{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-local-authorities-conduct-of-referendums-england-regulations-2007/regulation-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-local-authorities-conduct-of-referendums-england-regulations-2007/regulation-2.json",
  "legislation": "ukdsi/2007/9780110770642",
  "legislation_title": "The Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) Regulations 2007",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-local-authorities-conduct-of-referendums-england-regulations-2007",
  "path": "regulation/2",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In these Regulations—\n“the 1983 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1983;\n“the 1985 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1985;\n“the 2000 Act” means the Local Government Act 2000;\n“the Petitions and Directions Regulations” means The Local Authorities (Referendums) (Petitions and Directions) (England) Regulations 2000;\n“the Representation of the People Regulations” means The Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001;\n“the Combination of Polls Regulations” means The Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) Regulations 2004;\n“the Local Government Act Referendums Rules” means the rules set out in Schedule 3 to these Regulations;\n“the Local Government Act Referendums (Combination of Polls) Rules” means the rules set out in Schedule 5 to these Regulations;\n“counting observer” means a person appointed by a counting officer under rule 18(2) of the Local Government Act Referendums Rules or rule 18(1) of the Local Government Act Referendums (Combination of Polls) Rules (as the case may be);\n“counting officer” means a person referred to in regulation 9;\n“elected mayor”, in relation to a local authority, means an individual elected as mayor of the authority by the local government electors for the authority’s area in accordance with provisions made by or under Part 2 of the 2000 Act;\n“European Parliamentary election” and “European Parliamentary general election” must be construed in accordance with section 27(1) of the 1985 Act;\n“further referendum” means a referendum held in pursuance of an order under regulation 17(3);\n“local government election” must be construed in accordance with section 203(1) of the 1983 Act;\n“mayoral election” must be construed in accordance with The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007;\n“outline fall-back proposals”—\n(a) in relation to proposals under section 25 (proposals) of the 2000 Act, means an outline of the proposals that a local authority intend to implement if their proposals under section 25 are rejected in a referendum;\n(b) in relation to proposals under regulation 17 (action before referendum) or regulation 19 (action on receipt of direction) of the Petitions and Directions Regulations, means an outline of the proposals that a local authority intend to implement if proposals that are to be the subject of a referendum under Part 2 or Part 3 of those Regulations are rejected in that referendum;\n(c) in relation to proposals under an order under section 36 (referendum following order) of the 2000 Act, means—\n(i) if the authority are then operating executive or alternative arrangements, a summary of those arrangements;\n(ii) in any other case, an outline of the proposals that the authority intend to implement if proposals that are to be the subject of a referendum are rejected in that referendum;\n(d) in relation to proposals under regulations under section 30 (operation of different executive arrangements) or section 33 (operation of alternative arrangements) of the 2000 Act, means a summary of the authority’s existing executive arrangements or existing alternative arrangements (as the case may be);\n“petition organiser”, in relation to a referendum, means a person who is treated for the purposes of regulation 10(4) or (5) (formalities of petition) (as the case may be) of the Petitions and Directions Regulations, as the petition organiser of any valid petition (whether an amalgamated petition, a constituent petition or a post-announcement petition) received by the council by or in respect of which the referendum is held;\n“polling observer” means a person appointed by a counting officer under rule 18(1) of the Local Government Act Referendums Rules or rule 19(1) of the Local Government Act Referendums (Combination of Polls) Rules (as the case may be);\n“proper officer” must be construed in accordance with section 270(3) of the Local Government Act 1972;\n“proposals date”—\n(a) in relation to a referendum, other than a further referendum, means the date on which proposals—\n(i) under section 25 of the 2000 Act which involve a form of executive for which a referendum is required,\n(ii) under regulation 17 or 19 of the Petitions and Directions Regulations,\n(iii) under an order under section 36 of the 2000 Act, or\n(iv) under regulations under section 30 or 33 of the 2000 Act,\nare sent to the Secretary of State; and\n(b) in relation to a further referendum, means the day which falls two months before the day on which the poll at the further referendum is held;\n“referendum” means a referendum held under section 27 (referendum in case of proposals involving elected mayor) of the 2000 Act, or by virtue of regulations or an order made under any provision of Part 2 (arrangements with respect to executives etc.) of the 2000 Act;\n“referendum period”, in relation to a referendum (including a further referendum), means the period beginning with—\n(a) where the proposals date precedes the coming into force of these Regulations, the date on which these Regulations come into force;\n(b) in any other case, the proposals date,\nand ending on the date of the referendum;\n“relevant election or referendum” means one or more of the following—\n(a) another referendum (including a further referendum);\n(b) a Parliamentary election;\n(c) a European Parliamentary election;\n(d) a local government election;\n(e) a mayoral election;\nthe poll at which is taken together with the poll at the referendum;\n“voting area” means the area in which a referendum is held.\n(2) Any reference in the following provisions of these Regulations to a section followed by a number is, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to the section of the 2000 Act that bears that number.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "1983 c. 2."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "1985 c. 50."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f3",
      "text": "2000 c. 22."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f4",
      "text": "S.I. 2000/2852; amended by S.I. 2001/760 and 2001/1310."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f5",
      "text": "S.I. 2001/341; amended by S.I. 2001/1700, 2002/1871, 2004/226, 2006/752 and 2006/2910."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f6",
      "text": "S.I. 2004/294; amended by S.I. 2006/3278."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f7",
      "text": "1985 c. 50; the definitions were amended by section 3 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986 (c. 58) in consequence of the European Assembly being renamed the European Parliament."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f8",
      "text": "1983 c. 2; the definition of “local government election” was amended by paragraph 39 of Schedule 17 to the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f9",
      "text": "S.I. 2007/1024."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f10",
      "text": "1972 c. 70."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2007/9780110770642/regulation/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-30T15:18:05.033649+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}