Post Office Act 1953

Extension of postal facilities and accommodation

50 Indemnity on account of extending Post Office accommodation

The Postmaster-General may contract with, or take security from, any person applying to him to establish any post or telegraph office, or to extend the accommodations of the postal or telegraphic services to any place, for indemnifying the Postmaster-General against any loss he may sustain thereby, and the indemnity may be either for the whole or any part of the loss sustained, and for such time as the Postmaster-General may think necessary.

51 Power of local authority to contribute towards new post office or extra postal facilities

(1) Where the council of any borough or urban district consider that it would be beneficial to the inhabitants of the borough or district that any new post office should be on a more expensive site, or of a larger size, or of a more ornate building, or otherwise of a more expensive character than the Postmaster-General would otherwise provide, the council may contribute towards the new post office, either by a grant of money or, with the consent of the Minister of Housing and Local Government, by the appropriation of land belonging to the council or by the purchase of land for the purpose.

(2) Where the council of any borough or urban district consider that it would be beneficial to the inhabitants of the borough or district that any post or telegraph office should be established, or any additional postal or other facilities should be provided, by the Postmaster-General in or for the purposes of the borough or district, the council may undertake to pay to the Postmaster-General any loss he may sustain by reason of the establishment or maintenance of the office or the provision of the facilities.

(3) Where the council of any rural district, or the parish council of a parish, or in the case of a parish not having a parish council the parish meeting, consider that it would be for the benefit, in the case of a rural district council, of any contributory place or places within their district or, in the case of a parish council or parish meeting, of their parish, that any post or telegraph office should be established, or any additional postal or other facilities should be provided, by the Postmaster-General whether within or without the area to be benefited, that council or meeting may undertake to pay to the Postmaster-General any loss he may sustain by reason of the establishment or maintenance of the office or the provision of the facilities ; and any expenses incurred by a rural district council in pursuance of such an undertaking may be defrayed as special expenses chargeable on the contributory place or places to be benefited:

Provided that a rural district council shall not exercise their powers under this subsection as respects an office established or facilities provided outside a contributory place proposed to be charged unless the parish council, or if there is no parish council the parish meeting, of any parish wholly or partly situated in the contributory place consent to the exercise of the powers.

(4) The council of a borough or urban district may borrow for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.

(5) The foregoing provisions of this section shall, in their application to Scotland, have effect subject to the following modifications:—

(a) for the reference to the Minister of Housing and Local Government there shall be substituted a reference to the Secretary of State; for references to a borough or urban district and to the council thereof there shall be respectively substituted references to a burgh and to the town council thereof; for references to a rural district and to the council thereof there shall be respectively substituted references to a county and to the county council thereof ; for references to a parish council and to a parish there shall be respectively substituted references to a district council and to the district of such a council; for any reference to a contributory place there shall be substituted a reference to such a district; and references to parish meetings shall be omitted;

(b) subsection (2), and subsection (3) from the words " and any " onwards, shall be omitted ;

(c) any expenses incurred by a county council in pursuance of an undertaking given under subsection (3) shall be defrayed out of a rate levied only in the district of the district council in respect of which the expenses are incurred ;

(d) nothing in subsection (3) shall authorise the establishment of an office or the provision of facilities outside the area to be benefited.

(6) This section shall, in its application to Northern Ireland, have effect subject to the following modifications:—

(a) for the reference in subsection (1) to the Minister of Housing and Local Government there shall be substituted a reference to the Ministry of Health and Local Government for Northern Ireland ;

(b) so much of subsection (3) as relates to the powers of parish councils and parish meetings, and the words in that subsection from " and any " onwards, shall be omitted; and the powers under that subsection of a rural district council shall be limited to the establishment of offices and the provision of facilities within the place to be benefited;

(c) any expenses incurred under this section by the council of a borough may be paid out of the borough fund or borough rate;

(d) any expenses incurred under this section by the council of an urban district other than a borough may be paid out of the rate out of which the general expenses of the council under the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, are defrayed;

(e) any expenses incurred by a rural district council in pursuance of an undertaking under this section may be defrayed as expenses legally incurred in respect of the contributory place or places and shall be apportioned between those places, if more than one, and sections two hundred and thirty-two and two hundred and thirty-three of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, shall apply accordingly;

(f) subsection (4) shall be omitted.

(7) This section shall, in its application to the Isle of Man, have effect subject to the following modifications:—

(a) for the reference in subsection (1) to the Minister of Housing and Local Government there shall be substituted a reference to the Isle of Man Local Government Board; and for the references in that subsection to a borough or urban district and to the council (thereof there shall be respectively substituted references to a local government district and to the local authority;

(b) any expenses incurred under subsection (1) may be paid as expenses of the local authority out of the district fund, and any money may be borrowed for the purposes of this section in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as if those purposes were purposes of the Local Government Acts, 1916 to 1952, being Acts of the legislature of the Isle of Man, or any other Act of that legislature amending those Acts ;

(c) subsections (2) to (4) shall be omitted.