Revocation of approval and recovery of grant

16.—(1) If at any time after the appropriate Minister has approved an improvement plan or paid a grant under these Regulations it appears to that Minister—

(a)that any condition subject to which the approval was given or the grant has been paid, or any undertaking given in accordance with regulation 5(1), has not been complied with, or

(b)that any work, facility or transaction in respect of expenditure on which the approval was given has been badly done or provided, or has been or is being unreasonably delayed, or is unlikely to be completed, or

(c)that the person by whom the application for approval of the improvement plan or for the payment of grant was made gave information on any matter relevant to the giving of the approval or the making of the payment which was false or misleading in a material respect,

that Minister may revoke the approval, in whole or in part, and, where any payment has been made, may recover on demand an amount equal to the payment which has been so made or such part thereof as that Minister may specify.

(2) Subject to regulation 17(6), before revoking an approval or making a demand under the preceding provisions of this regulation that Minister shall—

(a)give to any person to whom any payment by way of such grant would be payable or from whom any such amount would be recoverable a written notification of the reasons for the action proposed to be taken by that Minister, and

(b)afford that person an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by a person appointed for the purpose by the appropriate Minister, and

(c)consider the report by a person so appointed and supply a copy of the report to the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) above.