The Railways (Rateable Values) (Scotland) Order 1998

Citation, commencement and date of effect

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Railways (Rateable Values) (Scotland) Order 1998 and shall come into force on the day after the day on which it is made.

(2) This Order shall have effect as from 1st April 1997(1).

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires–

“the 1975 Act” means the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975;

“clerical work” includes writing, book-keeping, typing, filing, duplicating, sorting papers or information, calculating (whether by manual, mechanical or electronic means), drawing, and the editorial preparation of matter for publication;

“financial year” means the period of twelve months beginning with 1st April;

“office premises” means any lands and heritages constructed or adapted as offices or for office purposes, or used wholly or mainly for such purposes;

“office purposes” includes the purposes of administration and clerical work and handling money;

“operational land”, in relation to a relevant person or Railtrack PLC, means land which is used for the purposes of carrying on the undertaking of that person, not being land which, in respect of its nature and situation, is comparable rather with land in general than with land which is used for the purposes of carrying on of statutory undertakings (within the meaning of section 214 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997(2));

“prescribed class of lands and heritages” means the class of lands and heritages prescribed for the purposes of section 6(1) of the 1975 Act in article 3 of this Order;

“relevant person” means–

(a)

ScotRail Railways Ltd.;

(b)

Great North Eastern Railway Ltd.;

(c)

the British Railways Board; and

(d)

West Coast Trains Ltd.

(2) Any reference in this Order to–

(a) lands and heritages occupied by a relevant person includes a reference to lands and heritages which, if unoccupied, are owned by that person; and

(b) lands and heritages used for any purpose includes a reference to lands and heritages which are unused but in relation to which it appears that, when next in use, they will be used for such a purpose.

Prescribed class of lands and heritages

3.—(1) The following class of lands and heritages is hereby prescribed for the purposes of section 6(1) of the 1975 Act, namely any lands and heritages in Scotland (other than the lands and heritages mentioned in paragraph (2) below) occupied by a relevant person and used wholly or mainly for the purposes of the parts of the undertaking of that person which are concerned with the carriage of goods and passengers by rail, or for purposes ancillary to those purposes.

(2) The lands and heritages mentioned in this paragraph are lands and heritages consisting of or comprising–

(a) premises used as a shop, hotel, museum or place of public refreshment;

(b) premises used wholly or mainly as office premises occupied by a relevant person which are not situated on operational land of that person or on operational land of Railtrack PLC;

(c) premises (other than premises used in connection with the collection and delivery of parcels, goods or merchandise conveyed or to be conveyed by rail) used wholly or in part for purposes concerned with the carriage of goods or passengers by road transport or sea transport or with harbours, or for purposes incidental to such purposes;

(d) premises used for more than one of the foregoing purposes; or

(e) premises or rights so let out as to be capable of separate assessment.

Aggregate amount of rateable values for financial year 1997-98

4.  For the purposes of section 6(1) of the 1975 Act, the aggregate amount of the rateable values of the prescribed class of lands and heritages for the financial year 1997-98 is hereby prescribed as £602,600.

Apportionment of aggregate amount of rateable values among relevant persons and local authorities

5.—(1) The aggregate amount referred to in article 4 above is hereby apportioned as–

(a) £550,000 in respect of lands and heritages occupied by ScotRail Railways Ltd.;

(b) £30,000 in respect of lands and heritages occupied by Great North Eastern Railway Ltd.;

(c) £1,600 in respect of lands and heritages occupied by the British Railways Board; and

(d) £21,000 in respect of lands and heritages occupied by West Coast Trains Ltd.

(2) For the purposes of section 6(2) of the 1975 Act, the aggregate amount referred to in article 4 above shall–

(a) in respect of such lands and heritages as are occupied by ScotRail Railways Ltd., be apportioned among the local authorities specified in column 1 of the Schedule to this Order in the amount shown opposite the name of each such local authority in column 2 of that Schedule;

(b) in respect of such lands and heritages as are occupied by Great North Eastern Railway Ltd., be apportioned among the local authorities specified in column 1 of that Schedule in the amount shown opposite the name of each such local authority in column 3 of that Schedule;

(c) in respect of such lands and heritages as are occupied by the British Railways Board, be apportioned among the local authorities specified in column 1 of that Schedule in the amount shown opposite the name of each such local authority in column 4 of that Schedule; and

(d) in respect of such lands and heritages as are occupied by West Coast Trains Ltd., be apportioned to Glasgow City Council.

Amendment of enactments

6.  The following amendments shall be made to the enactments specified in articles 7 and 8 below in their relation to the valuation of the prescribed class of lands and heritages for the financial year 1997-98.

7.  In section 6(1) of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956(3), after the words “this Act”, there shall be inserted the words “and to any Order made by the Secretary of State under section 6 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975”.

8.—(1) Section 2(1)(c) of the 1975 Act(4) shall be amended by inserting at the end the following:–

“(iii) upon their ceasing to be lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the Railways (Rateable Values) (Scotland) Order 1998 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the 1998 Order”);”.

(2) Section 2(1)(d) of that Act shall be amended by inserting after the words “lands and heritages” the following words:–

“(other than lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1998 Order)”.

(3) After paragraph (f) of section 2(1) of that Act, there shall be inserted the following paragraphs:–

“(ff) by deleting therefrom, with effect from 1st April 1997, any lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1998 Order which were entered in the roll before the date of coming into force of that Order;

(fff) by entering therein, with effect from 1st April 1997, any lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1998 Order together with the rateable values apportioned by that Order to the local authority whose area comprises the valuation area;”.

(4) In section 3(2) of that Act(5), for the words from “and any such person” to the end, there shall be substituted the following:–

“and, where the entry relates to any lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1998 Order, any such person may at any time while the roll is in force appeal against the entry but only on the ground that there is a clerical error in that entry.”.

(5) In section 3(4) of that Act(6), after the words “lands and heritages” where they appear for the first time, there shall be inserted the following:–

“(other than lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1998 Order)”.

Revocation

9.  The British Railways Board (Rateable Values) (Scotland) Order 1995(7) is hereby revoked.

Calum MacDonald

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office

St Andrew’s House,

Edinburgh

30th March 1998