For the purposes of sections 111b to 111o of this Act,—

Nothing in sections 111b to 111o of this Act shall derogate from the provisions of section 61 of the Counties Amendment Act 1968 (relating to differential rating in county towns), or from the provisions of the said section 61 as applied to county boroughs by section 84 of that Act, or from the provisions of any other enactment authorising the Council to make and levy differential general rates.

The provisions of sections 111b to 111o of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything in sections 105 to 111 of this Act.

Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, the Council may, pursuant to a special order,—

Every resolution to which this section applies shall specify the date on which the division of the county or riding into differential rating areas or, as the case may be, the alteration of boundaries or the revocation of the division of the county or riding into such areas shall come into force, which shall be a day not earlier than the 1st day of April preceding the date fixed for the confirmation of the resolution and not later than 12 months after that 1st day of April.

Before giving public notice of any resolution under subsection (1) of this section for the division of the county or, as the case may be, any riding into differential rating areas or for the alteration of the boundaries of any such areas, the Council shall cause to be deposited in the office of the Council—

Every such plan and statement shall be open for inspection by the public without fee for at least 1 month before the date fixed for the confirmation of the resolution to make the special order, and public notice of the times when and the place where that inspection may be made shall be given by the Council.

Every public notice of a resolution to which this section applies shall, in addition to any other particulars required to be given therein, contain a statement to the effect that a poll of ratepayers of the county or, as the case may be, of the riding is required to be taken if 15 percent of the ratepayers of the county or riding so demand by writing under their hands delivered or sent by post to the County Clerk and received at the office of the Council not later than the day before the date fixed for the confirmation of the resolution.

Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, not less than 15 percent of the ratepayers of the county, or, where the general rate is made and levied separately in each riding, not less than 15 percent of the ratepayers of any riding, may demand that a poll be taken on a proposal that—

Every demand to which this section applies shall be in writing in a form provided by the Council, shall be signed by the ratepayers demanding the poll, and shall be delivered or sent by post to the County Clerk at the office of the Council.

Every ratepayer who signs any demand for a poll under this section shall at the same time enter on the demand the date on which he signed it, and no signature on such a demand shall be valid for the purposes of this section if it is dated more than 12 months before the date on which the demand is delivered or sent by post to the County Clerk.

Where the boundaries of any differential rating areas have been altered pursuant to section 111b of this Act or pursuant to a demand for a poll of ratepayers under section 111c of this Act, the next alteration of boundaries shall not be made pursuant to the said section 111b or to such a poll so as to come into effect before—

Where at any time while the county or any riding is divided into differential rating areas the boundaries of the county or, as the case may be, that riding are altered, then, notwithstanding anything in section 111b or section 111c or section 111d of this Act, the Council may, by resolution, alter the boundaries of any such differential rating areas in such manner as it considers to be necessary in consequence of that alteration in the boundaries of the county or riding.

Where

Upon receipt of a valid demand for a poll made and delivered to the County Clerk pursuant to section 111b or section 111c of this Act, the County Clerk shall, not later than 14 days after receiving the demand, deliver it to the Returning Officer of the county.

The day on which a poll is to be taken pursuant to a demand for a poll made and delivered under section 111b or section 111c of this Act shall be a day fixed by the Returning Officer of the county, being not less than 35 nor more than 42 clear days after the date of the receipt by him of a copy of the demand for a poll:

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, where the demand is so received after the 31st day of January and before the 1st day of September immediately preceding the date on which a triennial general election of Councillors is to be held pursuant to the Local Elections and Polls Act 1966, the poll shall be taken on the day fixed for that election.

On the day appointed, a poll shall be taken in the manner provided by the Local Elections and Polls Act 1966 for the taking of polls other than elections, and every ratepayer of the county or riding, as the case may be, shall be entitled to vote accordingly.

If the majority of valid votes recorded at the poll is in favour of the proposal, then, and not otherwise, the proposal shall be deemed to be carried, and the Council shall proceed with the proposal accordingly; but if the proposal is not carried the Council shall not so proceed.

Within 21 days after a poll has been taken, the Returning Officer shall cause to be published in one or more newspapers circulating in the county a notice stating the number of votes recorded for and against the proposal, the number of informal votes recorded, and declaring the proposal to be carried or rejected, as the case may be.

If the result of any poll is disputed, any 10 ratepayers of the county or, as the case may be, of the riding may, in the manner and within the time prescribed by the Local Elections and Polls Act 1966, require an inquiry to be held, and the matter in dispute shall be determined in the manner prescribed by that Act in the case of disputed polls.

For the purposes of this section, the period of 14 days after the giving of public notice under section 42 or section 43 of the Local Elections and Polls Act 1966, as the case may be, declaring the result of a poll prescribed by section 69 of that Act shall be deemed to be the period of 14 days after the date on which notice of the result of the poll is first published in a newspaper.

Where a proposal on which a poll is taken pursuant to demand under section 111c of this Act is carried, the proposal shall have effect on the 1st day of April next succeeding the date on which the result of the poll is published.

Where the county or any riding is divided into differential rating areas or the division of the county or of any riding into such areas is revoked or the boundaries of any such areas are altered, the County Clerk shall forthwith give notice thereof in writing to the Valuer-General.

So long as the county, or, as the case may be, any riding of the county, is divided into differential rating areas, the Council, instead of making and levying a uniform general rate over the county as a whole, or, as the case may be, over that riding as a whole, shall make and levy a general rate on all rateable property within each differential rating area of such differential amounts in the dollar on the rateable value of the rateable property in each such area as the Council by resolution fixes and determines from year to year:

Notwithstanding anything in section 111m of this Act, where any dependent town district situated within the county or any part of any such town district is constituted as or forms part of a differential rating area, the following provisions shall apply:

The proceeds of any differential general rate made and levied by the Council pursuant to section 111m of this Act shall be applied by the Council as if it were a general rate made and levied over the county as a whole or, as the case may be, over the riding as a whole.”