Coal Act 1938

12 Powers of the Commission for consolidation of leases before the vesting date

(1) Where rights to work a number of parcels of coal are subsisting under a number of coal-mining leases in the same working lessee and it appears to the Commission that it is expedient that arrangements should be made during the interim period for the working of that coal as a whole under a single lease, the Commission may make, in agreement with the working lessee, a scheme for the purposes of this section (in this section and in the Fourth Schedule to this Act referred to as a " lease consolidation scheme ").

(2) A single lease to be granted pursuant to a lease consolidation scheme that relates to any colliery area must comprise all the coal and mines of coal in that colliery area.

(3) The provisions of the Fourth Schedule to this Act shall have effect as to the procedure for making, and as to the operation of, a lease consolidation scheme.

(4) In connection with each lease consolidation scheme, provision shall be made in the manner specified in the Fourth Schedule to this Act for ascertaining an amount (in this section and in that Schedule referred to as the " standard amount of rent ") representing the amount of rent which, after deduction of income tax, mineral rights duty and royalties welfare levy, might reasonably have been expected to become receivable, if the scheme had not been made, in right of each reversion (whether immediate or superior) on a subsisting working lease in premises that are to be comprised in the single lease, for each half year (or other period in respect of which rent is to be receivable under the single lease) between the coming into operation of the scheme and the vesting date.

(5) If the amount of the rent receivable, after such deduction as aforesaid, under the single lease, in respect of the premises comprised therein, being premises that were comprised in any of the subsisting working leases, for any period for which standard amounts of rent are fixed in connection with the scheme, is less than the aggregate of those standard amounts, the Commission shall pay to the person entitled to recover that rent such a sum as after deduction of income tax will yield an amount equal to the deficiency, and any sum so paid for any period shall be deemed to be income for that period of the respective persons entitled beneficially to that rent.

(6) If the amount of the rent receivable as aforesaid is greater than the aggregate aforesaid, the person entitled to recover that rent shall pay to the Commission an amount equal to the excess.

(7) In this section and in the Fourth Schedule to this Act—

(a) the expression " colliery area " means an area comprising all parcels of coal which are capable of being conveniently and economically worked to the shafts of a single colliery, and in respect of which the same person is working lessee;

(b) the expression " working lessee" means, in relation to any parcels of coal, a person carrying on the business of coal-mining who has rights to work those parcels by virtue of a number of coal-mining leases held by him in possession (that is to say not subject to any under-lease) or so held by another for his benefit; and

(c) the expression " subsisting working lease " means a coal-mining lease which comprises any coal in a colliery area to which a lease consolidation scheme relates and which is held as aforesaid by or for the benefit of the working lessee.