Section 42A | Rural settlement list.

(1)Each billing authority in England shall compile and maintain, in accordance with section 42B below, a list (to be called its rural settlement list).^F1

(2)A rural settlement list shall have effect for each chargeable financial year and shall identify for each such year any settlements mentioned in subsection (3) below.

(3)The settlements referred to in subsection (2) above are those which—

(a)are wholly or partly within the authority’s area,

(b)appear to the authority to have had a population of not more than 3,000 on the last 31st December before the beginning of the chargeable financial year in question, and

(c)in that financial year are wholly or partly within an area designated by the Secretary of State by order as a rural area for the purposes of this section.

(4)A rural settlement list must identify the boundaries of each settlement (whether by defining the boundaries or referring to boundaries defined in a map or other document), but if a settlement is not wholly within the area of a billing authority the list need not identify the boundaries outside the authority’s area.

(5)An order under subsection (3)(c) above may provide for designating as a rural area any area for the time being identified by any person, in any manner, specified in the order.

(6)Subsection (1) above does not apply to a billing authority in respect of any chargeable financial year for which there are no such settlements as are mentioned in subsection (3) above (and, accordingly, if the authority has compiled a rural settlement list, it shall cease to maintain that list).