Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) This Order may be cited as the District of the Medway Towns (Parishes and Electoral Changes) Order 1997 and, subject to paragraph (2), shall come into force-

(a)for the purposes of article 2 on 1st April 1997; and

(b)for all other purposes, on 1st May 1997.

(2) For the purpose of all proceedings preliminary or relating to an election to be held on or after 1st May 1997, this Order shall come into force on the day after the day on which it is made.

(3) In this Order-

"the district" means the district of the Medway Towns(3);

"existing", in relation to a ward, means the ward as it exists on the date this Order is made;

any reference to the map is a reference to the map prepared by the Department of the Environment, marked "Map of the District of the Medway Towns (Parishes and Electoral Changes) Order 1997", and deposited in accordance with regulation 27 of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994(4); and

any reference to a numbered sheet is a reference to the sheet of the map which bears that number.

Transfers between parishes, etc.

2.-(1) The area marked A1 on sheet 5 shall be transferred from the parish of Cliffe to the parish of Frindsbury Extra.

(2) The area marked A2 on sheet 6 shall be transferred from the parish of Frindsbury Extra to the parish of Cliffe.

(3) The parish of Cliffe shall be renamed the parish of Cliffe and Cliffe Woods.

(4) The area marked B on sheet 6 shall be transferred from the parish of Stoke to the parish of St Mary Hoo.

Wards of the Medway Towns

3.-(1) The existing wards of the district(5) shall be abolished.

(2) The district shall be divided into thirty-five wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of the Schedule.

(3) The wards shall comprise the areas described in column (2) of that Schedule by reference to parishes, parish wards, or a parish and a parish ward or, where no area is so described, the area designated on the map by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by red lines; and the number of councillors to be elected for each ward shall be the number specified in column (3) of that Schedule.

(4) Where a boundary is shown on the map as running along a road, railway line, footway, waterway or other similar geographical feature, it shall be treated as running along the centre line of the feature.

Elections of the council of the Medway Towns

4.-(1) Elections of all councillors for wards of the district shall be held simultaneously on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 1997, 2000 and 2003 and every fourth year after 2003(6).

(2) The term of office of any councillor so elected shall be, in the case of councillors elected in 1997 and 2000, three years and, in any other case, four years.

(3) On the fourth day after any such elections-

(a)the persons who were councillors immediately before those elections shall retire; and

(b)the newly elected councillors shall come into office.

(4) Articles 9 and 10 of the Kent (Borough of Gillingham and City of Rochester upon Medway) (Structural Change) Order 1996(7) shall be revoked.

Parish council elections

5.-(1) The ordinary elections of parish councillors for the parishes in the district in 1999 shall not take place; and any such parish councillor holding office immediately before 10th May 1999 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 8th May 2000.

(2) Elections of all parish councillors shall be held simultaneously on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 2000 and 2003 and every fourth year after 2003.

(3) The term of office of any parish councillor so elected shall be, in the case of the parish councillors elected in 2000, three years and, in any other case, four years.

(4) On the fourth day after any such election-

(a)the persons who were parish councillors immediately before those elections shall retire; and

(b)the newly elected parish councillors shall come into office.

(5) Rule 8 of the Local Elections (Parishes and Communities) Rules 1986(8) (filling of casual vacancies) shall have effect, in the case of a casual vacancy occurring before 8th May 2000 in the office of a parish councillor for a parish in the district, as if the references in paragraphs (1) and (4) of that rule to the day on which that councillor would regularly have retired were a reference to that date.

Article 3

SCHEDULEWARDS OF THE DISTRICT OF THE MEDWAY TOWNS: NAMES, AREAS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order gives effect to recommendations by the Local Government Commission for England for boundary and electoral changes in the district of the Medway Towns (constituted by the Kent (Borough of Gillingham and City of Rochester upon Medway) (Structural Change) Order 1996 and consisting of the areas of the districts of Gillingham and Rochester upon Medway).

Article 2 makes changes to the boundaries of the parishes of Cliffe, Frindsbury Extra, Stoke and St Mary Hoo, and renames the first the parish of Cliffe and Cliffe Woods.

Article 3 abolishes the existing wards of the district and provides for the creation of thirty-five new wards. That article and the Schedule also make provision for the names, areas and numbers of councillors for the new wards.

Prints of the map on which the boundary changes, and district warding arrangements, are shown may be inspected at all reasonable times at the offices of the Gillingham Borough Council and the Rochester upon Medway City Council (from 1st April 1998 at the offices of the Medway Towns District Council) and at the offices of the Secretary of State for the Environment which, until May 1997, are located at 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3EB and, thereafter, at 2nd Floor, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE.

Article 4 makes provision for whole council elections in the district of the Medway Towns in 1997, 2000 and 2003 and every fourth year after 2003.

Article 5 makes provision regarding elections of parish councils in the district of the Medway Towns.