The Local Government (Transitional, Incidental, Consequential and Supplemental Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

Charters

3.—(1) On the operative date the charter of the corporation of every borough in existence before 1st April 2015, other than a county borough, the borough of Lisburn or a borough to which paragraph (3)(c) applies, shall be annulled.

(2) The new council for a district which includes the whole or the major part of a borough other than a county borough or the borough of Lisburn may, before the operative date, resolve that the charter of the corporation of the borough shall have effect in relation to the district; and, if the borough bears a name other than the name of the district, the resolution shall provide for the name of the corporation of the borough to be changed to correspond to the name of the district.

(3) After 31st March 2015 the charter of—

(a) the corporation of each county borough;

(b) the corporation of the borough of Lisburn; and

(c) a borough in respect of the charter of which a resolution has been passed under paragraph (2);

shall, subject to these Regulations, have effect in relation to the district which includes the whole or major part of the borough as existing immediately before that date.

(4) In the case of the charter of the borough of Lisburn, after 31st March 2015, the name of the corporation of the borough shall be the name of the district.

(5) The corporation established or regulated by a charter to which paragraph (3) applies shall continue to bear the name it bore immediately before the operative date or, where a resolution passed under this paragraph provides for a change of its name, shall on and after that date bear the name specified in the resolution.

(6) The chairman of the council mentioned in paragraph (5), and the councillors of that council who are designated as aldermen in accordance with the charter, shall be respectively the mayor (or, as the case may be, the lord mayor) and the aldermen of the borough to which the charter relates.

(7) Where a freemen’s roll is in existence immediately prior to the operative date in a county borough or other borough to which these Regulations apply, that freemen’s roll shall, on the operative date, become and form part of the roll of honorary freemen of the borough designated by a charter to which paragraph (3) applies.

(8) Without prejudice to any provision of the charter for the conferment of the freedom of the borough, the local electors of a district in relation to which a charter to which paragraph (3) applies shall, for the purposes of the charter, be the burgesses (or, as the case may be, the citizens) of the borough.

(9) When a new council passes a resolution under subsection (2) it shall publish notice of the resolution in the Belfast Gazette.