Any functions of any such public body as is specified in subsection (2) below may with their approval be transferred by an order made by the Secretary of State to any local authority whose area comprises the district of that body, or jointly to two or more local authorities whose areas together comprise that district.

This section applies to the following public bodies, that is to say, any trustees, commissioners or other persons who, for public purposes and not for their own profit, act under any enactment or instrument for the improvement of any place, or for providing or maintaining a cemetery or market in any place.

Any order under this section may contain such incidental, consequential, transitional and supplementary provision as may appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or proper; and a statutory instrument containing an order under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

In this section “local authority” includes the Common Council.