I propose to take Questions Nos. 490 and 493 together.
The Government’s Action Programme for Effective Local Government sets out Government policy decisions in relation to a range of local government reform measures including a more effective, coherent and comprehensive system of sub-county municipal governance, encompassing both urban and rural areas, to strengthen local government within counties and address weaknesses and anomalies in the current system.
The Local Government Reform Bill 2013 provides the legislative basis for the structural reforms set out in the Action Programme. The Bill provides that the local authority for a county will become the successor authority, for all purposes, of each town council in the county. Local authority elected members will perform a significant range of statutory functions at municipal district level, including relevant local authority functions in relation to civic and cultural matters. Responsibility in relation to buildings and other assets of town councils will rest with the successor authority in each case.