Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977

Article 3

SCHEDULE 1 N.I. DEFINITIONS OF “AGRICULTURAL LAND”, “AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS” AND “LIVESTOCK OR POULTRY BUILDING”

1.  In this Order, “agricultural land” N.I.

(a) means any land used as arable, meadow or pasture ground only (including pastoral land), land used for a plantation or a wood or for the growth of saleable underwood, or land exceeding [F1 0.1012 hectare] used for the purposes of poultry farming, market gardens, nursery grounds, orchards or allotments, but does not include land occupied together with a house as a park, gardens or pleasure grounds, or land kept or preserved mainly or exclusively for purposes of sport or recreation or land used as a racecourse; and

(b) includes land occupied with, and used solely in connection with the use of, such a building as is mentioned in paragraph 2(1)( b).

F1 1979 NI 4

2.—(1) In this Order, “agricultural buildings” N.I.

(a) means buildings occupied together with agricultural land and used solely in connection with agricultural operations thereon, or buildings being or forming part of a market garden and used for the purposes thereof; and

(b) includes a building which is used solely in connection with agricultural operations carried on on agricultural land and which is occupied either—

(i) by the occupiers of all that land; or

(ii) by individuals who are appointed by the said occupiers for the time being to manage the use of the building and of whom each is an occupier of some of the land or a member of the board of directors or other governing body of such an occupier who is a body corporate,

where the number of occupiers of all the said land does not exceed twenty-four (two or more persons occupying jointly being counted as one, but as a separate person from any of them who are occupying any of the land severally); and

(c) also includes a building which is used in connection with agricultural operations carried on on agricultural land and which is occupied by a body corporate any of whose members are, or are together with the body, the occupiers of the land, where that use, or that use together with the use mentioned in paragraph 3(1)( b) is its sole use;

but does not include a building which is a dwelling-house.

(2) In this paragraph “building” includes a distinct part of a building.

3.—(1) In this Order, “livestock or poultry building” N.I.

(a) means a building which—

(i) is used for the production of livestock or poultry[F2 or is used for the scientific testing of livestock or poultry for the purposes of the improvement of breeding stock]; or

(ii) is occupied together with one or more than one other building used for the production of livestock or poultry[F2 or used for the scientific testing of livestock or poultry for the purposes of the improvement of breeding stock] and is used in connection with the operations carried on in that other building or those other buildings;

where either the use mentioned in sub-head (i) or (ii) is the sole use, or the building is occupied together with agricultural land and used also in connection with agricultural operations on that land and that use together with the use mentioned in sub-head (i) or (ii) (as the case may require) is its sole use; and

(b) includes a building which—

(i) is used solely in connection with the operations carried on in one or more than one building to which head ( a) applies; and

(ii) is occupied either—

(aa) by a body corporate any of whose members are, together with the body, the occupiers of that building or those buildings; or

(bb) by persons who would satisfy the requirements of paragraph 2(1)( b)(ii) if the building were an agricultural building;

and whose use as mentioned in this paragraph, or that use together with the use mentioned in paragraph 2(1)( c), is its sole use;

but does not include an agricultural building or a dwelling-house.

(2) In this paragraph—

• “building” includes a distinct part of a building;

• “livestock” means any animal kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur;

• “poultry” includes the eggs of poultry;

• “production” includes the breeding, rearing, fattening and keeping of livestock or poultry, but does not include the keeping of livestock or poultry which are in transit.

F2 1998 NI 22

4.  In determining for the purposes of this Schedule whether anything used in any way is solely so used or whether any use of it is its sole use, no account shall be taken of any time in which it is used in any other way if that time does not amount to a substantial part of the time during which it is used. N.I.