Local Government Act 1986

Local Government Act 1986
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to require rating authorities to set a rate on or before 1st April; to prohibit political publicity and otherwise restrain local authority publicity; to require the mortgagor's consent and make other provision in connection with the disposal of local authority mortgages; to amend the law as to the effect of retirement and re-election of, and the allowances payable to, members of certain authorities; and for connected purposes.
Citation	1986 c. 10
Territorial extent	England and Wales; Scotland (in part);
Dates
Royal assent	26 March 1986
Commencement	various
Amended by	Local Government and Housing Act 1989; Local Government Act 2003; Policing and Crime Act 2017;
Other legislation
Amended by	Local Government and Housing Act 1989; Local Government Act 2003; Policing and Crime Act 2017;
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended
Text of the Local Government Act 1986 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Local Government Act 1986 (c. 10) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The act was passed primarily in response to the use of publicity by the Greater London Council in its attempt to prevent the passing of the bill for the Local Government Act 1985.

Provisions

Publicity

Section 2 of the act prohibited councils from spending on anything that would imply support for a political party.

Section 4 of the act states that the government can publish a code of practice on local authority publicity. Section 6 of the act defines publicity as anything that is addressed to the public.

Section 2A

Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 added the now-repealed Section 2A to this Act, restricting local authorities from "promoting homosexuality".

Notes

↑ Section 12(1).
↑ Section 12(2).
↑ Section 12(2).

References

Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales. Fourth Edition. 2009 Reissue. LexisNexis. Volume 25(2). Pages 807 to 815.
"The Local Government Act 1986". Halsbury's Statutes of England. Butterworths. London. 1987. Binder 56: Continuation Binder 1986. Page 167.
Peter Allsop (ed). "Local Government Act 1986*". Current Law Statutes Annotated 1986. Sweet & Maxwell. Stevens & Sons. London. W Green & Son. Edinburgh. 1987. Volume 1. Pages 10 to 10/12.
Halsbury's Statutory Instruments. Volume 11. pp 77, 203, 204, 249 and 415.
Tom F Richardson. Public Relations in Local Government. Heinemann Professional Publishing. 1988. Pages 33 and 56 to 58.
Brian Harvey. "Public relations in local government". Sam Black (ed). Practice of Public Relations. Fourth Edition. 1995. Routledge. 2011. p 86.
Dawn Oliver. Government in the United Kingdom. Open University Press. 1991. Pages 83 and 84. Google.
Bailey and Paddison. The Reform of Local Government Finance in Britain. Routledge. London and New York. 1988. Reprinted 2006. Pages 52 and 54.

↑ Bailey and Paddison, p 54.
↑ Rawlings, H. F.; Willmore, C. J. (1987). "The Local Government Act 1986". The Modern Law Review. 50 (1): 52–63. ISSN 0026-7961.
↑ Hynes, Mark (7 April 2010). "Business as usual?". Local Government Lawyer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
↑ Dobson, Nicholas (28 October 2010). "Local authority publicity and housing possessions". The Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
↑ Randall, Helen (10 February 2023). "Section 28 – living two lives". The Law Society Gazette.

External links

Text of the Local Government Act 1986 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
Text of the Local Government Act 1986 as originally enacted or made within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

This legislation in the United Kingdom, or its constituent jurisdictions, article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

[1] Section 12(1).

[2] Section 12(2).

[3] Section 12(2).

[4] Bailey and Paddison, p 54.

[5] Rawlings, H. F.; Willmore, C. J. (1987). "The Local Government Act 1986". The Modern Law Review. 50 (1): 52–63. ISSN 0026-7961.

[6] Hynes, Mark (7 April 2010). "Business as usual?". Local Government Lawyer. Retrieved 19 July 2026.

[7] Dobson, Nicholas (28 October 2010). "Local authority publicity and housing possessions". The Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 18 July 2026.

[8] Randall, Helen (10 February 2023). "Section 28 – living two lives". The Law Society Gazette.