29th January 2025
186.Part 9 contains provisions adjusting the date of the new review of local government wards and numbers of councillors and provisions restricting the submission of reports on reviews of local government and Parliamentary boundaries in the 18 months before an election.
187.Section 62(2) amends section 14 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (“
188.Before the Act the first report of Boundaries Scotland on the electoral arrangements for a local government area under section 16(2A) of the 1973 Act was to be submitted by no later than 31 December 2028. Section 62(3)(a) changes that so that the report must be submitted by no later than 31 October 2030. Section 62(3)(b) adds a new subsection (4) to section 16 of the 1973 Act, applying to subsequent reports by Boundaries Scotland. It provides that reports on reviews of the electoral arrangements for a local government area under section 16(2A)(b) (or proposals made to the Scottish Ministers under section 16(3) regarding substantial changes to those arrangements) may not be made during any period which is 18 months before the date of the each normally scheduled local government election.
189.Section 63 amends schedule 1 of the Scotland Act 1998 by inserting a requirement that any report of Boundaries Scotland made under paragraph 3(5) or (6) of that schedule which makes proposals to alter the boundaries of Scottish Parliament constituencies may not be made during any period which is 18 months before the date of the each normally scheduled Scottish Parliament general election.