Commentary on Sections Supplementary Chapter 2: Control of Disposals Etc Section 28: Contraventions of direction
107.Subsections (1) and (2) provide that any disposal made in the absence of consent in contravention of section 24 will be void. Any contract similarly entered into without consent will not be enforceable against the successor authority.
108.Subsection (3) defines a “successor” authority as an authority which is established by order under section 7 or 10 and whose area covers whole or part of the area of an old authority.
109.Subsection (4) provides that a contract entered into in contravention of a direction under section 24 will not be a certified contract for the purpose of the Local Government (Contracts) Act 1997. This means that the contractor will not be afforded the protection provided by that Act, that is, the contract will be open to a challenge in private law and there will not be terms which survive any setting aside of the main contract.
110.Subsections (5) and (6) provide that if an authority applies reserves to reduce its budget requirement for council tax purposes without consent, the authority will be treated as though it has not made its council tax calculations as required by the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and accordingly will not be able to collect council tax.