HC Deb 18 November 1937 vol 329 cc716-8

Resolution reported, That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to authorise the giving of financial assistance towards the expenses incurred by local authorities in providing housing accommodation for the agricultural population; to promote the provision of new housing accommodation to replace accommodation which is occupied by members of the agricultural population and is unfit for human habitation or overcrowded; to amend the provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Acts, 1925 to 5935, relating to insanitary dwelling-houses; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid (hereinafter referred to as 'the said Act of the present Session'), it is expedient to authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament: A. Of such expenses as may be incurred by the Department of Health for Scotland (hereinafter referred to as 'the Department')— (1) in making contributions towards any expenses incurred by a local authority in providing under Part III of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1925, housing accommodation for the agricultural population, in so far as such accommodation is provided with the approval of the Department, in houses the erection of which has been, or is, begun on or after the third day of November, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, so however that such a contribution shall be of such amount, not being less than ten pounds ten shillings, as the Department may with the sanction of the Treasury determine, payable annually for a period of forty years in respect of each house Provided with the approval of the Department: Provided that the amount of the contribution payable in respect of any house shall not exceed fifteen pounds unless the Department are satisfied that the annual expenditure likely to be incurred by the county council in respect of the house is, in consequence of the remoteness of the site thereof from centres of supply of building labour and material, substantially greater than the equivalent of nineteen pounds ten shillings per annum for forty years; (2) in making contributions towards any expenses incurred with the approval of the Department by a local authority in giving assistance on application made within five years after the passing of the said Act of the present Session (such assistance being given by way of payment of a lump sum not exceeding either (a) one-half of the cost of the house; or (b) one hundred and sixty pounds in the case of a house containing three apartments, or two hundred pounds in the case of a house containing more than three apartments) for the provision of housing accommodation in new houses in replacement of—

  1. (a) houses or premises which, being unfit for human habitation are not capable at a reasonable expense of being rendered so fit, are to be demolished or closed under Part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1930, and which are—
    1. (i) houses, or other premises situated on a farm and occupied in accordance with their contracts of service by agricultural workers employed thereon; or
    2. (ii) houses occupied by owner occupiers of farms who are of substantially the same economic condition as agricultural workers, or by statutory small tenants, or by landholders; or
    3. (iii) houses in the Highlands and Islands occupied by members of the agricultural population who are of substantially the same economic condition as landholders:
  2. (b) houses or other premises situated on a farm and occupied in accordance with their contracts of service by agricultural workers employed thereon, which are not in all respects fit for human habitation or are overcrowded and which by the execution of works of reconstruction will be combined with adjoining occupied houses or premises and will cease to be occupied as separate houses or premises;
So, however, that such a contribution shall be made by way of annual payments for a period of forty years from the completion of the house in respect of which assistance is given, and shall be of an amount equal, in any case where assistance is given in respect of any such house as is mentioned in sub-paragraphs (ii) or (iii) of the foregoing paragraph (a) which is situated in the Highlands and Islands, to seven-eighths, and in any other case in which assistance is given to three-quarters of the estimated average annual payments falling to be made by the local authority in respect of the charges on account of loans raised by them for the purposes of payments made by way of assistance, or which would have fallen to be made if the sums so expended by them had been raised by means of loans. B. Of such additional sums as may become payable under section twenty-three of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1930, or under section thirty of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1925, by reason of any provision of the said Act of the present Session amending section thirty-three of the said Housing (Scotland) Act. 1935, so as to apply to the contributions referred to in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph A of this Resolution; C. Of such additional expenses as may be incurred by the Department by reason of any provision of the said Act of the present Session that the provisions of Part II. of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1930, relating to insanitary dwelling-houses shall have effect in relation to premises occupied by agricultural workers in like manner as if they were dwelling-houses notwithstanding that the premises are used for sleeping purposes only. For the purposes of this Resolution the expression 'agricultural population' means persons who are or in their latest occupation were engaged in agriculture or in an industry mainly dependent on agriculture, and includes the dependants of such persons as aforesaid; the expression 'agriculture' means the use of land for agricultural or pastoral purposes or for the purpose of poultry-farming or market-gardening or as an orchard or woodlands or for the purpose of afforestation; the expression 'Highlands and Islands' means the counties of Argyll, Caithness, Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, Orkney and Zetland; and the expressions 'landholder' and 'statutory small tenant' have the meanings assigned to them by the Small Landholders (Scotland) Acts, 1886 to 1931.

Resolution agreed to.