(1)If the conditions mentioned in subsection (2) are satisfied, the Secretary of State may give a direction to a new principal council requiring them to prepare and submit to him a decentralisation scheme for such area falling within the area of the council as the Secretary of State sees fit to specify in the direction.
(2)The conditions are that—
(a)an application relating to the council has been made to the Secretary of State under this section by ten or more of their members;
(b)the application is expressed to be made in relation to a specified area falling within the area of the council; and
(c)at least ten of those persons making the application are members of the council who are connected with the area specified in the application.
(3)In this section—
“decentralisation scheme”, in relation to a council, means a scheme which provides for the exercise of specified functions of the council to be discharged by a committee of the council established for the purposes of the scheme; and
“direction” means a direction under subsection (1).
(4)Any council to whom a direction has been given shall submit the required decentralisation scheme to the Secretary of State in accordance with the direction.
(5)A direction may require a decentralisation scheme to be submitted before a specified date.
(6)A committee established for the purposes of a decentralisation scheme is referred to in this Act as an area committee.
(7)No application under subsection (2) may be made after 1st January 1996 and no direction may be given after 1st July 1996.
(8)The Secretary of State shall not give a direction unless he is satisfied that a decentralisation scheme is likely to be appropriate for the area in question.
(9)In considering whether a decentralisation scheme is likely to be appropriate for any area (“the local area”), the Secretary of State shall have regard to—
(a)the desirability of providing for the efficient administration of local government functions both in relation to the area of the principal council as a whole and in relation to the local area; and
(b)the particular circumstances of the local area including its geographical, historical, cultural and demographic circumstances.
(10)A direction may specify any area to which it relates by reference to specific boundaries or by a general description.
(11)The Secretary of State may from time to time issue guidance with respect to the preparation and content of decentralisation schemes.
(12)Any such guidance may be—
(a)general, relating to all decentralisation schemes or all schemes of a specified description; or
(b)specific to a particular scheme.
(13)In specifying any area in a direction, the Secretary of State shall have regard to, but not be bound by, the terms of the application in response to which it is given.
(14)For the purposes of subsection (2), a member of a council is connected with a specified area if he is a member for an electoral division which, or any part of which, falls within that area.