STATUTE LAW REVISION: SIXTEENTH ... - Law Commission

PART V
HEREFORD AND WORCESTER
5.1 The proposals in this Part would implement a project to rationalise the
accumulated body of local authority legislation in Hereford and Worcester.
Similar projects to rationalise local authority legislation in South Yorkshire and in
Bedfordshire, the City of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire,
including proposals affecting the legislation of the Derwent Valley Water Board,
were implemented by the Statute Law (Repeals) Acts 1989 1 and 1995 2
respectively. The proposals relating to Hereford and Worcester, like the earlier
proposals, are based on a detailed review of the legislation carried out for the
Law Commission by Mr J S Phipps (Chief Executive of Leicester City Council
1973-1982).
5.2 The proposed repeals have been agreed to, so far as they are concerned, by
Hereford and Worcester County Council, the district councils in the county,
certain other local authorities, statutory undertakers and other consultees listed
in Appendix 3. During the preparation of the proposals Hereford and Worcester
County Council and the district councils in the county were the duly constituted
local authorities concerned, but the county of Hereford and Worcester was
abolished on 1 April 1998. It has been succeeded by a new non-metropolitan
district of Herefordshire and a new non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire 3
whose councils have both been informed of the proposals and have no
objections to them.
5.3 The bulk, uncertain operation and inaccessibility of local legislation are problems
of long standing. Local legislation (public local Acts as distinct from public
general Acts) was historically one of the principal means by which Parliament,
from the time of the industrial revolution onwards, developed the institutions of
modern society. The structure of legislation has progressively altered, as
Parliament has moved to a system of legislation in general terms, but a very
substantial volume of local statute law continues to regulate the activities of
numerous public and other authorities. It is not normally included in revised
editions of the statute law, it is only recently that it has been adequately indexed
and, until 1974, no official record was kept of repeals and amendments affecting
it. Successive reorganisations of public authorities have exacerbated the
1 Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1989, Sch 1, Pt IX (South Yorkshire). For the background to that
project, see Statute Law Revision: Thirteenth Report (1989) Law Com No 179, Scot Law
Com No 117, Cm 671, pp 111-114.
2 Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1995, Sch 1, Pt I (Bedfordshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire,
Warwickshire and Derwent Valley Water Board). For the background to that project, see
Statute Law Revision: Fifteenth Report (1995) Law Com No 233, Scot Law Com No 150,
Cm 2784, pp 50-61.
3 Hereford and Worcester (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996 (SI
1996 No 1867), Articles 3-5 and 20(a). The new district of Herefordshire comprises the
areas of the former city of Hereford, the former district of South Herefordshire and part of
the areas of the former districts of Leominster and Malvern Hills which were all abolished
on 1 April. The new county of Worcester comprises the city of Worcester, the borough of
Redditch, the districts of Bromsgrove, Wychavon and Wyre Forest and a new district of
Malvern Hills for those parts of the former district and of the former district of Leominster
which are not in Herefordshire.
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