Without prejudice to any power which they may exercise for those purposes under any other enactment, a local authority may take such of the following steps as they consider will, in relation to their area, promote the prevention of crime or the welfare of the victims of crime—
Any power to provide, or to arrange for the provision of, any apparatus includes power to maintain, or operate, or, as the case may be, to arrange for the maintenance or operation of, that apparatus.
Before taking such a step under this section, a local authority shall consult the chief officer of police for the police area or, in Scotland, the local commander designated for the local authority’s area in which the step is to be taken.
For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)—
In this section—
...
“local authority”—
(a)in England, means a county council or district council;
(b)in Wales, means a county council or county borough council; and
(c)in Scotland, has the meaning given by section 235(1) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973; and
“local commander” has the meaning given by section 44 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (asp 8);
“premises” includes a vehicle; and
“ vehicle ” includes a vessel, aircraft or hovercraft.
Until 1st April 1996, in this section “local authority” means, in Wales, a county council or district council.