The Non-Domestic Rating (Valuation of Utilities) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Non-Domestic Rating (Valuation of Utilities) (Scotland) Order 2005 (“the 2005 Order”) and comes into force on 1st July 2005.

The 2005 Order put in place a new regime for the valuation of certain utilities whose values were previously prescribed in various orders made under section 6 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975.

Article 4 of the 2005 Order specifies the lands and heritages to be valued within the gas industry, where these are occupied, or if unoccupied, owned, by Transco plc. Where these lands and heritages would (apart from the 2005 Order) be treated as justifying separate entries in two or more valuation rolls, they are treated as justifying one entry in the valuation roll for West Dunbartonshire.

This amendment is required as a consequence of the transfer of the gas distribution and storage network from Transco plc to Scotland Gas Networks Limited. The amendment provides that the lands and heritages where these are occupied, or if unoccupied, owned, by either Transco plc or Scotland Gas Networks Limited, as the case may be, will be treated as justifying one entry in the valuation roll, in respect of each company. The position is the same for Transco plc and Scotland Gas Networks Limited, so that these lands and heritages include those used for the purposes of production, treatment, transmission, distribution or storage of gas, during periods when such lands and heritages are occupied, or if unoccupied, owned, by those companies.