(1)The Secretary of State may invite or direct any principal authority to make one of the following proposals—
(a)a Type A proposal;
(b)a Type B proposal;
(c)a Type C proposal;
(d)a combined proposal.
(2)A Type A proposal is a proposal that there should be a single tier of local government for the area which is the county concerned.
(3)A Type B proposal is a proposal that there should be a single tier of local government for an area which—
(a)is currently a district, or two or more districts, in the county concerned; and
(b)is specified in the proposal.
(4)A Type C proposal is a proposal that there should be a single tier of local government for an area specified in the proposal which currently consists of—
(a)the county concerned or one or more districts in the county concerned; and
(b)one or more relevant adjoining areas.
(5)A combined proposal is a proposal that consists of—
(a)two or more Type B proposals,
(b)two or more Type C proposals, or
(c)one or more Type B proposals and one or more Type C proposals,
but a proposal is not a combined proposal if it includes any Type B or C proposals that are alternatives.
(6)In this section “the county concerned” means—
(a)in relation to a principal authority which is the council for a county, that county;
(b)in relation to a principal authority which is the council for a district, the county in which the district is.
(7)In this section a “relevant adjoining area” means an area which adjoins the county concerned and is currently a county in England, a district in England, or two or more such counties or districts.
(8)An invitation or direction may either—
(a)be such that the authority may choose whether to make a Type A, Type B, Type C or combined proposal; or
(b)specify which one of those kinds of proposal is invited (or, in the case of a direction, required).
(9)Subsection (1) is subject to section 3(1).
Commencement Information
I1S. 2 in force at 1.11.2007 for E. by S.I. 2007/3136, art. 2(a)