§ Mr. WattsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what response was received to the consultation paper on the appointment558W of members of valuation tribunals in the light of local government reorganisation in parts of England in April 1998. [18126]
§ Ms ArmstrongThe list of responses received has been placed in the Library of the House: copies of individual responses may be obtained through my Department's library. Regulations will be introduced shortly to give effect to the following measures
(i) That, with effect from 1 April 1998, the appointing bodies for the Valuation Tribunals listed in column 1 below be those authorities listed in column 2 below, who will be entitled to appoint members in the proportion given in column 3—the membership, revised in some cases, being that shown in column 4.
column 1 Name column 2 Appointing bodies column 3 Proportion column 4 Complement Berkshire Newbury (W Berkshire) DC 2 30 Reading BC 2 Slough BC 2 Windsor and Maidenhead BC 2 Bracknell Forest BC 1 Wokingham DC 1 Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire CC 3 48 Peterborough City Council 1 Cheshire Cheshire CC 7 60 Warrington BC 2 Halton BC 1 Devon Devon CC 5 42 Plymouth City Council 1 Torbay BC 1 Essex South Essex CC 9 30 Southend on Sea BC 4 Thurrock BC 2 Herefordshire Worcestershire CC 3 32 and County of Herefordshire 1 Worcestershire DC Kent Kent CC 8 45 The Medway Town DC 1 Lancashire Lancashire CC 15 100 Blackpool BC 3 Blackburn with Darwen BC 2 Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire CC 2 54 Nottingham City Council 1 Shropshire Shropshire CC 3 36 The Wrekin DC 1
(ii) Existing members should continue to hold office until their term of office expires.(iii) Vacancies should be filled as they arise (whether through retirement of members or an increase in complement) by the new appointing authorities, until their entitlement is reached. All subsequent vacancies would be filled by the authority who appointed the departing member.Earlier regulations provide that, where the appointing body by which a member was appointed has ceased to exist, it will fall to the President of the Tribunal to give notice of termination of office, if so directed by the Secretary of State.
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