The East Hertfordshire and Stevenage (Boundary Change) Order 2013

Statutory Instruments

2013 No. 596

Local Government, England

The East Hertfordshire and Stevenage (Boundary Change) Order 2013

Made

12th March 2013

Coming into force in accordance with article 1

This Order implements, without modification, a recommendation by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under section 8(2) and (6A) of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007(1) that there should be a change to the boundary between the district of East Hertfordshire and the borough of Stevenage(2).

A draft of this Order was laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament in accordance with section 240(6) of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government makes this Order, in the exercise of the powers conferred by sections 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007(3):

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the East Hertfordshire and Stevenage (Boundary Change) Order 2013.

(2) This Order comes into force for the purposes of articles 8 and 9 on the day after the day on which it is made.

(3) For all other purposes, this Order comes into force on 1st April 2013.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order—

“East Hertfordshire” means the district of East Hertfordshire;

“electoral division” means an electoral division of the county of Hertfordshire;

“map” means the map prepared by the Department for Communities and Local Government, marked “Map of the East Hertfordshire and Stevenage Boundary Change 2013” and deposited in the offices of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and the offices of the transferor authority and transferee authority;

“registration officer” means an officer appointed for the purpose of, and in accordance with, section 8 of the Representation of the People Act 1983(4);

“Stevenage” means the borough of Stevenage;

“transfer date” means 1st April 2013;

“transferee authority” means Stevenage Borough Council;

“transferor authority” means East Hertfordshire District Council; and

“transferred area” means the area shaded on the map.

Transfers between East Hertfordshire and Stevenage

3.  The transferred area is to be transferred from—

(a) East Hertfordshire and the Walkern parish to Stevenage;

(b) the Walkern ward to the Manor ward; and

(c) the Hertford Rural electoral division to the Chells electoral division.

Town and country planning

4.—(1) In this article “provision” means a provision of a development plan (within the meaning of section 38 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004(5)).

(2) Any provision relating to the transferred area continues to apply to that area, notwithstanding the transfer.

Continuity of matters

5.—(1) Anything which, at the transfer date, is in the process of being done by or in relation to the transferor authority in the exercise of or in connection with any of its functions in or relating to the transferred area may be continued by or in relation to the transferee authority.

(2) Anything done by or in relation to the transferor authority in the exercise of or in connection with any functions in or relating to the transferred area must, so far as is required for continuing its effect on and after the transfer date, have effect as if done by or in relation to the transferee authority.

(3) Paragraph (2) applies in particular to—

(a) any decision, determination, declaration, designation, agreement or instrument made by the transferor authority;

(b) any regulations or byelaws made by the transferor authority;

(c) any licence, permission, consent, approval, authorisation, exemption, dispensation or relaxation granted by or to the transferor authority;

(d) any notice, direction or certificate given by or to the transferor authority;

(e) any application, request, proposal or objection made by or to the transferor authority;

(f) any condition or requirement imposed by or on the transferor authority;

(g) any fee paid by or to the transferor authority;

(h) any appeal allowed by or in favour of or against the transferor authority; or

(i) any proceedings initiated by or against the transferor authority.

(4) Any reference in this article to anything done by or in relation to the transferor authority includes a reference to anything which by virtue of any enactment is treated as having been done by or in relation to that authority.

(5) So far as is required for giving effect to the provisions of this article, any reference in any document to the transferor authority is to be construed as a reference to the transferee authority.

Transfer of property, rights and liabilities

6.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3), all property vested in, and all rights and liabilities acquired, accrued or incurred by the transferor authority in respect of the transferred area transfer to and vest in or, as the case may be, become rights and liabilities of, the transferee authority on the transfer date.

(2) For the purposes of this Order, property, rights and liabilities of the transferor authority are to be treated as property, rights and liabilities in respect of the transferred area if—

(a) in the case of land, it is situated in, or held exclusively for the purposes of, or in connection with, the exercise of functions in, or in relation to, the transferred area;

(b) in the case of liabilities, they are liabilities incurred exclusively in respect of the transferred area.

(3) Paragraphs (4) and (5) apply to—

(a) any property held by a transferor authority, as sole trustee, exclusively for charitable purposes (“charitable property”);

(b) any rights or liabilities of a transferor authority in respect of charitable property,

and in this article, “trusts” has the same meaning as in the Charities Act 2011(6).

(4) Where charitable property is held by a transferor authority for the benefit of—

(a) a specified area, the whole or greater part of which is situated within the transferred area, or

(b) the inhabitants of that specified area, or

(c) any particular class or body of persons in that specified area,

that property shall, on the transfer date, vest (on the same trusts) in the transferee authority.

(5) Charitable property which is not vested in accordance with paragraph (4) shall continue to be held by the transferor authority.

Councillors

7.—(1) Any person in office immediately before the transfer date as a councillor for—

(a) the Walkern ward;

(b) the Hertford Rural electoral division; or

(c) the Walkern parish,

continues to represent that ward, division or parish, but ceases to represent the transferred area.

(2) Any person in office immediately before the transfer date as a councillor for—

(a) the Manor ward; or

(b) the Chells electoral division,

continues to represent that ward or division, including the area transferred to it by this Order.

Electoral Registers

8.  The registration officer for the transferor authority and the transferee authority must make such rearrangement or adaptation of the register of local government electors as may be necessary for the purposes of this Order.

Preparatory functions

9.—(1) The transferor authority and transferee authority must—

(a) take, whether alone or together, such steps as may be necessary to prepare for the transfer of property, rights and liabilities in respect of the transferred area and the continuation of matters under article 5;

(b) consult and co-operate with each other to secure the economic, effective, efficient and timely transfer of those property, rights and liabilities, and continuation of those matters; and

(c) generally, exercise their functions so as to further the purposes of this Order.

(2) This article shall apply, in particular, in relation to any functions under Part 1 (Council Tax: England and Wales) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992(7) in respect of the transferred area.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Brandon Lewis

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Communities and Local Government

12th March 2013

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order gives effect to a recommendation by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England for the making of a change to the boundary between the district of East Hertfordshire and the borough of Stevenage.

Consequential changes are made by the Order to the corresponding parish boundary, ward boundaries and electoral division boundaries to make them coterminous with the revised district boundary. The map at the end of this note sets out the areas affected and the changes made by the Order.

Prints of the map described in article 2 may be inspected at all reasonable times at the offices of either East Hertfordshire District Council or Stevenage Borough Council, and also at the offices of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government located at Eland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DU.

Specific provisions in the Order deal with town and country planning matters; continuity of matters; transfer of property, rights and liabilities; arrangements with regard to councillors; adaptation of the electoral register; and preparatory functions.

An impact assessment has not been prepared for this Order as no impact on private or voluntary sectors is foreseen. The impact on the public sector is minimal.

(1)

2007 c. 28; section 8(2) was amended by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (c. 20), section 67(1), Schedule 4, paragraphs 11, 16(1) and 16(3).

(2)

The non-metropolitan district of Stevenage has the status of a borough.

(3)

Section 10 was amended by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (c. 20), section 67(1), Schedule 4, paragraphs 11 and 18.

(4)

1983 c. 2.

(5)

2004 c. 5; section 38 was amended by the Planning Act 2008 (c. 29), section 108(1) and (7); the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (c. 20), section 82(1); and the Localism Act 2011 (c. 20), sections 109, 116, 237 and Schedules 8, 9 and 25.

(6)

2011 c. 25; “trusts” is defined in section 353(1).

(7)

1992 c.14. Amendments were made by sections 74, 75, 78 and 79 of, and Schedules 5 to 7 to, the Localism Act 2011 (c. 20). Amendments were also made by sections 3 and 10 to 15 of, and Schedule 4 to, the Local Government Finance Act 2012 (c. 17).