Local Government Act 1929

117 Transfer of road property and liabilities.

(1) Subject to the provisions of the next following section, the following property and liabilities of every district council, in so far as they relate to any roads which immediately before the appointed day were, or as from that day become, vested in the county council, shall, as from that day, by virtue of this section be transferred to and vest in the county council, that is to say:—

(a) any land (other than land acquired for the improvement or development of frontages or of lands abutting on or adjacent to any road) which, before the appointed day, has been acquired by the district council for the purpose of improving any such road, but which does not on that day form part of the road;

(b) the unexpended balances of any loans raised by the district council for the purposes of any such roads or for the purposes of any land transferred to the county council under the last foregoing paragraph of this subsection, and any sinking funds established by the district council in connection with any such loans;

(c) the unexpended balances of any grants paid by the Minister of Transport to the district council for the purposes of any such roads;

(d) all liabilities (including loans and loan charges) incurred for the purposes of any such roads or the improvement thereof which would become due for payment by the district council on or after the appointed day:

Provided that in the case of any loan the county council and the district council may agree that, in lieu of the transfer to the county council of the loan under this subsection, the county council shall from time to time repay to the district council all sums required to meet the loan charges; and in the event of any such agreement being made, the loan and any sinking fund established in connection therewith shall remain vested in the district council.

Where the loan has been raised partly for purposes relating to such roads as aforesaid and partly for other purposes, the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall apply as if the part of the loan contracted for purposes relating to such roads were a separate loan.

(2) Any sum due to be paid by a district council before the appointed day into any sinking fund which the council were required to establish for the purposes of any loan transferred to the county council under the last foregoing subsection but not so paid shall be a debt due from the district council to the county council.

(3) In the case of a road in respect of which before the appointed day an urban district council have claimed or are deemed to have claimed to exercise the functions of maintenance and repair, the county council shall from time to time repay to the district council such sums as are required to meet any loan charges falling due on or after the appointed day in respect of loans raised before that day for the purposes of the road or the improvement thereof.

(4) So much of any sum paid or payable to a district council under the Local Government (Adjustments) Act, 1913, or otherwise by way of adjustment on alteration of boundaries or other change, as represents compensation to the council in respect of the increase of the burden on the ratepayers in meeting the cost incurred by that council in the execution of their functions in respect of roads to which this section applies and has not, on the appointed day, been exhausted or applied in or towards the discharge of liabilities transferred to the county council under this section or which would have been so transferred if undischarged, shall, in the case of a sum paid or payable to the district council by another district council within the county, be repaid to that council, and in any other case be paid to the county council.

The sum payable by a district council to another council under this subsection shall be of such amount as may be agreed between those councils, or, in default of agreement, determined by an arbitrator appointed by the Minister, and shall be paid either by a single payment or by annual instalments, as may be determined by agreement between the councils or by such arbitrator as aforesaid, and if paid by a single payment, the payment shall be a purpose for which the district council may borrow under the Public Health Acts, 1875 to 1926.

For the purposes of ,this subsection, unless the arbitrator for special reasons otherwise determines, a sum paid to a district council by way of such adjustment as aforesaid shall be deemed to be exhausted at the expiration of a period of twenty years from the date on which the alteration of boundaries or other change took effect, and if the sum was payable by instalments one-twentieth part shall be deemed to have been paid to the council in respect of each year during that period.

(5) As respects any council whose district extends into more than one county, this section shall nave effect as if references therein to the county council included references to the councils of the several counties, and the property and liabilities transferred by this section and any sum payable thereunder shall be apportioned between them, by agreement between the county councils or in default of agreement by the Minister, in proportion to the reduced rateable values of the parts of the district within the several counties.

(6) Any question as to the property or liabilities transferred from or to- any council under this section shall be determined by the Minister, whose decision shall be final and conclusive.

(7) Any capital sum paid to a county council under this section shall be treated as capital, and applied with the sanction of the Minister either in repayment of debt or for any other purpose for which capital money may be applied.

(8) Where any person or authority, other than a rating authority, receives any income applicable to the repair or maintenance of roads in any parish or other area, that person or authority shall pay over the income so received (less the amount of any expenses properly incurred in connection therewith) to the rating authority for the county borough or district in which that parish or area is situate, to be credited to that parish or area.