Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997

Grants

69 Grants and loans for preservation or enhancement of conservation areas

(1) If in the opinion of the Secretary of State any conservation area is an area of outstanding architectural or historic interest, he may make grants or loans for the purpose of defraying in whole or in part any expenditure incurred or to be incurred in or in connection with, or with a view to the promotion of, the preservation or enhancement of the character or appearance of the area or any part of it.

(2) A grant or loan under this section may be made subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may think fit to impose.

(3) Any loan under this section shall be made on such terms as to repayment, payment of interest and otherwise as the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury determine.

(4) Unless the making of a grant or loan under this section appears to the Secretary of State to be a matter of immediate urgency, before making the grant or loan the Secretary of State shall consult the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland as to its making and the conditions subject to which it should be made.

(5) The Secretary of State may pay such remuneration and allowances as he may with the approval of the Treasury determine to any member of the Council by whom services are rendered in connection with any question as to the exercise of his powers under this section.

(6) If any such member is also a member of the House of Commons, those payments shall extend only to allowances in respect of travelling and subsistence expenses, and any other expenses necessarily incurred by that member in connection with those services.

70 Recovery of grants under section 69

(1) This section applies to any grant under section 69 made on terms that it shall be recoverable under this section.

(2) A grant shall be regarded as made on those terms only if before or on making the grant the Secretary of State gives to the grantee notice in writing—

(a) summarising the effect of this section, and

(b) if the grant is made for the purpose of defraying the whole or part of expenditure in relation to any particular property (“the grant property”), specifying the recovery period.

(3) In this section “the recovery period” means the period, beginning with the day on which the grant is made and ending not more than 10 years after that day, during which the grant is recoverable in accordance with subsection (4).

(4) If during the recovery period the grantee disposes of the interest which was held by him in the grant property on the day on which the grant was made or any part of that interest by way of sale or excambion or lease for a term of not less than 21 years, the Secretary of State may recover the amount of the grant, or such part of it as he thinks fit, from the grantee.

(5) If the grantee gives the whole of that interest to any person (whether directly or indirectly, but otherwise than by will) subsection (4) shall have effect as if the donee were the grantee.

(6) If the grantee gives part of that interest to any person (whether directly or indirectly but otherwise than by will) subsection (4) shall have effect as if any disposal or part disposal of that interest by the donee were a disposal by the grantee.

(7) If any condition imposed on the making of a grant to which this section applies is contravened or not complied with, the Secretary of State may recover the amount of the grant, or such part of it as he thinks fit, from the grantee.

(8) Nothing in this section entitles the Secretary of State to recover amounts in the aggregate exceeding the amount of the grant (for example by virtue of a breach of more than one condition or disposals of several parts of an interest in the grant property).