1919. 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 59. Duties of County Councils with respect to Sale or Lease of Land. II. 1.—(1) Land acquired by a county council under the principal Act shall be sold or let by the council at the best price or sum that can reasonably be obtained, and, where sold or let for small holdings, be sold or let, except where the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for any special reason otherwise direct, subject to a reservation of all minerals vested in the council. (2) Where land is sold for small holdings at any time before the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, the sale shall only be made subject to the approval of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. (3) A tenant of a holding provided by a county council on land purchased by the council, who has been in occupation thereof for a period of not less than six years, shall, on notice of his desire to purchase the holding being given to the council at any time before the tenant has received notice to quit the holding, be entitled to require the sale to him of the holding at the expiration of one month from the date of the notice at the then value of the holding, exclusive of any increase of the value thereof due to any improvement executed thereon by and at the expense of the tenant, and thereupon the council shall sell the holding to the tenant accordingly unless the council obtain the consent of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to the requirement of the tenant being refused by the council. (4) The value of the holding shall in default of agreement be determined by arbitration under and in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule to the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1908. (5) A council may, by order in relation to sales of small holdings provided by the council which are made while the order is in force, extend the term within which the purchase money is required by subsection (5) of section eleven of the principal Act to be repaid, but so that the term shall not exceed sixty years: Provided that any order made under this subsection before the thirty-first day of March nineteen hundred and twenty-six, shall require the approval of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Treasury. (6) Subsection (3) of section eleven of the principal Act (which required the payment on completion of the purchase of a small holding of not less than one-fifth of the purchase money) is hereby repealed, and, unless the purchaser desires to pay on completion of the purchase or at any subsequent time the whole or part of the purchase money, the whole of the purchase money shall be secured as provided by section eleven, subsection (5) of the principal Act as amended by this Act. (7) A council, when selling or letting a small holding at any time before the expiration of two years after the passing of this Act, shall give preference to suitable men who have served at any time in the forces of the Crown and to suitable women who are certified by the Board to have been engaged in whole-time employ 1919. ment on agricultural work for a period of not less than six months 9 & 10 Geo. 5. during the present war. Extension of Powers of Councils in Relation to Land acquired under Principal Act. 12.-(1) Subject to the consent of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in cases where their consent is required under this section or under regulations made by the Board, a county council shall have power in any case where in the opinion of the council it is necessary or expedient so to do for the better carrying into effect of the principal Act (a) to erect, repair, or improve dwelling houses and other buildings on any land acquired by the council under the principal Act, or to execute any other improvement on or in connection with and for the benefit of any such land, or to arrange with the tenant of any such land for the execution of any such improvement of such terms as may be agreed: (b) to sell, mortgage, exchange, or let any such land or any interest therein, subject, in the case of any sale, mortgage, or exchange, to the consent of the Board, and in the case of a mortgage subject also to the consent of the Local Government Board: (c) in a case where no power of appropriation is otherwise provided, with the consent of the Board and the Local Government Board and subject to such conditions as to the repayment of any loan made for the purpose of the acquisition of the land or otherwise as the last-mentioned Board may impose (i.) to appropriate for any purpose for which the council is authorised to acquire land under the principal Act any land held by the council for other purposes of the council; or (ii.) to appropriate for other purposes of the council land acquired by the council under the principal Act: (d) generally to manage any land acquired by the council under the principal Act. (2) Sections eight and sixteen of the principal Act (which relate respectively to the adaptation of land for small holdings and to the letting of land unsold and to the sale of superfluous or unsuitable land), shall cease to have effect. 0.59. (3) The provisions of the Lands Clauses (Consolidation) Act, 8 & 9 Vict. 1845, with respect to the sale of superfluous land, shall not apply to land acquired by a council under the principal Act. c. 18. 1919. 9 & 10 G60. 5. c. 59. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 89. Removal of Necessity for Consent of Board after a certain Period. 13. Notwithstanding any provision in the principal Act, the consent of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries shall not, after the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, be required for the acquisition, sale, mortgage, exchange, letting, improvement, or management of land by a county council under the principal Act, except in cases where such consent is required by some enactment other than the principal Act. Extension of Term of Loans. 14. (1) The Public Works Loan Commissioners may lend to a county council any money which the council are authorised to borrow under the principal Act on such terms and conditions as the Treasury may prescribe. (2) During the period from the commencement of this section to the expiration of two years after the passing of this Act, the Treasury may issue to the Commissioners out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or the growing produce thereof, sums not exceeding in the aggregate twenty million pounds, and the loans. made by the Commissioners may be met out of the moneys so issued instead of out of the Local Loans Funds. (3) After the expiration of the said two years any loans so made by the Public Works Loan Commissioners shall be made from the Local Loans Fund in manner provided by the Public Works Loans Act, 1875, as modified by subsection (2) of section fifty-two of the principal Act, except that proviso (a) of that subsection shall not apply, when the loan is made in respect of the acquisition or adaptation of land acquired before the first day of April, nineteen hun dred and twenty-six. (4) For the purposes of any borrowing under the principal Act by a county council for the erection of buildings, or any loan under this section by the Public Works Loan Commissioners to a county council for that purpose, for the period of fifty years mentioned in section fifty-two of the principal Act there shall be substituted the period of sixty years. (5) This section shall be deemed to have had effect as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and nineteen. Consent of Board to Period of Borrowing by County Councils. 15. A determination by a county council as to the period within which any money borrowed for the purpose of the exercise of their powers under this Act shall be repaid shall, if the money is borrowed after the passing of this Act and before the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, be subject to the approval of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Amendment of Section 41 of Principal Act. 1919. 16. (1) An order under the principal Act may, notwithstanding 9 & 10 Geo. 5. anything in section forty-one thereof, authorise the compulsory ac quisition- (a) of any land which at the date of the order forms part of any (b) of a holding of fifty acres or less in extent or any part of (2) Where it is proposed to acquire any land forming part of a park or any such home farm, or, except where required for purposes of allotments, a holding of fifty acres or less in extent or of an annual value not exceeding fifty pounds for the purposes of income tax, or any part of such a holding, the order authorising the acquisition of the land shall not be valid unless confirmed or made by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. (3) A holding to which the preceding subsection applies shall not in whole or in part be compulsorily acquired under the principal Act. by the Board or a council where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Board or the council, as the case may be, that the holding is the principal means of livelihood of the occupier thereof, except where the occupier is a tenant and consents to the acquisition. Power of County Council to Acquire Land for Letting to Parish 17. A county council may acquire land for the purposes of leasing it to the council of a parish within the county for the provision of allotments, and the provisions of the principal Act relating to the acquisition, and to proceedings in relation to the acquisition, of land for the purpose of providing small holdings shall apply to such acquisition as if the land were to be acquired for the provision of small holdings. Power to Advance Money to certain Tenants of Small Holdings for 18.(1) Subject to the provisions of any regulations made by the Treasury, a county council may make or guarantee, or undertake to make or guarantee, an advance by way of loan to any tenant or prospective tenant of a small holding provided by the council under the principal Act, of such sums as they think necessary for the purchase of live stock, fruit trees, seeds, fertilisers, and implements required for the purposes of the holding, and the making of such advances shall be included amongst the purposes for which the council may borrow under section fifty-two of the principal Act. c. 59. 1919. (2) The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries may make or guaran9 & 10 Geo. 5. tee, or undertake to make or guarantee similar advances to tenants of small holdings provided by the Board. c. 59. (3) The powers conferred by this section shall be exerciseable by the council or the Board only where, in the opinion of the council or the Board, as the case may be, the facilities for obtaining advances from a society on a co-operative basis are inadequate. Power of Entry to Inspect Land. 19. A council, with a view to ascertaining whether any land is suitable for any purpose for which the council has power to acquire land under the principal Act, may by writing in that behalf authorise any person (upon production, if so required, of his authority), to enter and inspect the land specified in the authority, and anyone who obstructs or impedes any person acting under and in accordance with any such authority shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds. Provisions as to Small Holdings of less than One Acre. 20.--(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a county council may provide a holding of less than one acre if it is not less than half an acre and has a cottage erected thereon, and such a holding shall be deemed to be a small holding for the purposes of the principal Act. (2) As respects holdings to which this section relates provided by a county council during such period after the passing of this Act as may be specified by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries with the consent of the Treasury, the county council shall keep separate accounts of all receipts and expenditure in respect thereof, and at the end of each financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March the excess of the expenditure over the receipts or of the receipts over the expenditure during that year shall be paid to the county council by the local authority, for the purposes of Part III. 53 & 54 Vict. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, of the district in which the holdings are situate, or to that authority by the county council, as the case may be, and any amount so paid or received by the local authority shall be treated as if it was expenditure or receipts of the authority in carrying out a scheme for the exercise of their powers under that Part approved by the Local Government Board. c. 70. (3) As respects holdings to which this section relates provided by a county council after the expiration of the period so specified, the local authority, for the purposes of Part III. of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, of the district in which the holdings are situate may contribute or agree to contribute to the expenses of providing such holdings, and any sums so payable to the county council by the local authority shall be treated as expenses of the local authority under Part III. of that Act. |