Part 8 – Reorganisation of local government
150.All 22 Welsh councils are unitary authorities as a result of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (‘the 1994 Act’) that abolished the eight local government counties and 37 districts that had been formed in 1974.
151.The Act deals with four matters associated with the reorganisation of local government in Wales:
Social services committees - section 101(10A) of the Local Government Act 1972 (‘the 1972 Act’), which made provision in relation to social services committees, cross-refers to a provision that was repealed by the Children's Act 2004 and should also have been repealed at that time. The Act therefore omits section 101(10A) of the 1972 Act, and the provision in the 1994 Act that originally inserted subsection (10A) into section 101 of the 1972 Act.
Residuary Body for Wales – the 1994 Act established the Residuary Body for Wales to hold the assets of abolished authorities that could not easily be transferred to a new authority as part of the 1994 Act reorganisation of local government in Wales. The Residuary Body disposed of those assets by 1998, and the Body itself has since been abolished(12), so these provisions are now spent. Paragraph 29 of this Schedule to the Act omits the spent provisions in the 1994 Act and paragraphs 30 to 37 omits references to the Residuary Body in the:
Rent Act 1977;
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982;
Housing Act 1988;
Town and Country Planning Act 1990;
Local Government Finance Act 1992;
Environment Act 1995;
Housing Act 1996; and the
Government of Wales Act 1998.
Transitional provision under the 1994 Act – spent transitional provisions in the 1994 Act and an amendment of those provision in the Local Government Act 2003 are omitted.
Decentralisation schemes and joint working – under Part 3 of the 1994 Act new principal councils could establish area committees to discharge functions of the council by way of a ‘decentralisation scheme’, and the Secretary of State could give certain directions relating to joint working arrangements and related information to principal councils. Applications for decentralisation schemes had to be made by 1 January 1996 (and approved by the Secretary of State no later than 1 July 1996), and joint working directions could only be made by the Secretary of State until 31 March 1999 – so each of these arrangements is now spent.(13) The Act therefore omits Part 3 of the 1994 Act and makes a consequential amendment to the Education Act 1996.
See the Residuary Body for Wales (Winding Up) Order 1998 (SI 1998/2859)
Equivalent arrangements are now provided for, in respect of Corporate Joint Committees, by the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.
