Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990

Grants

77 Grants and loans for preservation or enhancement of conservation areas

(1) If in the opinion of the Commission any relevant expenditure has made or will make a significant contribution towards the preservation or enhancement of the character or appearance of any conservation area situated in England or any part of such an area, they may make grants or loans for the purposes of defraying the whole or part of that expenditure.

(2) If in the opinion of the Secretary of State any relevant expenditure has made or will make a significant contribution towards the preservation or enhancement of the character or appearance of any conservation area situated in Wales or any part of such an area, he may make grants or loans for the purposes of defraying the whole or part of that expenditure.

(3) Expenditure is relevant for the purposes of subsection (1) or (2) if it has been or is to be incurred in or in connection with, or with a view to the promotion of, such preservation or enhancement as is mentioned in that subsection.

(4) A grant or loan under this section may be made subject to such conditions as the Commission or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State may think fit to impose.

(5) Any loan under subsection (1) shall be made on such terms as to repayment, payment of interest and otherwise as the Commission may determine.

(6) Any loan under subsection (2) shall be made on such terms as to repayment, payment of interest and otherwise as the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury determine.

(7) Unless the making of a grant or loan under this section appears to the Secretary of State to be a matter of immediate urgency, before making the grant or loan, the Secretary of State shall consult the Historic Buildings Council for Wales as to its making and the conditions subject to which it should be made.

(8) The Secretary of State may pay such remuneration and allowances as he may with the approval of the Treasury determine to any member of the Historic Buildings Council for Wales by whom services are rendered in connection with any question as to the exercise of his powers under this section.

(9) If any such member is also a member of the House of Commons, those payments shall extend only to allowances in respect of travelling and subsistence expenses, and any other expenses necessarily incurred by him in connection with those services.

78 Recovery of grants under s. 77

(1) This section applies to any grant under section 77 made on terms that it shall be recoverable under this section.

(2) A grant shall only be regarded as made on those terms if before or on making the grant the grantor gives the grantee notice in writing—

(a) summarising the effect of this section; and

(b) if the grant is made for the purpose of defraying the whole or part of expenditure in relation to any particular property (“the grant property”), specifying the recovery period.

(3) In this section “the recovery period” means the period, beginning with the day on which the grant is made and ending not more than ten years after that day, during which the grant is to be recoverable in accordance with subsection (4).

(4) If during the recovery period the grantee disposes of the interest which was held by him in the grant property on the day on which the grant was made or any part of that interest by way of sale or exchange or lease for a term of not less than 21 years, the grantor may recover the amount of the grant, or such part of it as the grantor thinks fit, from the grantee.

(5) If the grantee gives the whole of that interest to any person (whether directly or indirectly, but otherwise than by will) subsection (4) shall have effect as if the donee were the grantee.

(6) If the grantee gives part of that interest to any person (whether directly or indirectly, but otherwise than by will) subsection (4) shall have effect as if any disposal or part disposal of that interest by the donee were a disposal by the grantee.

(7) If any condition imposed on the making of a grant to which this section applies is contravened or not complied with, the grantor may recover the amount of the grant, or such part of it as he thinks fit, from the grantee.

(8) Nothing in this section entitles a grantor to recover amounts in the aggregate exceeding the amount of the grant (for example by virtue of a breach of more than one condition or disposals of several parts of an interest in the grant property).