Countryside Act 1968

36 Exchequer grants: general provisions

(1) This section has effect as respects the making to local authorities of Exchequer grants under this Act and, for expenditure incurred after the end of the financial year in which this Act is passed, as respects the making of grants under section 97 of the Act of 1949 (grants for National Parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty).

(2) The grants shall not exceed seventy-five per cent, of the amount of the expenditure in respect of which the grants are made.

(3) The grants shall only be payable in such cases as the Minister may approve and the Minister may give his approval either to a particular item of expenditure or to expenditure of a specified class or incurred in specified circumstances.

(4) Subject to subsection (2) above, grants shall be of such amounts and payable at such times and subject to such conditions as the Minister may from time to time determine, either generally or in the case of any particular local authority.

(5) The grants may be made either as periodical grants in respect of costs from time to time incurred, or treated as incurred, by a local authority in respect of the borrowing of money to defray expenditure qualifying for the grants, or as capital grants in respect of the expenditure or in substitution for such periodical grants.

(6) The Minister shall arrange for the making of recommendations by the Commission as to the making of the grants, and for consultation with the Commission by the Minister where he proposes to make a grant not recommended by the Commission, or not to make a grant recommended by them.

(7) For the purposes of any such grant—

(a) any land appropriated by a local authority for a purpose for which they may acquire land may be treated as acquired by the local authority for that purpose at a cost of such amount, and defrayed in such manner, as the Minister may determine,

(b) where expenditure eligible for any such grant is expenditure incurred by a local planning authority as respects land in or in the neighbourhood of a National Park in the exercise of any powers, any administrative expenses incurred by the local planning authority after the passing of this Act which are attributable to the exercise of those powers may be treated as part of the first-mentioned expenditure.

(8) In accordance with subsection (1) above, in subsection (1) of the said section 97 for the words preceding paragraphs (a) to (f) there shall be substituted the words " The Minister may with the consent of the Treasury make Exchequer grants to local authorities in respect of expenditure incurred by them in the exercise ", and subsections (2), (3) and (4) of the said section 97 (which are superseded by the provisions of this section) shall cease to have effect, but not so as to affect the application of the said section 97 to expenditure incurred before the end of the financial year in which this Act is passed.