Water Resources Act 1963

87 Precepts by river authorities

(1) For the purposes of this section the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by a river authority for any financial year shall be ascertained as follows, that is to say—

(a) subject to the following paragraphs, that aggregate amount shall be an amount equal to so much of the expenditure of the river authority for that financial year as is not debited to the water resources account of the authority and is nether defrayed out of any reserve fund, replacement fund or sinking fund maintained by the authority nor defrayed out of sums received by the authority in respect of that year otherwise than by virtue of this section, together with so much of the total amount (if any) paid by the authority in that financial year into any such replacement fund or sinking fund as is not debited to the water resources account of the authority;

(b) in the case of any financial year for which the relevant water resources expenditure of the river authority exceeds the relevant water resources receipts of the authority, the amount of the excess shall be added to the amount specified in the preceding paragraph;

(c) there shall also be added to the amount specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection any amount required to be provided in that financial year by way of new working capital, and there shall be added to, or (as the case may be) deducted from, the amount so specified any amount required to be brought forward from a previous financial year, and to be so added or deducted, in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) In paragraph (b) of the preceding subsection "relevant water resources expenditure ", in relation to any financial year, means any expenditure of the river authority, and any amount paid by the authority into a replacement fund or sinking fund maintained by them, which—

(a) is incurred or paid before the coming into operation of a charging scheme prepared by the river authority, and

(b) is debited in respect of that year to the water resources account of the authority by virtue of any of paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 83 (3) of this Act,

and " relevant water resources receipts ", in relation to a financial year, means any receipts of a river authority which, not being sums received by virtue of this section, are carried to the credit of the water resources account of 'the authority for that year:

Provided that the Minister may in any particular case direct that, in relation to any financial year of a river authority specified in the direction, paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be disregarded, ether wholly or in respect of any such expenditure or amount as may be so specified.

(3) Not later than the end of the month of February immediately preceding each financial year, each river authority shall estimate the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the river authority for that year; and that amount shall be apportioned by the river authority among the councils of counties and county boroughs any part of which is comprised in the river authority area, on the basis of the appropriate penny rate product for the relevant area of each such council for the relevant year (calculated in accordance with section 121 of this Act).

(4) A river authority may issue precepts to the councils of counties and county boroughs requiring payment of amounts apportioned to those councils under the last preceding subsection ; and, subject to the following provisions of this section, each such council shall pay, in accordance with any precept issued to the council, the amount thereby demanded.

(5) If at any time during a financial year it appears to a river authority that the aggregate amount for which they have issued precepts for that year will fall short of the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the authority for that year, the authority shall estimate the amount of the deficiency; and the provisions of subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall have effect in relation to an amount estimated under this subsection as they have effect in relation to an amount estimated under subsection (3) of this section.

(6) Subject to the next following subsection, the aggregate amount for which precepts may be issued under this section for any one financial year to the council of a county or county borough shall not, except with the consent of a majority of the whole number of the local authority members of the river authority, exceed four times the appropriate penny rate product for the relevant area of the council for the relevant year.

(7) Where a river authority have borrowed or propose to borrow any money under this Act, and a majority of the whole number of the local authority members of the river authority so resolve, the last preceding subsection shall have effect, during the currency of the loan, as if for the reference to four times the appropriate penny rate product for the relevant area of the council there were substituted a reference to such greater amount as may be specified in the resolution.

(8) It shall be the duty of a river authority to prepare, in such form as the Ministers may direct, a statement of the purposes to which the amount demanded by any precept issued by the authority under this section is intended to be applied, and of the basis on which it is calculated; and the council of a county or county borough shall not be liable to pay the amount demanded by any such precept until they have received such a statement.

(9) It shall also be the duty of a river authority, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, to calculate the amount by which the amount demanded by any precept for that year issued under this section to the council of a county or county borough exceeds, or falls short of, the amount which would have fallen to be so demanded from that council if the apportionment under subsection (3) of this section had been made, in relation to each of the councils referred to in that subsection, on the basis of whichever is the greater of the following amounts, that is to say—

(a) the amount of the actual product of a rate of one penny in the pound for the relevant area of the council for that year, and

(b) the final standard penny rate product for that area for that year;

and if in any case the calculation under this subsection shows an excess, the amount of the excess shall be recoverable by the council from the river authority, or, if it shows a deficiency, the amount of the deficiency shall be recoverable by the river authority from the council.

(10) For the purposes of the last preceding subsection the final standard penny rate product for the relevant area of a county or county borough council for any year shall be ascertained as follows, that is to say—

(a) where the relevant area of the council is the whole of its area, the amount of that product shall be taken to be the amount of the standard penny rate product for that area for that year as ascertained for the purposes of section 5 of the Local Government Act 1958 (which relates to Rate-deficiency Grants), and

(b) in any other case, the amount of that product shall be taken to be the amount which bears to the standard penny rate product (as so ascertained) for the whole of the area of the council for that year the same proportion as the actual product of a rate of one penny in the pound for the relevant area of the council for (that year bears to the actual product of such a rate for the whole of the area of the council for that year.

(11) As soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, each river authority shall also ascertain the actual amount which was the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the authority for that year, and shall determine whether, and (if so) how far, the aggregate amount for which precepts have been issued by the river authority for that year exceeds or falls short of the amount ascertained under this subsection; and if the comparison under this subsection shows an excess or a deficiency, the amount of the excess or deficiency shall be brought forward to the next financial year and (if an excess) shall be deducted, or (if a deficiency) shall be added, in ascertaining the aggregate amount required to be raised by precept by the river authority for that next financial year.

(12) The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect subject to the provisions of Part I of Schedule 11 to this Act in the circumstances specified in that Part of that Schedule.