Town and Country Planning Act 1954

49 Cancellation or reduction of liability for development charges

(1) The provisions of this section shall have effect in cases where at the commencement of this Act the whole or part of a development charge remains unpaid and, apart from this section, the charge or the unpaid balance thereof would then be payable, or would thereafter become payable, to the Central Land Board.

(2) If under Part I of this Act the Board set off the whole of the charge, or the unpaid balance thereof, against a payment thereunder, as being a payment which (but for the set-off) would be payable by the Board under the said Part I, or would have been so payable if applied for, the development charge and any liability of any person in respect thereof shall thereupon be discharged.

(3) If under Part I of this Act the Board set off part of the charge, or of the unpaid balance thereof, as mentioned in the last preceding subsection, the development charge, or the unpaid balance thereof, shall be treated as reduced by the amount so set off and any liability of any person in respect thereof shall be modified accordingly.

(4) Where, for the purposes of the Second Schedule to this Act, one or more development charges such as are mentioned in subsection (1) of this section are covered by a pledge of one or more claim holdings to the Central Land Board, and by virtue of the provisions of that Schedule one or more of those claim holdings are deemed to have been extinguished or reduced in value by reference to the unpaid balance of the charge or, as the case may be, the aggregate of the unpaid balances of the charges, as therein mentioned, a sum equal to, or to the aggregate of—

(a) the value of any such holding which is deemed to have been extinguished; and

(b) the amount of the reduction in the value of any such holding which is deemed to have been reduced in value but not extinguished,

shall be deducted from that balance or that aggregate of balances and—

(i) if that sum is equal to that balance or aggregate of balances, the charge or charges and any liability of any person in respect thereof shall be discharged ;

(ii) if that sum is less than that balance or aggregate of balances, the charge or charges, or the balance or respective balances thereof remaining unpaid at the commencement of this Act, shall be reduced by an amount, or, as the case may be, shall be reduced rateably by an aggregate amount, equal to that sum:

Provided that where paragraph 2 of the Second Schedule to this Act applies, any development charge in connection with which the claim holding in question was pledged in accordance with the arrangements mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph and any liability of any person in respect thereof shall be discharged without regard to the treatment of the claim holding in question.

(5) Where the Central Land Board agreed that payment of a development charge should be postponed in accordance with the special arrangements relating to the accommodation of agricultural workers, the Board shall treat the development charge and any liability of any person in respect thereof as discharged.

(6) In the case of a development charge which is discharged by virtue of paragraph (i) of subsection (4) of this section—

(a) if no sum had been paid, to the Central Land Board on account of the charge, the charge shall for the purposes of Part I of this Act be treated as not having been incurred; and

(b) if any sum had been so paid, then, notwithstanding anything in subsection (3) of section four of this Act, the amount of the charge shall for the said purposes be treated as the amount or aggregate amount of the sum or sums so paid, other than any sum paid by way of interest;

and a development charge which is treated as discharged by virtue of the last preceding subsection shall, for the purposes of any other provision of this Act except subsection (3) of section fifty-two thereof, be treated as not having been determined to be payable.

(7) References in this section, except in subsection (4) thereof, to the unpaid balance of a development charge include references to any arrears of interest in respect of the charge.