Use of schools and public roomsU.K.
9(1)The counting officer may use, free of charge, for the purpose of taking the poll—U.K.
(a)a room in a school within paragraph (3);
(b)a room the expense of maintaining which is met by any local authority (in England and Wales or Scotland) or is payable out of any rate (in Northern Ireland).
(2)The counting officer must—
(a)make good any damage done to any such room, and
(b)defray any expense incurred by the persons having control over any such room,
by reason of its being used for that purpose.
(3)The schools within this paragraph are—
(a)in England and Wales—
(i)a school maintained or assisted by a local authority;
(ii)a school in respect of which grants are made out of moneys provided by Parliament to the person or body of persons responsible for the management of the school;
(b)in Scotland, a school that is not an independent school within the meaning of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980;
(c)in Northern Ireland, a school in receipt of a grant out of moneys appropriated by Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly, other than a school that—
(i)adjoins or is adjacent to a church or other place of worship, or
(ii)is connected with a nunnery or other religious establishment.