The Local Authorities (Discretionary Expenditure Limits) (England) Order 2002

Statutory Instruments

2002 No. 2878

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND

The Local Authorities (Discretionary Expenditure Limits) (England) Order 2002

Made

19th November 2002

Laid before Parliament

26th November 2002

Coming into force

31st March 2003

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 137(4AA) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972(1), hereby makes the following Order:

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Local Authorities (Discretionary Expenditure Limits) (England) Order 2002 and shall come into force on 31st March 2003.

Expenditure limits

2.  For the purposes of section 137(4)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 (power of local authorities to incur expenditure for certain purposes not otherwise authorised), the sum of £5.00 is specified as the sum appropriate to a parish council in England(2).

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Christopher Leslie

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

19th November 2002

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972 enables parish councils in England to incur expenditure for certain purposes not otherwise authorised. This expenditure must not exceed the amount produced by multiplying a specified sum by the relevant population of the authority’s area. In the case of a parish council in England, the specified sum is £3.50 or other such sum as may by Order be specified. The relevant population is currently the number of electors resident in the parish.

This Order increases to £5.00 the sum specified as the appropriate sum for the purposes of section 137(4)(a) of the 1972 Act for parish councils in England.

(1)

1972 c. 70. Section 137 was amended by section 36 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, section 44 of the Local Government (miscellaneous provisions) Act 1944, section 45(1) of the Audit Commission Act 1998, section 3(3) of the Local Government Act 1986, Schedule 15 of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 and by section 18 of the Local Government Act 2000.

(2)

This order applies in relation to parish councils in England only. In relation to Wales see the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/672) and the Local Authorities (Discretionary Expenditure Limits) (Wales) Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/990).