PART IIIELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS
Electoral areas in Brighton and Hove11
1
The district of Brighton and Hove shall be divided into 26 wards and each ward shall be represented by 3 councillors.
Elections of councillors to the Brighton and Hove Council12
1
Elections of all councillors of the Brighton and Hove Council shall be held simultaneously on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 1996, 1999 and every fourth year after 199917; and the term of office of any councillor so elected shall be, in the case of a councillor elected in 1996, three years and, in any other case, four years.
2
On the fourth day after such an election held after 1996—
a
the persons who were councillors immediately before the election shall retire; and
b
the newly elected councillors shall come into office.
First elections13
1
At the ordinary election in 1996 of councillors of the Brighton and Hove Council, the returning officer shall be the returning officer appointed under section 35 of the Representation of the People Act 198318 by Brighton Council.
2
All expenditure properly incurred by the returning officer in relation to the holding of this election shall be paid by the councils of Brighton and Hove in such proportions as may be agreed between them or, failing such agreement, as may be determined by the Secretary of State, and paragraph 2(2) of the Schedule to the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 199419 shall not apply in relation to this election.
Suspension of elections and retirement of councillors14
1
The ordinary election of councillors in 1996 for any ward in Brighton shall not take place; and any councillor for such a ward holding office immediately before the relevant date who would, but for this paragraph, have retired on that date shall, unless he resigns his office or it otherwise becomes vacant, continue to hold office until the reorganisation date.
2
The electoral divisions of East Sussex comprised in Brighton and Hove shall cease to be electoral divisions on the reorganisation date; and any person holding office, immediately before that date, as a councillor for such a division shall retire on that date20.
3
Section 89 of the 1972 Act (filling of casual vacancies in case of councillors) shall have effect—
a
in the case of a casual vacancy occurring in the office of councillor of Brighton Council or Hove Council after the relevant date, as if the reference in subsection (3) of that section to the day on which the councillor whose office is vacant would regularly have retired were a reference to the reorganisation date; and
b
in the case of a casual vacancy occurring in the office of councillor for any electoral division referred to in paragraph (2) above, as if that reference in that subsection were a reference to the reorganisation date.