Contributions to council of receiving district from the Exchequer and local authorities benefited
2Exchequer contributions to council of receiving district
(1)This section applies to development to be carried out after the passing of this Act as to which the Minister of Housing and Local Government (hereinafter referred to as " the Minister ") is satisfied—
(a)that it will be town development within the meaning of this Act on a substantial scale, and
(b)that the provision of the accommodation will relieve congestion or over-population in—
(i)a county borough, or
(ii)the administrative county of London, or
(iii)a county district in an area of continuous urban development adjacent to the administrative county of London or in an area of continuous urban development adjacent to another big centre of population, or
(iv)a county district outside the county in which the development is to be carried out,
or in two or more such local government areas.
(2)The Minister may, in pursuance of undertakings in that behalf given by him with the approval of the Treasury, make contributions to the council of a receiving district towards expenses of any of the following kinds incurred or to be incurred by them in relation to development to which this section applies.
The said kinds of expenses are—
(a)annual rate fund contributions under the Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1946, in respect of houses provided in the course of the development;
(b)expenses of acquiring land on which any of the development is carried out, or of acquiring land in substitution for land on which any of the development is carried out;
(c)expenses of site preparation and other works for making the area of land within which the accommodation is to be provided suitable for the provision and use thereof;
(d)expenses of providing, extending or improving, in the course of the development, main water supplies, main sewerage, or sewage disposal services ;
(e)payments under section one hundred and twenty-three of the Public Health Act, 1936, or under section thirty-six or thirty-seven of the Water Act, 1945 (which sections relate to the giving of undertakings by local authorities to suppliers of water for payments in connection with action needed for making supplies available) in respect of action needed for the purposes or in consequence of the development;
(f)payments made by virtue of this Act to a river board or drainage authority in respect of expenses incurred by that river board or drainage authority in the execution of works rendered necessary by the carrying out of the development.
(3)Contributions under this section which are towards annual rate fund contributions falling within paragraph (a) of the last preceding subsection, or towards periodical payments falling within paragraph (e) thereof, shall be by way of corresponding annual or periodical payments, and in other cases shall be by way of such lump sum or periodical payment or payments as the Minister may determine.
(4)For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section—
(a)development carried out between the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-one, and the passing of this Act shall be treated as if it had been development to be carried out after the passing of this Act if the Minister is satisfied that it was carried out as part of, or with a view to the future carrying out of, such development as is mentioned in the said subsection (1); and
(b)the reference in paragraph (b) of the said subsection (1) to the county in which the development is to be carried out shall, in relation to development partly in one county and partly in another, be construed as a reference to the county in which the part of the development which is in the opinion of the Minister the more substantial is to be carried out.
3Conditions of payment of Exchequer contributions
(1)When giving an undertaking under the last preceding section, the Minister may lay down, as conditions to which payment of the contributions undertaken to be made is to be subject, such conditions as it may appear to him to be expedient to impose for securing the intended relief from congestion or overpopulation.
(2)If the Minister is satisfied that a council to whom he has undertaken under the last preceding section to make a contribution have failed to observe any condition laid down under this section as one to which payment of the contribution was to be subject, he may withhold or postpone payment, either in whole or in part—
(a)of that contribution,
(b)of any other contribution which he has undertaken under the last preceding section to make to that council, and
(c)of any annual Exchequer contribution within the meaning of the Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1946, which would otherwise be payable to that council in respect of any house provided in the course of the town development to which the undertaking related,
or of any of those contributions.
(3)The Minister, in exercising his power under subsection (2) of this section of withholding or postponing any payment to a council, shall have particular regard to securing that the penalty so imposed is no more than proportionate to the extent or degree of default of the council.
4Local authorities' contributions to council of receiving district
(1)Where the council of a county borough or county district are satisfied that the provision of accommodation by any town development within the meaning of this Act will relieve congestion or over-population in their area, they may, in pursuance of undertakings in that behalf given by them with the approval of the Minister, make contributions to the council of a receiving district towards expenses incurred or to be incurred by them in relation to the development.
(2)An authority, when giving an undertaking under this section, may lay down, as conditions to which payment of the contributions undertaken to be made is to be subject, such conditions as it may appear to that authority to be expedient to impose for securing the intended relief from congestion or overpopulation.