London Government Act 1963

Provision as to local government elections before 1st April 1965

6 (1) No election of councillors of the county of London or of Middlesex or of any existing county borough, metropolitan borough, non-county borough or urban district situated wholly within Greater London shall be held after the date of the passing of this Act, except an election to fill a casual vacancy in an office where before that date the office has been declared to be vacant or notice of the vacancy has been given under section 67(1) of the Local Government Act 1933 or section 42(1) of the London Government Act 1939 ; and any such councillor holding office immediately before that date or elected on or after that date to fill a casual vacancy occurring before that date shall (unless he resigns his office or it otherwise becomes vacant) continue to hold office until 1st April 1965.

(2) As respects any such county or borough—

(a) no ordinary election of aldermen shall be held after the passing of this Act;

(b) any alderman whose term of office would apart from this Act have expired between the passing of this Act and 1st April 1965 shall (unless he resigns his office or it otherwise becomes vacant) continue to hold office until that date; and

(c) any casual vacancy occurring before 1st April 1965 in the office of alderman need not be filled unless the county or borough council so resolve.

(3) It shall not be necessary to fill any casual vacancy occurring during March 1965 in the office of—

(a) chairman of the London or Middlesex county council;

(b) mayor of any borough mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph ;

(c) chairman of the council of any urban district so mentioned.

7 As respects the counties of Essex, Kent and Surrey the ordinary election of county councillors due (apart from this paragraph) to take place in April 1964 shall be postponed until such date in 1965 as the Secretary of State may by order specify in relation to the county in question, and—

(a) the county councillors and county aldermen due (apart from this paragraph) to retire on the ordinary day of retirement in 1964 or at the annual meeting of the county council in 1964, as the case may be, shall (unless they resign their offices or their offices otherwise become vacant) continue to hold office until the day in 1965 on which the county councillors elected at the postponed elections in that year come into office ;

(b) the county councillors elected at those postponed elections shall retire on the ordinary day of retirement of county councillors in 1967;

(c) on the said day in 1965 all the county aldermen shall retire and, of the aldermen elected at the postponed elections in that year, one half as near as may be of their number, being those elected by the smallest number of votes, shall retire immediately after the ordinary election of county aldermen in 1967 and the remainder shall retire immediately after the ordinary election of county aldermen in 1970 ;

(d) if it is necessary for the purposes of the last foregoing sub-paragraph to decide the order of retirement of two or more county aldermen who received an equal number of votes, the question shall be determined by drawing lots at, and under the direction of the person presiding at, the annual meeting of the county council in 1965.

8 For the purpose of determining the date of the annual meeting, in 1964 of the council of any county or borough mentioned in paragraph 6 or 7 of this Schedule—

(a) in the case of any such county, 1964 shall be deemed not to be a year of election ; and

(b) in the case of any such county borough or non-county borough, as well as of the metropolitan boroughs, paragraph 2(2)(b) of Schedule 6 to the Representation of the People Act 1948 shall have effect as if the reference to the day of election were a reference to the day of election in all other boroughs in England and Wales.

9 At the ordinary elections of councillors of the county of Hertfordshire and of the urban district of Chigwell due to take place in 1964, no councillors shall be elected for any electoral area situated wholly or partly in Greater London, and any such councillor elected for any such electoral area and holding office immediately before the passing of this Act shall (unless he resigns his office or it otherwise becomes vacant) continue to hold office until 1st April 1965.

10 No election to fill any casual vacancy in the office of councilor of—

(a) any county mentioned in paragraph 7 or 9 of this Schedule; or

(b) the urban district of Chigwell,

shall be held after the date of the passing of this Act for any electoral area situated wholly or partly in Greater London, unless before that date the office has been declared to be vacant or notice of the vacancy has been given under section 67(1) of the Local Government Act 1933 ; and any such councillor elected for any such electoral area on or after that date to fill a casual vacancy occurring before that date shall (unless he resigns his office or it otherwise becomes vacant) continue to hold office until 1st April 1965.

11 It shall be the duty of the Essex, Kent and Surrey county councils as soon as may be after the passing of this Act to take into consideration the boundaries and numbers of the electoral divisions and numbers of county councillors for their respective county review areas with a view to making a representation under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1933, and if any of those councils fails to carry out the said duty the Secretary of State may himself take those matters into consideration and make proposals with respect thereto ; and subsections (3) to (7) of that section shall apply to proposals made by the Secretary of State under this paragraph as they apply to representations made by the council of a county district under that section.

12 The provisions of paragraphs 6 to 11 of this Schedule shall have effect notwithstanding anything in the Local Government Act 1933, the London Government Act 1939 or section 57 of, or Schedule 6 to, the Representation of the People Act 1948.