London Government Act 1963

66 Equalisation of rates

(1) The Minister may, subject to and in accordance with the subsequent provisions of this section, make as respects the whole or any part or parts of Greater London a scheme or schemes for the purpose of reducing disparities in the rates levied in different rating areas of Greater London other than the Temples.

(2) Any such scheme shall take the form of provision for the making of contributions by rating authorities in Greater London elsewhere than the Temples to other such authorities, either directly, or through the Greater London Council, or by means of adjustments by the Greater London Council in the amounts for which they precept on those rating authorities respectively, or, in the case of rating authorities in the Inner London Education Area, by a re-allocation between those authorities of the aggregate amount payable to them by virtue of section 64 of this Act, or by a combination of any two or more of those methods.

(3) Rules made under section 9 of the Rating and Valuation Act 1925 and regulations made under section 15 of the Local Government Act 1948 may make the like provision for the purpose of schemes under this section as may be made by such rules or regulations for the purposes of the said section 9 or Part I of the said Act of 1948, as the case may be; and for the purposes of section 14 of the said Act of 1948 (which relates to investigations into the working of Part I of that Act) this section shall be deemed to be included in the said Part I and the expression “local authority ” in the said section 14 shall include the Greater London Council.

(4) Any scheme under this section may, subject to the next following subsection, be revoked or varied by any subsequent scheme under this section.

(5) Before making a scheme under this section, the Minister shall consult with any association or committee which appears to him to be representative of the London borough councils and with the Common Council and the Greater London Council.

(6) In section 5(6) of the Local Government Act 1958 (which, among other things, provides for disregarding payments under section 10 of the Local Government Act 1948 in determining the expenditure of an authority for the purpose of computing rate-deficiency grants) for the words “and, in the case of a local authority within the administrative county of London, no payments under section ten of the Act of 1948 were payable ” there shall be substituted the words “were payable and, in the case of a local authority in Greater London, section 66 of the London Government Act 1963 had not been passed ”,