s 171 Powers of county council and Minister in the event of default of rural district council
(1) In any case where— (a) complaint is made to the council of a county by the parish council or parish meeting of any parish comprised in any rural district in the county, or by any justice of the peace acting for, or by any four or more local government electors of, any such district, that the council of that district have failed to exercise their powers under this Act in any case where those powers ought to have been exercised ; or (b) the council of a county is of opinion that an investigation should be made as to whether the council of any rural district in the county have failed as aforesaid ; the county council may cause a public local inquiry to be held, and if, after the inquiry has been held, they are satisfied that there has been such a failure on the part of the district council, they make make an order declaring the district council to be in default and transferring to themselves all or any of the said powers of the district council with respect to the whole or any part of the district. (2) Where an order is made under subsection (1) of this section the council of the rural district with respect to which it is made may, within a period of twenty-eight days beginning with the date on which the order is made, appeal to the Minister against the order ; and in any such case the Minister shall give to the councils of the rural district and the county, and to any other authority or person appearing to him to be interested, an opportunity to appear before and be heard by a person appointed by the Minister for the purpose, and may either confirm the order with or without modification or quash the order. (3) An order under subsection (1) of this section shall not come into force— (a) in any case, until the expiration of a period of twenty eight days beginning with the date on which the order is made, and (b) in a case where an appeal is brought under this section, unless and until the order is confirmed on the appeal. (4) An order made under this section may provide that section sixty-three of the Local Government Act, 1894, shall, subject to such modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the order, apply in relation to the powers transferred by the order as it applies in relation to powers transferred under that Act. (5) If upon a representation made to the Minister by any justice of the peace acting for, or by any four or more local government electors of, any rural district, or otherwise, it appears to the Minister that a county council have failed or refused to make an order under subsection (1) of this section in any case where they should have made such an order, or that any such order made by a county council is defective in that it fails to transfer powers which should have been transferred, or in that it does not apply to any part of the district to which it should have applied, the Minister may, if the county council have not made any order, himself make any order which they might have made, and if an order made by the county council is a defective order, himself make a supplementary order enlarging the scope of their order in such manner as he thinks fit. The Minister's powers of making orders under this subsection shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and subsection (2) of this section shall apply in relation to an order made under this subsection as it applies in relation to an order made under subsection (1) of this section.