3. Chapter 1 of Part 1 (structural and boundary change) of the 2007 Act applies in relation to the relevant authorities as if—
(a)in subsection (1) of section 2 (invitations and directions for proposals for single tier of local government), after “any principal authority to make”, there were inserted “, or any principal authority may make on its own initiative,”;
(b)in section 3 (invitations, directions and proposals: supplementary)—
(i)in subsection (5), after “a direction under that section,”, there were inserted “or in determining whether to make a proposal on its own initiative under that section,”; and
(ii)after subsection (6) there were inserted—
“(6A) An authority making a proposal under section 2 on its own initiative may make its own proposal or make a proposal jointly with any other authority.”;
(c)in section 7 (implementation of proposals by order)—
(i)in subsection (1) after “in response to an invitation or direction”, there were inserted “or on an authority’s own initiative”; and
(ii)in subsection (3) after “implementing a proposal”, there were inserted “received in response to an invitation or direction”.