Arrangements by principal councils for custody of documents. 
Local Government Act 1972, ss. 224-229 Documents and notices, etc. 
224. Without prejudice to the powers of the *custos rotulorum* to 
give directions as to the document of any county, a principal council shall make proper arrangements with respect to any documents, which belong to or are in the custody of the council documents, or any of their officers. 
Deposit of documents with proper officer of authority, etc. 
 
225.—(1) In any case in which a document of any description  
is deposited with the proper officer of a local authority, or with 
the chairman of a parish or community council or with the chairman of a parish meeting, pursuant to the standing orders of either House of Parliament or to any enactment or instrument, the proper officer or chairman, as the case may be, shall receive and retain the document in the manner and for the purposes directed by the standing orders or enactment or instrument, and shall make such notes or endorsements on, and give such acknowledgments and receipts in respect of, the document as may be so directed. (2) All documents required by any enactment or instrument to be deposited with the proper officer of a parish or community shall, in the case of a parish or community not having a separate parish or community council, be deposited in England with the chairman of the parish meeting or in Wales with the 
proper officer of the district council. 
 
Custody of parish and community documents 
 
226.—(1) All specified papers of a parish or community shall—  
(a) in the case of a parish which is co-extensive with an existing rural parish, remain in the same custody as before 1st April 1974 ; and (b) in the case of any other parish or any community,  be in the custody of the body to which the documents of that area, other than documents of a specified class are transferred on that 
date ; but the parish or community council or, in the case of a or 
community not having a separate parish or community council, 
the parish meeting in England or the district council in Wales may direct that any such papers shall be deposited in such custody as may be specified in the direction. (2)  Nothing in this Act shall affect the custody of registers of baptisms, marriages and burials and of all other documents the 

containing entries wholly or partly relating to the affairs  of the church, as defined by the Local Government Act 1894, or to ecclesiastical charities, as so defined, except documents directed by law to be kept with the papers of a parish or community. (3)  Any person having the custody of any documents mentioned in subsection (2) above shall have reasonable access to the papers mentioned in subsection (1) above and - 

(a)  in a parish or community having a separate parish community council, that council ; (b)  in any other parish, the parish meeting ; 
(c) in any other community, the district council ; and (d)  in any area in England not falling within paragraph (a) or (b) above, the district council, London borough 
council or Common Council, as the case may be ; 

shall have reasonable access to the documents mentioned in  
subsection (2) above. (4)  Any difference about the custody of  or access to any documents mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) above shall, if the area is in a London borough or the City, be determined by the Secretary of State and in any other case by the county council. (5)  Every county council shall from time to time enquire into the manner in which specified papers under the control of a parish or community council or parish meeting are kept with a view to their proper preservation, and shall make such orders as they think necessary for their preservation, and those orders shall be complied with by the parish or community council or parish meeting. 

 

Provision of depositories for parish and community documents. 
 

 
227.—(1) In the case of a parish or community having a separate parish or community council that council or, if they so request, the council of the district in which the parish or community is situated, shall provide proper depositories for all the specified papers belonging to the parish or community for which no provision is otherwise made. (2) In the case of a parish or community not having a separate parish or community council, the council of the district in which the parish or community is situated shall provide proper depositories for all the specified papers under the control of the parish meeting or belonging to the community but in England only with the consent of the parish meeting of the parish. 

Inspection of documents. 
228.—(1) The minutes of proceedings of a local authority shall 
be open to the inspection of any local government elector for the area of the authority and any such local government elector 
may make a copy of or extract from the minutes. (2)  A local government elector for the area of a local authority 
may inspect and make a copy of or extract from an order for 
the payment of money made by the local authority. (3)  The accounts of a local authority and of any proper officer of a local authority shall be open to the inspection of any 
member of the authority, and any such member may make a copy of or extract from the accounts. (4)  Any abstract of the accounts of a body whose accounts are 
required to be audited in accordance with Part VIII of this Act and of any officer of such a body and any report made by an auditor on those accounts shall be open to the inspection of any local government elector for the area of the body, and any such local government elector may make a copy thereof or an extract therefrom, and copies thereof shall be delivered to any such local government elector on payment of a reasonable sum for each copy. (5)  Subject to any provisions to the contrary in any other enactment or instrument, a person interested in any document deposited as mentioned in section 225 above may, at all reasonable hours, inspect and make copies thereof or extracts 
therefrom on payment to the person having custody thereof of 
the sum of 10p for every such inspection, and of the further 
sum of 10p for every hour during which such inspection continues after the first hour. (6) A document directed by this section to be open to inspection shall be so open at all reasonable hours and, except where otherwise expressly provided, without payment. (7) If a person having the custody of any such document - 
(a) obstructs any person entitled to inspect the document or 
to make a copy thereof or extract therefrom in inspecting the document or making a copy or extract, 
(b) refuses to give copies or extracts to any person entitled 
to obtain copies or extracts, 

 he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £20 

Photographic copies of documents. 
1958 c. 51. 
1968 c 64 
(8) This section shall apply to the minutes of proceedings and to the accounts of a parish meeting as if that meeting were a 
local authority. 
229.—(1) Subject to subsections (3) and (7) below, any 
requirement imposed by any enactment that a local authority or 
parish meeting shall keep a document of any description shall be satisfied by their keeping a photographic copy of the document. (2)  Subject to subsection (7) below, any requirement imposed by any enactment that a document of any description in the 
custody or under the control of a local authority or parish meeting shall be made available for inspection shall be satisfied by their making available for inspection a photographic copy of the document. (3)  Subsection (1) above shall not apply to any document deposited with a local authority under the Public Records Act 1958. (4)  In legal proceedings a photographic copy of a document in the custody of a local authority or parish meeting, or of a document which has been destroyed while in the custody of a local authority or parish meeting, or of any part of any such document, shall, subject to subsection (6) below, be admissible 
in evidence to the like extent as the original. (5)  A certificate purporting to be signed by the proper officer of the local authority, or the chairman of the parish meeting, concerned that a document is such a photographic copy as is 
mentioned in subsection (4) above, shall, subject to subsection 
(7) below, be evidence to that effect. (6)  The court before which a photographic copy is tendered in evidence in pursuance of subsection (4) above may, if the original is in existence, require its production and thereupon that subsection shall not apply to the copy. (7)  A photographic copy of a document in colour where the colours are relevant to the interpretation of the document shall not suffice for the purposes of this section unless it distinguishes between the colours as to enable the document to be interpreted. (8) In this section " court" and " legal proceedings' have the same meanings as in the Civil Evidence Act 1968.