Schools and rooms for Assembly election meetings
69.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this article, a candidate at an Assembly election is entitled for the purpose of holding public meetings to promote or procure the giving of votes at that election—
(a)for himself, in the case of a constituency or an individual candidate; or
(b)for the registered political party on whose list he is included, in the case of a party list candidate,
to the use free of charge at reasonable times between the last day on which notice of the election may be published in accordance with the Table in rule 1(1) of Schedule 5 and the day preceding the date of the poll of—
(i)a suitable room in the premises of a school to which this article applies; or
(ii)any meeting room to which this article applies.
(2) This article applies to a community, foundation or voluntary school of which—
(a)in the case of a constituency election, the premises are situated in the Assembly constituency for which the election is held or an adjoining Assembly constituency; and
(b)in the case of a regional election, the premises are situated in the Assembly electoral region for which the election is held,
but, in relation to sub-paragraph (a), a constituency candidate is not entitled under this article to the use of a room in school premises outside the Assembly constituency if there is a suitable room in premises in the constituency which are reasonably accessible from the same parts of the constituency as those outside and are premises of a school to which this article applies.
(3) This article applies to a meeting room situated—
(a)in the case of a constituency election, in the Assembly constituency for which the election is held; or
(b)in the case of a regional election, in the Assembly electoral region for which the election is held,
the expense of maintaining which is payable wholly or mainly out of public funds or by a body whose expenses are so payable.
(4) Where a room is used for a meeting in pursuance of the rights conferred by this article, the person by whom or on whose behalf the meeting is convened—
(a)shall defray any expenses incurred in preparing, warming, lighting and cleaning the room and providing attendance for the meeting and restoring the room to its usual condition after the meeting; and
(b)shall defray any damage done to the room or the premises in which it is situated, or the furniture, fittings or apparatus in the room or premises.
(5) A candidate is not entitled to exercise the rights conferred by this article except on reasonable notice; and this article does not authorise any interference with the hours during which a room in school premises is used for education purposes, or any interference with the use of a meeting room either for the purposes of the person maintaining it or under a prior agreement for its letting for any purpose.
(6) Schedule 8 (which makes provision with respect to the rights conferred by this article and the arrangements to be made for their exercise) has effect.
(7) For the purposes of this article (except those of paragraph (4)(b)), the premises of a school shall not be taken to include any private dwelling, and in this article—
(a)the expression “meeting room” means any room which it is the practice to let for public meetings; and
(b)the expression “room” includes a hall, gallery or gymnasium.