After section 27J of the Local Government Act 1972 insert the following—
(1)This section sets out the conditions that must be met before an application may be made by a community meeting of a community included in a group of communities for an order under section 27L separating the community from the group.
(2)The first condition is that a community meeting of the community has taken an effective decision to hold a poll on a proposal to separate the community from its group.
(3)For the purposes of the first condition a decision is only effective if not less than—
(a)30% of the local government electors for the community, or
(b)300 of the electors (if 30% of the electors exceeds 300 electors),
are present and voting at the community meeting.
(4)The second condition is that the poll is not held before the end of the period of 42 days beginning with the day on which the decision to hold the poll was taken.
(5)The third condition is that the poll is not held within two years of an earlier poll which resulted in a rejection of a proposal to separate the community from its group (that period of two years beginning with the day on which the earlier poll was held).
(6)The fourth condition is that at least two-thirds of those voting in the poll support the proposal to separate the community from its group.
(7)Paragraph 34 of Schedule 12 to this Act (voting at community meetings) shall have effect subject to the provisions of this section.”.