Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Act 1944

1 Government contributions towards expenses of total authorities for rural water supplies and sewerage.

(1) Subject to such conditions as the Treasury may determine, the Minister of Health (in this Act referred to as " the Minister ") may, in any case in which it appears to him to be desirable so to do, undertake to make a contribution towards the expenses incurred by a local authority at any time after the passing of this Act—

(a) in providing a supply, or improving an existing supply, of water in a rural locality ;

(b) in making adequate provision for the sewerage, or the disposal of the sewage, of a rural locality :

Provided that the, Minister shall not undertake to make a contribution towards the expenses of making provision for the sewerage, or the disposal of the sewage, of a rural locality unless he is satisfied that the need for making the provision is due to anything done or proposed to be done, whether before or after the passing of this Act, to supply, or increase the supply of, water in pipes in that locality.

(2) Subject to the provisions of the next succeeding subsection, an undertaking under this section shall provide for the making of the contribution in the form of a lump sum, payable either as a whole on the completion of the works to be executed or of the transaction to be effected for the purposes of the supply of water, or the purposes of sewerage or sewage disposal, as the case may be, or, in the case of the execution of works, in instalments on the completion of parts of the works.

(3) Where the expenses incurred by the local authority are expenses in respect of liabilities arising from time to time under a lease or hiring agreement or a contract for the supply of water or for sewage disposal, an undertaking under this section may provide for the making of the contribution in the form of sums payable from time to time, within any period not exceeding twenty years from the date of the undertaking.

In this subsection, the expression " contract for the supply of water " includes any undertaking to make, or guarantee of, payments to a person supplying water given under section one hundred and twenty-three of the [26 Geo. 5. & 1 Edw. 8. c. 49.] Public Health Act, 1936, or under this Act.

(4) The Minister may withhold, or reduce the amount of, a contribution which he has undertaken to make towards the expenses incurred by a local authority in respect of any works or transaction, if it appears to him either—

(a) that any of the works have been executed in an unsatisfactory manner ; or

(b) that the effectiveness of any of the works is substantially less than as estimated in the proposals submitted to him by the local authority, and that the difference is due to any default, for which the local authority is responsible, in the formulation of the proposals ; or

(c) that there has been any default in the carrying out of the transaction.

(5) Any contributions made by the Minister under this section shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament, and shall not, in the aggregate, exceed fifteen million pounds.

(6) Local authorities, for the purposes of this section, shall be—

(a) the council of any borough or urban or rural district;

(b) the council of a county which is for the time being exercising the functions relating to water supply or sewerage or sewage disposal of any such council as aforesaid by virtue of an agreement under section three hundred and twenty, or an order under section three hundred and twenty-two, of the Public Health Act, 1936, or by virtue of a local Act (whether passed before or after the passing of this Act) ;

(c) a joint board, or joint committee, constituted by or under any Act (whether public general or local and whether passed before or after the passing of this Act) for the purposes of the provision of a common water supply or common sewerage or common sewage disposal.

(7) The [24 & 25 Geo. 5. c. 7.] Rural Water Supplies Act, 1934, shall cease to have effect except as respects undertakings thereunder given before the passing of this Act.