The Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) Rules 1987

Citation and extent

1.—(1) These Rules may be cited as the Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) Rules 1987.

(2) These Rules do not extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Commencement

2.  These Rules shall come into force on 16th February 1987 except that they shall not have effect in relation to a poll consequent on a parish or community meeting which has been demanded before that date.

Revocations

3.  The Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) Rules 1973(1), the Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) (Amendment) Rules 1976(2) and the Parish and Community Meetings (Polls) (Amendment) Rules 1983(3) are hereby revoked except that those Rules shall apply to any poll which has been demanded before these Rules come into force.

Returning officer

4.—(1) If a poll consequent on a parish or community meeting is required to be taken, the chairman of the meeting shall notify the district council in which the parish or community is situate of the fact and that council shall appoint an officer of the council to be returning officer.

(2) The chairman of the meeting shall give the returning officer such particulars as will enable him to give notice of the poll.

(3) The returning officer shall appoint an office for the purpose of the poll.

Poll rules

5.  In the application of the Local Elections (Parishes and Communities) Rules 1986(4) to a poll consequent on a parish or community meeting, adaptations, alterations and exceptions shall be made to those rules so that the poll shall be conducted in accordance with the rules in the Schedule to these Rules.

Application of provisions in the Act of 1983

6.  In the application of those provisions of the Representation of the People Act 1983 referred to in section 187(1) of that Act(5) to the election of the chairman of a parish meeting or to a poll consequent on a parish or community meeting the following adaptations, alterations and exceptions shall have effect–

(a) where the poll is to be taken on any question other than that of the election of the chairman of a parish meeting or of an appointment to any other office, the only provisions of those referred to in section 187(1) which are to apply are sections 60, 66(6), 113, 114, 115, 119(7), 160(4) and (5), 168(8), 169(9), 173(10), 174(5) and (6), 176(11), 177, 179, 180, 181(12), 186 and 189;

(b) references to the proper officer of the authority for which the election was held shall be taken as references to the returning officer;

(c) references to the authority for which the election was held shall be taken as references to the parish and references to the area thereof shall be construed accordingly except that in section 130(6) for the words “area of the authority for which the election was held” there shall be substituted “district in which the parish is situate”;

(d) in sections 60(2) and 99(1), for the words “local government election” there shall be substituted “election under the local government Act”;

(e) in section 66, subsection (4) and any reference to an election agent or the proxy for an elector shall be omitted and in subsections (2)(b), (3)(b), (c) and (d) and (5) after the words “the candidate for whom” there shall be inserted “or the manner in which”;

(f) in section 136(2)(b)(13), for the words “£2,500” there shall be substituted “£1,500”;

(g) references to an election under the local government Act shall be deemed to include a reference to a poll consequent on a parish or community meeting.

Douglas Hurd

One of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State

Home Office

5th January 1987