National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949

97 Exchequer grants for National Parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty

(1) Provision may be made by regulations made by the Minister with the consent of the Treasury for the payment by the Minister to local authorities of grants of such amounts, and payable in such cases and subject to such conditions, as may be determined by or under the regulations in respect of expenditure incurred by such authorities in the exercise,—

(a) of their powers of erecting buildings or carrying out work under section twelve or section thirteen of this Act;

(b) of their powers under section twenty-six of the Act of 1947 (which enables a local planning authority, subject to the payment of compensation in accordance with section twenty-seven of that Act, to secure the discontinuance or modification of uses of land and the alteration or removal of buildings) as respects land in National Parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty ;

(c) of their powers as respects such land under subsections (1) and (2) of section eighty-nine of this Act and under section twenty-eight of the Act of 1947 (which relates to tree preservation);

(d) of the powers conferred on them by this Act, as respects such land, for the purposes of Part V thereof, other than powers of acquiring land;

(e) of their powers of acquiring such land, whether by agreement or compulsorily, under any of the provisions of this Act, and of their powers of so acquiring land in the neighbourhood of a National Park for the purposes of section twelve of this Act;

(f) of their powers under section ninety-two of this Act as respects National Parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty.

(2) Grants payable under regulations made for the purposes of this section shall not exceed seventy-five per cent. of the amount of the expenditure in respect of which the grants are made:

Provided that where expenditure has been incurred in carrying out work under section thirteen of this Act in any particular case where the Minister with the consent of the Treasury determines that this provision shall apply, a grant under this section in respect thereof may be of any amount not exceeding the amount of the expenditure.

(3) Regulations under this section shall provide for the making of recommendations by the Commission as to the making of grants thereunder, and for consultation of the Commission by the Minister where he proposes to make a grant not recommended by the Commission or not to make a grant recommended by them.

(4) Regulations under this section may provide for the payment of grants at different rates to different local authorities according to the general financial position of those authorities respectively.

(5) Where apart from this subsection a grant would be payable both under this section and under section ninety-four of the Act of 1947, no grant shall be payable under that section.

(6) Where, under an agreement made under subsection (2) of section thirteen of this Act, a local planning authority incur expenditure in respect of the erection of buildings or the carrying out of work by another authority, the expenditure shall be treated for the purpose of this section as if it had been incurred in the exercise of the powers mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section.

(7) Where, in consequence of an order made under section twenty-six of the Act of 1947, a purchase notice is served under section nineteen of that Act, then if the interest in respect of which the notice is served is purchased in accordance with the said section nineteen or compensation is payable in respect thereof under subsection (3) of section twenty of that Act, expenditure incurred in the purchase of the interest or the payment of the compensation shall be treated for the purposes of this section as if it were expenditure incurred in the exercise of powers under the said section twenty-six.