The Local Authorities (Referendums) (Petitions and Directions) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Under Part II of the Local Government Act 2000 (“the Act”), every county and county borough council in Wales (“authority”) is able to make arrangements for the discharge of its functions by executives which must take one of the forms specified in sections 11(2) to (4) of the Act or in regulations under section 11(5). In addition to a form of executive prescribed in regulations under section 11(5) of the Act which is expressed in those regulations to be a form of executive for which a referendum is required, the forms of executive specified in sections 11(2) and 11(4) are forms of executive for which a referendum is required.

Section 34 of the Act empowers the National Assembly for Wales (“the Assembly”) to make regulations for or in connection with requiring an authority which receives a petition (which complies with the provisions of such regulations) to hold a referendum on whether that authority should operate executive arrangements involving a form of executive for which a referendum is required.

Section 45(1) of the Act provides that an authority may not hold more than one referendum in any period of five years (“five year moratorium”).

The Assembly has made regulations under section 34 of the Act (the Local Authorities (Referendums) (Petitions and Directions) (Wales) Regulations 2001 (“the 2001 Regulations”)). These Regulations amend the 2001 Regulations.

In particular, these Regulations limit the periods of time in which the local government electorate for an authority’s area may present petitions seeking a referendum to their authority. A new regulation 3A is inserted into the 2001 Regulations which provides that the local government electorate for an authority’s area may present petitions seeking a referendum to their authority during a petition period. The duration of a petition period is six months. The first petition period will commence twelve months before the date on which the 2004 ordinary local government elections are to be held. Subject to the exceptions set out at new regulations 3A(5) to (8), subsequent petition periods for an authority will occur once every four years, with each petition period commencing twelve months before the date of the next ordinary local government elections.

The exceptions referred to at new regulations 3A(5) to (8) apply where an authority has held a referendum whether in pursuance of a petition, an Assembly direction issued under Part III of the 2001 Regulations, or an order made by the Assembly under section 36 of the Act and, as a result, a five year moratorium has commenced. New regulation 3A(5) provides that if part or the whole of an authority’s petition period is due to commence within a five year moratorium period, that petition period will in fact commence on the date during that five year moratorium period which is twelve months before the earliest date on which a second (or subsequent) referendum may lawfully be held in that authority’s area. New regulation 3A(6) provides that if no petitions are received by an authority during a petition period determined in accordance with regulation 3A(5), the next petition period for that authority will be due to commence twelve months before the next ordinary local government elections. Under new regulation 3A(7) no part of two petition periods for a particular authority may occur within the same year.

The 2001 Regulations are also amended such that a petition presented to an authority will only be valid if (among other things) that petition is presented to that authority within a petition period.

In addition, these Regulations amend regulation 9(5) of the 2001 Regulations such that any signature on a petition presented to an authority which bears a date earlier than 6 months before the petition date (a term defined in regulation 3 of the 2001 Regulations and amended by these Regulations) must be disregarded in determining whether the petition is signed by not less than 10% of the number of local government electors for that authority’s area (“the verification number”).

Regulation 4 of the 2001 Regulations is also amended in that, other than for the purposes of the first petition period, the proper officer of an authority must publish the verification number within a period of 14 days beginning with the date that is 7 months prior to the commencement of a petition period for that authority.