STATUTE LAW REVISION: SIXTEENTH ... - Law Commission

problems, 4 since new authorities normally inherit the legislation promoted for the
benefit of their predecessors but subject to complicated modifications in general
terms.
5.4 Against this background section 262(9) of the Local Government Act 1972 made
a fresh start by triggering the operation of a scheme 5 to reform local authority
legislation in England and Wales outside Greater London. The underlying purpose
of that scheme was to create-
“a corpus of local legislation which is relevant to present needs, greatly reduced
in bulk, accessible to those who need to use it and capable of being
indexed so that it can be modified, as necessary, in later years when
further general or local Acts are passed".
The mechanism provided by section 262(9) was a cesser in general terms of particular
categories of local statutory provisions, but the detailed effects of the mechanism
are complex and require to be implemented by later legislation. If this is not
done, the effect of the mechanism may simply be to substitute one form of
uncertainty for another. Accordingly, during the lengthy interim period which was
allowed before the cesser finally took effect on 31 December 1987, 6 the new
counties and other authorities created by the Local Government Act 1972 were
required to review the accumulated mass of local Acts and orders which they had
inherited and thereafter to promote fresh legislation to re-enact those powers
which were still needed and to translate the effect of the general cesser into
specific repeals of identified local statutory provisions. At the same time local
authorities were encouraged to review the substantial body of local statutory
provisions exempted from the cesser 7 with a view to repealing them so far as
they were no longer needed. The main categories of exempted provisions are
those which relate to statutory undertakings, or which are protective provisions
for the benefit of particular bodies or persons.
4 Recent privatisations have caused further problems. For the proposed repeal of protective
provisions benefiting railway companies it was necessary to consult one body - the British
Railways Board - for the South Yorkshire proposals implemented by the Statute Law
(Repeals) Act 1989, but for the Hereford and Worcester proposals it has been necessary
to consult six: the British Railways Board, Railtrack PLC, Central Trains Limited, Great
Western Holdings, Thames Trains and Wales and West Passenger Trains Limited. For
electricity generation the former Central Electricity Generating Board has been succeeded
by five separate companies: Magnox Electric plc, National Grid Company plc, National
Power plc, Nuclear Electric plc and PowerGen plc, all of which have been consulted for the
Hereford and Worcester proposals.
5 The scheme for England and Wales is set out in Department of the Environment Circular
14/74 and a circular letter dated 10 May 1974. See also Foulkes, “The Enactment of the
County of South Glamorgan Act 1976”, [1977] PL 272. South Glamorgan was the first
county to implement the scheme.
6 Metropolitan Counties (Local Statutory Provisions) Order 1979 (SI 1979 No 969); Greater
Manchester (Local Statutory Provisions) Order 1980 (SI 1980 No 1845); Non-Metropolitan
and Welsh Counties (Local Statutory Provisions) Order 1983 (SI 1983 No 619); Non-
Metropolitan and Welsh Counties (Local Statutory Provisions) Order 1986 (SI 1986 No
2106).
7 Local Government Act 1972, s 262(12)(i) to (v) and (13).
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