PART 1 GENERAL

1 Citation and commencement
These Regulations may be cited as the Local Government (Payments to Councillors) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 and shall come into operation on 1st April 2012.

2 Interpretation
In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Local Government Finance Act (Northern Ireland) 2011;
“approved duty” means any of the following duties—
(a) attendance at a meeting of a council, or any of its committees or sub-committees, or at a meeting of a joint committee or any of its sub-committees, or at a meeting of a group committee established under the provisions of the Local Government (Employment of Group Building Control Staff) Order (Northern Ireland) 1994 or the Local Government (Employment of Group Environmental Health Staff) Order (Northern Ireland) 1994; or
S.R. 1994 No. 497
S.R. 1994 No. 498
(b) the doing of anything approved by a council or, as the case may be, by a joint committee, or anything of a class so approved, for the purpose of, or in connection with, the discharge of the functions of the council, or any of its committees or sub-committees, or as the case may be, of the joint committee or any of its sub-committees,
and shall not include a site visit;
“committee member” means a person, not being a councillor, appointed to a committee or a sub-committee of a council, or to a joint committee or a sub-committee of a joint committee, under sections 18 or 19 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972;
“councillor” means a member of a council;
“the Department” means the Department of the Environment;
“site visit” means a visit made by a councillor in connection with an application for planning permission—
(a) which has been referred to a council for consultation under Article 15(a) of the Planning (General Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 1993; or
S.R. 1993 No. 278
(b) at the request of the applicant for that planning permission, or the agent of an applicant, or at the request of an objector to that application; and
“year” means the period of 12 months ending on 31st March in any year after the coming into operation of these Regulations.
1972 c.9 (N.I.)