Office of Public Sector Information

PART 4 MATTERS SUPPLEMENTARY TO TRANSFER OF PROPERTY, RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES

Disposal of surplus land

14.—(1) A successor council (including any caretaker council), in which any surplus land is vested on the reorganisation date (“the custodian council”)—

(a) shall use its best endeavours to secure that the land is disposed of as soon as is reasonably practicable; and

(b) shall not, except with the consent of the Secretary of State, dispose of it for a consideration which is less than the best that can reasonably be obtained.

(2) The custodian council shall, as soon as is reasonably practicable after a disposal under paragraph (1)—

(a) deduct the amount of any relevant expenditure from the amount received in respect of the disposal (“the disposal receipt”); and

(b) if the amount found after that deduction is a positive amount, distribute that amount in such proportions as may be agreed between the successor councils concerned or, failing such agreement, as may be determined by a person appointed by the Secretary of State.

(3) Where the whole of a custodian council’s relevant expenditure is not met as mentioned in paragraph (2), that council may recover an amount equal to the relevant proportion of any relevant expenditure which is not so met from any other successor council concerned.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), the relevant proportion means such proportion as the successor councils concerned may agree, or failing such agreement, as may be determined by a person appointed by the Secretary of State.

(5) In this regulation—

“relevant expenditure” means a sum equal to the amount by which the total of expenditure properly incurred by the custodian council in connection with the management or disposal of surplus land exceeds the total of monies (other than the disposal receipt) received by that council in respect of the land;

“the successor councils concerned”, in relation to any land, means those councils that are the successor councils to the predecessor council in which the land was vested before the reorganisation date; and

“surplus land” means any land that has been identified by the successor councils concerned as surplus to their requirements.

Caretaker and nominated councils: recovery of expenditure and distribution of surpluses

15.—(1) A council which, under any provision of a relevant instrument, is a caretaker council or a nominated council, may recover from the other successor councils concerned such proportion of any eligible expenditure as may be agreed between them or, failing such agreement, as may be determined by a person appointed by the Secretary of State.

(2) Where the total of any sums received by the caretaker council or the nominated council (as the case may be) in any financial year in carrying out its functions as such exceeds the amount of any eligible expenditure in respect of that year, the caretaker council or the nominated council shall, as soon as is reasonably practicable after the end of that year, pay to each other successor council such proportion of the excess as may be agreed between them or, failing such agreement, as may be determined by a person appointed by the Secretary of State.

(3) In this regulation “eligible expenditure”, in relation to a caretaker council or a nominated council (as the case may be) and a year, means the difference between—

(a) an amount equal to the expenditure properly incurred by the caretaker council or the nominated council in that year in carrying out any of its functions as such for the meeting of which provision is not otherwise made in a relevant instrument; and

(b) an amount equal to the total of any interest or other sums—

(i) where the council is a nominated council, received by that council in connection with the management of financial reserves transferred to it under regulation 10;

(ii) where the council is a caretaker council, received by that council with respect to investments vested in it by virtue of regulation 13(4).

Rights of access to records

16.—(1) Where—

(a) records of a predecessor council are vested by virtue of these Regulations or any other relevant instrument in any body; and

(b) the records relate to—

(i) property, rights or liabilities which are vested by virtue of these Regulations in another body; or

(ii) any function which is exercisable, on and after the reorganisation date, by such other body,

that other body shall be entitled during normal office hours, through any person authorised in that behalf, to inspect those records and to take, or be supplied with, copies of those records or of any part of them.

(2) The rights conferred by paragraph (1) include the right to require any record which is not in legible form to be made available in legible form for the purposes of inspection or copying or being supplied with copies.

PART 5 DISPUTES

Disputes

17.—(1) Any question as to the interpretation or application of any provision of these Regulations may be determined—

(a) in the case of a question as to the interpretation or application of regulation 9, by the Charity Commissioners; and

(b) in any other case, by a person agreed on by the parties concerned or, failing their agreement, appointed by the Secretary of State.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), where any question as to the interpretation or application of any provision of these Regulations which relates to the vesting of any property, or the transfer of rights or liabilities, is referred for determination under paragraph (1) before the end of the period of 12 months beginning on the reorganisation date—

(a) the provision of these Regulations which is in question shall not have, or shall cease to have, effect for the purposes of the vesting of the property, or the transfer of the rights or liabilities concerned; and

(b) pending the determination of the question, the property, rights or liabilities concerned shall vest in, or transfer to, the caretaker council on trust for itself and the other successor councils.

(3) Where the question referred for determination relates to—

(a) property vested in a nominated council under regulation 10; or

(b) property vested in, or rights or liabilities transferred to, a caretaker council under regulation 13(4),

the property, rights or liabilities shall continue in the possession of that council pending the determination of the question.

(4) The determination may make any provision that might be contained in an agreement.

(5) Where a determination provides for the transfer to only one successor council of any property, rights or liabilities or, in the case of rights or liabilities, to two or more successor councils jointly and severally—

(a) the property, rights or liabilities concerned shall, by virtue of the determination, vest in, or transfer to, the council specified in the determination or, as the case may be, jointly and severally in the councils so specified; and

(b) the provision of these Regulations which would have applied to the property, rights or liabilities if the vesting or transfer had been effected by that provision shall apply to the property, rights or liabilities.