The Parish and Community Meetings (Coronavirus) (Polls) (Amendment) (England) Rules 2020

Statutory Instruments

2020 No. 1355

Representation Of The People, England

The Parish and Community Meetings (Coronavirus) (Polls) (Amendment) (England) Rules 2020

Made

26th November 2020

Laid before Parliament

1st December 2020

Coming into force

31st December 2020

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by paragraph 18(5) of Schedule 12 to the Local Government Act 1972(1), makes the following Rules.

Citation, application and commencement

1.  These Rules may be cited as the Parish and Community Meetings (Coronavirus) (Polls) (Amendment) (England) Rules 2020 and come into force on 31st December 2020.

2.  These Rules apply to polls demanded at parish meetings in England(2).

Amendment of the Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) Rules 1987

3.  The rules in the Schedule to the Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) Rules 1987(3) are amended as follows—

(a) in rule 1 for “The” substitute “Subject to rule 1A, the”;

(b) after rule 1 insert—

“1A.— (1) The proceedings at a poll for which polling, in accordance with the timetable in rule 1, would otherwise be held (or could be held) on a day during the relevant period shall be conducted instead in accordance with the following Table.

Timetable

Proceeding	Time
Delivery of notices of withdrawal of candidature	Not later than noon on the fourth day after the day on which the poll was demanded.
Notice of poll	Not later than the fifth day before the day of the poll.
Polling	Between the hours of 4 in the afternoon and 9 at night on the day fixed by the returning officer which shall be— (c) not earlier than 6th May 2021 or the fourteenth day after the day on which the poll was demanded, whichever day is later; and (d) not later than 11th June 2021.

(2) In this rule “the relevant period” means the period beginning with the day on which the Parish and Community Meetings (Coronavirus) (Polls) (Amendment) (England) Rules 2020 come into force and ending with 5th May 2021.”.

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

Luke Hall

Minister of State

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

26th November 2020

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules amend the Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) Rules 1987 (S.I. 1987/1) to provide for a different timetable for the conduct of a poll demanded at a parish meeting in England which could otherwise take place before 6th May 2021. Rule 3 sets out the timetable in respect of those polls, to provide that the date of poll is to be not earlier than 6th May 2021, or the fourteenth day after the day on which the poll was demanded (whichever is later) and not later than 11th June 2021.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been prepared as this instrument will have no impact on the costs of business and the voluntary sector.

(1)

1972 c. 70. Paragraph 18(5) was amended by section 206 of, and paragraph 14 of Schedule 8 to, the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) and repealed by section 42(2) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (c. 2). Section 42 has not yet come into force in respect of the repeal of paragraph 18(5) (See S.I. 2014/900, article 2).

(2)

See paragraph 18(4) of Schedule 12 to the Local Government Act 1972.

(3)

S.I. 1987/1, amended by S.I. 1987/262.