55Area covered and membershipW
(1)Section 18 of the Local Government Act 2000 (discharge of functions by area committees) is amended as follows.
(2)In subsection (3), for the definition of “area committee” substitute—
““area committee” means—
(a)in relation to a local authority in England, a committee or sub-committee of the authority which satisfies the conditions in subsection (4);
(b)in relation to a local authority in Wales, a committee or sub-committee of the authority which satisfies the conditions in subsection (6);”.
(3)In subsection (4), after “a local authority” insert “ in England ”.
(4)After subsection (5) insert—
“(6)A committee or sub-committee of a local authority in Wales satisfies the conditions in this subsection if—
(a)the committee or sub-committee is established to discharge functions in respect of part of the area of the authority,
(b)that part consists of the whole of one or more electoral divisions of the authority,
(c)all the members of the authority who are elected for that electoral division, or those electoral divisions, are entitled to be members of the committee or sub-committee,
(d)no members of the authority, other than those mentioned in paragraph (c), may be members of the committee or sub-committee, and
(e)either or both of the conditions in subsection (7) are satisfied in relation to that part.
(7)Those conditions are—
(a)that the area of that part does not exceed one-half of the total area of the authority;
(b)that the population of that part, as estimated by the authority, does not exceed one-half of the total population of the area of the authority as so estimated.”.