Local Employment Act 1972

3 Building grants

(1) For the purpose mentioned in section 2(1) of this Act the Secretary of State may, with the consent of the Treasury and after consultation, if he sees fit, with the advisory committee, make grants to persons carrying on, or proposing to carry on, undertakings in any development area or intermediate area towards the cost of providing in the area buildings or extensions of buildings to be occupied by the undertakings.

(2) The amount of any grant to be made towards the cost of providing a building or an extension of a building under this section shall be the appropriate proportion, as stated in the following provisions of this section, of the relevant expenditure ; and that expenditure shall be so much of the expenditure incurred in providing the building or extension as the Secretary of State may approve for the purposes of the grant:

Provided that the grant may be of an amount less than that proportion in any case where it appears to the Secretary of State that the employment likely to be provided as a result of the expenditure so incurred and any associated expenditure does not justify a grant equal to the appropriate proportion.

(3) The appropriate proportion for this purpose is—

(a) twenty-five per cent. of the relevant expenditure in the case of a building or extension in an intermediate area; and

(b) thirty-five per cent. of the relevant expenditure in the case of a building or extension in a development area,

plus, in either case, a further ten per cent. of the relevant expenditure, where it appears to the Secretary of State that the application for the grant is made for the purpose of setting up an undertaking in the area in circumstances which justify the giving of special assistance under this section.

(4) In this section, references to buildings include references to structures; and, for the purposes of this section, a building may be provided by the adaptation of an existing one, and a building or extension of a building by the purchase of a new one, that is to say, one not previously occupied.

(5) Where a building or extension of a building constructed with a view to being let to another person includes special features at the request of that person, and he is required to pay a capital sum in consideration thereof, this section shall have effect as if that sum were expenditure incurred by him in providing the building or extension.

(6) Where at any time a development area becomes an intermediate area, it shall be treated as if it were still a development area for the purpose of determining the amount of any grant to be made under this section on an application received by the Secretary of State before that time, or in respect of expenditure any part of which was incurred by the applicant under a contract entered into before that time; and where at any time an intermediate area becomes a development area, it shall be treated as if it were still an intermediate area for the purpose of determining the amount of a grant under this section in the following circumstances—

(a) in the case of a grant in respect of the provision of a building or extension by purchase, if the contract to purchase was entered into before that time, or if before that time any work on providing the building or extension was done on the site with a view to occupation by the applicant for the grant or, if the applicant is a member of a group , by any other member of that group;

(b) in the case of a grant made by virtue of subsection (5) of this section, if any work on including the special features in the building or extension was done before that time; and

(c) in the case of any other grant, if any work on providing the building or extension was done on the site before that time by or on behalf of the applicant for the grant or, if the applicant is a member of a group, by or on behalf of any other member of that group.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6) of this section, a group consists of a body corporate together with all other bodies corporate which are its subsidiaries within the meaning of section 154 of the [1948 c. 38.] Companies Act 1948 ; and in that subsection references to development areas and intermediate areas include references to parts of development areas and intermediate areas.

(8) In making a grant under this section the Secretary of State shall impose such conditions (which may include conditions for repayment in specified circumstances) as he thinks fit for securing that the building or extension will continue to serve the purpose mentioned in section 2(1) of this Act.