Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947

133 Formation of new small burgh.

(1) Any twelve or more persons being local government electors for the area defined in the application, being a populous place within the meaning of this section, may present to the sheriff an application to fix the boundaries thereof and to declare the same to be a burgh, and every such application shall be signed by the persons presenting it.

(2) The sheriff may require the persons presenting the application to find caution for payment of the expenses after-mentioned.

(3) The sheriff shall hold a local inquiry and notice of the application and of the inquiry shall be given by advertisement for two consecutive weeks in the Edinburgh Gazette and in a newspaper circulating in the county in which the populous place is situated.

(4) The inquiry shall be held not less than fourteen days after the notice of the application and of the inquiry has first been published.

(5) The sheriff shall appoint a person to ascertain and report to him the population and the amount of the rateable valuation of the populous place.

(6) At the inquiry all parties interested, including the county council of the county and the district council of the district in which the populous place is situated and the town council of any contiguous or closely adjacent burgh, shall be given an. opportunity of being heard.

(7) The sheriff shall, if he is satisfied that the populous place or part thereof is suitable for being formed into a burgh, issue a deliverance (in this section referred to as a " preliminary deliverance ") fixing the boundaries of the area suitable for being formed into a burgh.

(8) The sheriff in determining whether an area is suitable for being formed into a burgh shall have regard to all the circumstances of the case, including without prejudice to the said generality the number of dwelling-houses in the area, the density of its population and its rateable valuation, and in fixing the boundaries of the area shall have regard to the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to the alteration of boundaries of counties and shall include within the area the whole area which in his opinion properly belongs to and forms part of the same town with such reasonable margin for extension as he thinks fit, but the boundary so fixed shall not encroach on the boundary of any other burgh.

(9) The sheriff shall refuse the application if he is of opinion that no part of the area defined in the application is suitable for being formed into a burgh.

(10) The sheriff shall as soon as may be after he has issued a preliminary deliverance under this section direct that a meeting be convened of the local government electors for the area as defined in that deliverance for the purpose of considering whether the area should be formed into a burgh.

(11) The said meeting shall be held at such place and at such time as the sheriff shall direct, and the meeting and the purpose thereof shall be advertised in a newspaper circulating in the. area and published in such other manner, if any, as the sheriff may direct. The sheriff or such person as he may appoint shall preside at the meeting and shall appoint a clerk who shall take a minute of the proceedings.

(12) It shall be the duty of the registration officer for the registration area under the Representation of the People Acts in which the area defined in the preliminary deliverance is situated within fourteen days after receiving a demand to furnish to the sheriff a certified copy of the names and addresses of all local government electors for the area as defined in the preliminary deliverance on payment of a fee of not more than one shilling for each hundred names, and such list shall be sufficient proof of the qualifications Of the persons named therein.

(13) The said meeting may determine whether the said area shall be a burgh, or may appoint a committee of those qualified to vote, not exceeding nine, to inquire and report to a future meeting to be held on such date as shall be appointed by the person presiding, and such future meeting shall, on the report of the committee, determine whether the area shall be a burgh.

(14) The person presiding shall ascertain the determination of the meeting by a show of hands or in such other manner as shall appear to him expedient, and in case of an equality of votes shall give a casting vote, and the determination of the meeting shall be final unless a poll is demanded in writing by any twelve persons qualified to vote present at the meeting.

(15) In the event of a poll being demanded, the poll of the local government electors for the said area shall be taken within twenty-eight days of the demand in accordance with regulations made by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State in making such regulations shall have regard to the provisions of Part III of the Second Schedule to this Act and may prescribe forms for voting papers, notices and other documents.

(16) If any such meeting as aforesaid determine that the said area shall be a burgh or if, in the event of a poll being taken, a majority of the persons qualified and voting vote in favour of the area being declared to be a burgh, the sheriff shall issue a deliverance finding and declaring the area to be a burgh, and from the date on which the deliverance comes into force the area shall be a small burgh for the purposes of this Act and any other public general Act, and the sheriff shall in the said deliverance determine the number of councillors and magistrates to be elected for the burgh, having regard to the number of councillors and magistrates in burghs having approximately the same population, and, where he is of opinion that the burgh should be divided into wards, divide the burgh into wards and define the contents and boundaries thereof and apportion the councillors among the wards:

Provided that there shall be three or a multiple of three councillors for the burgh and for each ward.

Such a finding and declaration by the sheriff under this subsection shall come into force on the sixteenth day of May first occurring after its date or, if the sheriff thinks it proper having regard to the circumstances of the case and in the deliverance so directs, shall be deemed to have come into force on the sixteenth day of May last occurring before its date.

(17) If as a result of the meeting or the poll ho deliverance declaring the area to be a burgh falls to be issued, the sheriff shall refuse the application.

(18) The expenses incurred in connection with any application under this section (including without prejudice to the said generality the expenses of and in connection with the inquiry and the publication thereof, the meeting of, and the taking of a poll of, the local government electors) shall, subject to such audit as the sheriff may direct, be paid, if the area described in the application or any part thereof is declared to be a burgh, as part of the general expenses of the town council of the burgh, and if no part of that area is declared to be a burgh, by the persons presenting the application.

(19) Where an application under this section has been refused, it shall not be competent for such an application to be made in respect of the area described in the application or any part thereof until after the lapse of two years from the date of such refusal, and, where part only of the area described in the application has been declared to be a burgh, it shall not be competent for an application to be made under this Part of this Act for the inclusion of any other part of that area within the burgh until after the lapse of two years from the date of the order declaring part of the area to be a burgh.

(20) As soon as may be after a deliverance under this section comes into force declaring a populous place or part thereof to be a burgh, an election of town councillors thereof shall be held, and for that purpose the provisions of this Act relating to the election of town councillors shall apply subject to the following and any other necessary modifications:—

(a) the returning officer shall be the sheriff or such person as he may appoint, and the day of election shall be such day as the returning officer shall appoint;

(b) anything required to be done to or by or before the town clerk shall be done to or by or before the returning officer or such person as he shall appoint for the purpose;

(c) for the dates set out in Part II of the Second Schedule to this Act there shall be substituted such dates as the returning officer shall appoint;

(d) for the references to persons registered under the Representation of the People Acts as local government electors for the burgh and to persons who have resided within the burgh, there shall be substituted respectively references to persons registered under the Representation of the People Acts as local government electors for the area as defined in the preliminary deliverance and to persons who have resided within such urea.

(21) For the purposes of this section the expression " populous place " means any town, village, place or locality (not being a burgh) or any two or more contiguous towns, villages, places or localities (not being burghs) containing according to the last published census for the time being a population of two thousand inhabitants or upwards, and the expression " sheriff " does not include a sheriff substitute and means the sheriff of the county in which the area described in the application is situated or, where the area as so described is situated in two or more counties having different sheriffs, such one of the sheriffs as the Secretary of State may appoint.