmed by a subsequent meeting called after due notice as aforesaid.

Chairman of meeting.

4 (1) At a meeting of a county council, the convener of the county if present shall preside.

(2) If the convener of the county is absent from a meeting of the council, the vice-convener of the county shall if present preside, but if the convener and the vice-convener are both absent from a meeting of the council, such county councillor as the members of the council present at the meeting shall choose shall preside.

Quorum.

5 Subject to the provisions of Part IV of this Schedule, no business shall be transacted at a meeting of a county council unless at least one-fourth of the whole number of members of the council or such other proportion as the council with consent of the Secretary of State may determine are present thereat.