Housing Act 1957

114 Reservation of houses for agricultural population

(1) Where—

(a) any annual exchequer subsidies under the Housing Subsidies Act, 1956, increased under subsection (1) of section four of that Act (which provides for increased subsidies for housing provided for the agricultural population), or

(b) any annual exchequer contributions under the Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1946, the amount of which has been determined on the assumption that the houses in respect of which they are payable were provided by way of housing accommodation required for the agricultural population, or

(c) any contributions under section two of the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1938 (which provided for a special rate of contribution for housing accommodation required for the agricultural population),

are payable to the council of a county district, the council shall secure that a number of houses equal to the number of houses in respect of which such subsidies or contributions are payable to the council is reserved for members of the agricultural population, except in so far as the demand for housing accommodation in the district on the part of members of the agricultural population can be satisfied without such reservation.

(2) Where a county council have undertaken to make contributions to a local authority under subsection (2) of section one hundred and fifteen of the Housing Act, 1936, or are required by subsection (3) of that section to make contributions to the local authority, the local authority shall secure that a number of houses equal to the number of those in respect of which the contributions are payable are reserved for members of the agricultural population, except in so far as the demand for housing accommodation in the district of the authority on the part of members of the agricultural population can be satisfied without such reservation.

(3) Where a local authority have received assistance under section one of the Housing (Rural Workers) Act, 1926, or the Minister has undertaken to pay a contribution to a local authority under subsection (2A) of section four of that Act, the local authority shall secure that a number of houses or dwellings equal to the number of those in respect of which they have received such assistance, or in respect of which such an undertaking has been given, are reserved for such persons as are mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section three of that Act except in so far as the demand for housing accommodation in the district of the authority on the part of such workers can be satisfied without such reservation.

(4) The conditions contained in section three of the Housing (Rural Workers) Act, 1926, shall not have effect in relation to dwellings to which the requirements of subsection (2) or subsection (3) of this section apply.

(5) For the purposes of this section,—

• the expression " agricultural population " means persons whose employment or latest employment is or was employment in agriculture or in an industry mainly dependent upon agriculture, and includes also the dependents of such persons as aforesaid ;

• the expression " agriculture " includes dairy-farming and poultry-farming and the use of land as grazing, meadow or pasture land, or orchard or osier land, or woodland, or for market gardens or nursery grounds.