1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Petty Sessions Areas (Divisions and Names) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 1st April 1996.

(2) In these Regulations, a regulation referred to by number means the regulation so numbered in the Petty Sessions Areas (Divisions and Names) Regulations 1988(3).

2. In the definition of "committee" in regulation 1, the following shall be substituted for the words from "a non-metropolitan county" to the end:-

• "an area not falling within the inner London area or the City of London".

3. The following shall be substituted for regulation 5(1)(a):-

"(a)sent to the clerk to every council required to be consulted by section 24(1)(a) (or, as the case may be, section 24B(1)(a)) of the Act, the clerk to the justices for any existing petty sessional division in the area and, in the case of a draft order, the clerk to any interested authority;".

4. The following shall be substituted for regulation 7(a):-

"(a)where the objection is made by the committee, any council required to be consulted by section 24(1)(a) (or, as the case may be, section 24B(1)(a)) of the Act, the magistrates of an existing petty sessional division in the area or an interested authority, within one month of the date when a copy of the Lord Chancellor's proposals is sent to the objector;".

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Petty Sessions Areas (Divisions and Names) Regulations 1988 in consequence of amendments to sections 24 and 24B of the Justices of the Peace Act 1979 effected by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994, the Local Government Changes for England (Magistrates' Courts) Regulations 1996 and the Magistrates' Courts (Wales) (Consequences of Local Government Changes) Order 1996. The effects of the amendments are:

(a)to apply the regulations to all magistrates' courts committees outside inner London and the City of London, whether or not the areas of those committees coincide with those of local authorities;

(b)to allow for objections from local authorities whose areas include any part of the committee area or petty sessions area to which proposals under those sections relate.