Town and Country Planning Act 1971

250 Grants for development etc.

(1) The Secretary of State may with the consent of the Treasury and after consultation with such associations of local authorities as appear to the Secretary of State to be concerned and with any local authority with whom consultation appears to him to be desirable, make regulations providing for the payment to local authorities for any year of grants of such amounts, and payable over such periods and subject to such conditions, as may be determined by or under the regulations in respect of expenditure incurred by those authorities (whether before or after the passing of this Act) in or in connection with the acquisition of land approved for the purposes of the regulations, being land required for or in connection with—

(a) the development or redevelopment as a whole of any area (whether or not defined in a development plan as an area of comprehensive development); or

(b) the relocation of population or industry, or the replacement of open space, in the course or in consequence of such development or redevelopment,

or in respect of expenditure so incurred in or in connection with the clearing or preliminary development of such land.

(2) For the purposes of regulations under this section land appropriated by a local authority (whether before or after the passing of this Act) for use for purposes described in subsection (1) of this section may be treated as acquired by that authority for those purposes at a cost of such amount, and defrayed in such manner, as may be determined by or under the regulations.

(3) Provision may be made by regulations under this section—

(a) for the inclusion, in the expenditure incurred by local authorities in the acquisition of land approved for the purposes of the regulations, of any sums or part of sums paid by those authorities in connection with any restriction imposed on the development or use of the land by or under any enactment (whether by way of compensation or by way of contribution towards damage or expense incurred in consequence of the restriction);

(b) for the calculation of grants payable under the regulations by reference to the amount of the annual costs incurred or treated as being incurred by local authorities in respect of the borrowing of money to defray the expenditure in respect of which the grants are made, or by reference to the excess of such annual costs over receipts of those authorities which are attributable to such expenditure, or over the annual value of such receipts, or by reference to such other considerations as may be prescribed by the regulations;

(c) for the payment of capital sums in substitution for any periodical grants payable under the regulations in respect of such annual costs ;

and for the purposes of this section "clearing" and "preliminary development" means the carrying out of such works as may be prescribed by or determined under the regulations.

(4) In this section " year " means a period of twelve months beginning with the first day of April.