Local Government Act 1948

105 Temporary grants by county councils to county district councils, parish councils, &c, in certain cases.

(1) The council of each county in England and Wales shall estimate in relation to each county district within the county the amount in the pound of the rate required to be levied in the district for the year 1947-48 in order to meet the expenditure of the council of that district for that year, being expenditure falling to be met out of rates levied in the district but not including expenditure incurred in meeting a precept (other than a precept from a joint authority of which the council of the district is a member) or in meeting a warrant issued under section twenty-three of the [10 Geo. 4. c. 44.] Metropolitan Police Act, 1829.

(2) The council of the county shall then estimate the amount in the pound of the rate which would have been required to be levied in the district for the said year for the said purposes in the following circumstances, that is to say, if—

(a) the product of a rate of one penny in the pound for that district for that year had been diminished by a sum ascertained as follows, that is to say, by dividing by two hundred and forty an amount equal to so much of the difference between the rateable value of the hereditaments in the district on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, and the rateable value for the district for the year 1948-49 as is due to the coming into effect of the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to railway or canal hereditaments and hereditaments occupied by the British Electricity Authority or an Area Electricity Board ; and

(b) the expenditure of the council of the district had been diminished by an amount equal to any sum paid to the council of the district for the benefit of that council for the year 1948-49 under the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act.

(3) If in the case of any county district the amount estimated under subsection (2) of this section exceeds the amount estimated under subsection (1) thereof by more than twopence, the council of the county shall make to the council of that district grants for the year 1948-49 and the nine following years calculated in accordance with the provisions of this section.

(4) The amount of the grants to be made by the council of the county shall be as follows, that is to say—

(a) for the year 1948-49, the grant shall be a sum equal to the product of a rate of one penny in the pound for the district, as estimated for the purposes of subsection (2) of this section, multiplied by the number of "pence in the amount by which the amount of the excess mentioned in subsection (3) of this section exceeds twopence ;

(b) for the nine following years, the grants shall be respectively nine-tenths, four-fifths, seven-tenths, three-fifths, one-half, two-fifths, three-tenths, one-fifth and one-tenth of the grant for the year 1948-49.

(5) Any dispute as to whether any, and if so what, grant is to be made under this section to the council of a county district shall be determined by the Minister.

(6) The preceding provisions of this section shall apply in relation to—

(a) any rural parish in England or Wales having a separate parish council; and

(b) any group of rural parishes in England or Wales under a common parish council; and

(c) any rural parish in England or Wales without a separate parish council, not being a parish forming part of such a group or a parish coterminous with a rural district,

as it applies in relation to a county district, subject, however, to any necessary modifications, and in particular, in the case of such a parish as is mentioned in paragraph (c) of this subsection, to the modification that references to the council of the district shall be construed as references to the parish meeting or the representative body of the parish, as the context may require.

(7) Any payment under this section may, if the councils concerned so agree, be effected in whole or in part by making the appropriate deduction from the amount due under a precept.

(8) This section shall apply to the council of a county in Scotland in like manner as it applies to the council of a county in England and Wales subject to the following modifications :—

(a) for any reference to a county district there shall be substituted a reference to a small burgh and to the landward area of a county and any reference to the council of such a district shall in relation to the landward area be construed as a reference to the county-council ;

(b) the estimates required to be made under subsections (i) and (2) of this section shall in the case of a burgh or of the counties combined for the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) of section one hundred and eighteen of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947, be made after consultation with the council of the burgh or of the separate county ;

(c) for any reference to expenditure incurred in meeting a precept there shall be substituted a reference to expenditure on purposes for which small burghs are included in a county; for any reference to an amount due under a precept there shall be substituted a reference to a sum payable under a requisition issued under section two hundred and fourteen of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947 ; and for the word " twopence " there shall be substituted the words " one and three-fifths pence ";

(d) any reference to the making of grants to a council shall be construed in the case of the landward area of a county as a reference to the setting aside of a sum for behoof of the landward area ;

(e) any reference to the landward area of a county shall be construed in the case of the aforesaid combined counties as a reference to the landward area of each of the separate counties, and the sums required to be set aside for behoof of the landward area of those separate counties shall be paid by the councils of the combined counties to the councils of the separate counties ;

(f) the expenditure incurred by the council of a county in making grants under this section shall be deemed to be - expenditure on functions for which small burghs are included in the county ;

(g) any reference to an Area Electricity Board shall be construed as including a reference to the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board ;

(h) for any reference to the Minister there shall be substituted a reference to the Secretary of State.