(1)[F2The appropriate Minister may in accordance with a scheme and subject to section 50 of the M1Agriculture Act 1970 make, out of money provided by Parliament, grants of amounts determined in such manner as may be provided by or under the scheme in connection with the carrying out of any of the following transactions approved by him in pursuance of the scheme, that is to say—]
(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3 transactions for securing that agricultural land which is [F4or forms part of] an uncommercial unit, but which together with some other agricultural land could form an intermediate unit or commercial unit, shall be owned and occupied with that other land, [F5or, if not so owned, occupied with that other land by a person who shall occupy any part of the resulting unit not owned by him as a tenant (as defined in the [F6Agricultural Holdings Act 1986] or, in Scotland, [F7the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991], and]
(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3 transactions for securing that, where an intermediate unit or a commercial unit is not all in the same ownership, any part of it comes to be in the same ownership as the rest of that unit, or in the same ownership as some other part of that unit, but excluding transactions which bring into the same ownership and occupation two or more parts of the unit each of which could by itself form a commercial unit, and
[F8(bb)transactions for securing that, where the person occupying an intermediate unit or a commercial unit occupies any part or parts of it otherwise than as owner or as a tenant as defined in the [F6Agricultural Holdings Act 1968] (or, in Scotland, [F7the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991]), he comes to occupy that part or all those parts as owner or as such a tenant, and]
(c). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3 transfers or exchanges of agricultural land (or estates or interests in agricultural land) for the purpose of giving more satisfactory boundaries to one or more agricultural units;
and for the purposes of paragraph (a) above, such assumptions as the appropriate Minister may consider reasonable may be made as to the [F9works and facilities which will be carried out or provided] for the benefit of the unit to be formed.
[F10Transactions within paragraphs (a), (b) and (bb) above] are in this Part of this Act referred to as “amalgamations”, and transactions within paragraph (c) are in this Part of this Act referred to as “boundary adjustments”.
(2)A scheme under this section may restrict the amalgamations and boundary adjustments to which it applies in any way, and may in particular exclude amalgamations of land which has reverted from being in single ownership or occupation [F11or, as respects transactions within subsection (1)(bb) of this section, cases where after the transaction has been effected the unit is not in single ownership].
(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12
(4)A scheme under this section may make different provision for [F13different circumstances]; . . . F14.
(5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12
[F15(6)[F16Any approval in pursuance of a scheme under this section of an amalgamation or boundary adjustment—]
(a)may be given either before or, in any case where the appropriate Minister thinks fit, after . . . F17 the amalgamation or boundary adjustment has been carried out;
(b)may given subject to such conditions as the appropriate Minister may specify, and in particular subject to any condition as to the time within which the amalgamation or boundary adjustment is to be carried out or as to the carrying out or provision within a specified period of specified works or facilities appearing to the appropriate Minister to be necessary as a consequence of the amalgamation or boundary adjustment;
(c)may be varied or withdrawn by the approiate Minister with the written consent of the person on whose application the approval was given;
and the appropriate Minister may, if he thinks fit, for the purposes of a claim for grant under section 29 of the Agriculture Act 1970 issue a certificate with respect to any work or facility that he considers it to be necessary or desirable as a consequence of an amalgamation, or to be necessary as a consequence of a boundary adjustment, approved by that Minister in pursuance of the scheme]
(7)After the payment of any grant under this section [F18any grant under section 29 of the Agriculture Act 1970 in respect of any work or facility certified under subsection (6) above or any grant under] subsection (1)(a) of the next following section in connection with an amalgamation the relevant unit shall be subject to the provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act and—
(a)the appropriate Minister shall not approve . . . F19 the amalgamation unless satisfied that all persons having an estate or interest in the relevant unit have given their written consent to the application of that Schedule to the relevant unit,
(b)the relevant unit shall be, or be the part of, the agricultural unit or units specified for the purposes of this subsection by the appropriate Minister in the document giving his approval to the [F20amalgamation], and
(c)in the said Schedule 3 as applied by this subsection “relevant Exchequer payments” shall mean—
[F21(i)any such grant as aforesaid in respect of such expenditure as the appropriate Minister may certify as being expenditure related to the relevant unit, and]
(ii)such sum as the appropriate Minister may certify as the sum representing his administrative expenses (including an appropriate proportion of overhead expenses and other fixed or general expenses) incurred in connection with making the grant,
and “the relevant date” shall, for any grant and the related administrative expenses, be the date when the grant was paid.
(8)In the case of the payment of any grant under this section [F22or any such grant under section 29 of the Agriculture Act 1970 as is referred to in the last foregoing subsection] in connection with a boundary adjustment the appropriate Minister may, if he thinks fit, designate in the document giving his approval to the [F22boundary adjustment] any land appearing to him to benefit from the boundary adjustment as land which, after the payment of that grant, is to be a relevant unit subject to the provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act, and paragraphs (a) and (c) of the last foregoing subsection shall apply in relation to the boundary adjustment as they apply in relation to an amalgamation.
(9)The duration of a scheme under this section shall be a period not exceeding seven years, but that period may from time to time be extended by further schemes under this section for periods not exceeding seven years.
(10)A grant shall not be made under M2section 16 of the Agriculture Act 1957 (which relates to grants towards costs of amalgamation and is superseded by this section) in respect of a transaction proposed in an application made under that section after the coming into force of the first scheme made under this section, and so much of subsection (2) of the said section 16 as limits the time within which applications may be made under that section shall cease to have effect.
(11)The following enactments—
(a)section 6(c) of the Hill Farming Act 1946,
(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F23
F24(c). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(under which grant under those Acts may be recovered by the appropriate Minister if there is a failure to carry out proposals), and any provision to the like effect in regulations made under section 77(3) of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948 or section 22(4) of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955, shall not apply where in the opinion of the appropriate Minister the carrying out of the proposals is, [F25as a consequence of an amalgamation or boundary adjustment approved in pursuance of a scheme under this section or in consequence of the carrying out or provision of works or facilities certified under subsection (6) thereof], impracticable or to no purpose or unduly expensive.]
Textual Amendments
F1S. 26 repealed (N.I.) by S.I. 1987/166 (N.I. 1), art. 20, Sch.
F2Words substituted by virtue of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 9(1)(2)(a)(i)
F3Words repealed by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32(2)(a)(i)
F4Words inserted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32(2)(a)(ii)
F5Words substituted by virtue of SI 1973/1402
F6Words substituted by Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 (c. 5) s. 100 sch. 14 para. 37
F7Words in s. 26(1) substituted (25.9.1991) by Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991 (c. 55, SIF 2:3), ss. 88(1), 89(2), Sch. 11, para. 26
F8S. 26(1)(bb) inserted by virtue of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 9(1)(2)(a)(ii)
F9Words substituted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32(2)(a)(iii)
F10Words substituted by virtue of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 9(1)(2)(a)(iii)
F11Words inserted by virtue of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 9(1)(2)(b)
F12S. 26(3)(5) repealed by virtue of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 9(1)(2)(c)
F13Words substituted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 (c. 40) s. 32(2)(c)
F14Words repealed by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 (c. 40) s. 29(6) sch. 5
F15S. 26(6) substituted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32 (2)(e)
F16Words substituted by virtue of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 9(1)(2)(d)(i)
F17Words repealed by virtue of Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 9(1)(2)(d)(ii)
F18Words substituted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32 (2)(f)
F19Words repealed by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32 (2)(g)
F20Word substituted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32 (2)(h)
F21S. 26(7)(c)(i) substituted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32(2)(i)
F22Words inserted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32 (2)(j)
F23S. 26(11)(b) repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986 (c. 12) sch. 1 Pt. II
F24S. 26(11)(c) repealed (5.11.1993) by 1993 c. 50, s. 1(1), Sch. 1 Pt.II.
F25Words substituted by virtue of Agriculture Act 1970 c. 40 s. 32 (2)(k)
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C1S. 26 applied by Rent Act 1977 (c. 42), s. 98, sch. 15 Pt. II Cases 17, 18
C2S. 26(7)(8) excluded by Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972 (c. 62) s. 10(1)(3)
Marginal Citations