HC Deb 22 February 1955 vol 537 cc1236-8

Resolution reported, That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to repeal the power to requisition land for housing purposes under Defence Regulations and transfer to local authorities in England and Wales the right to possession of requisitioned houses for a limited period, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid, it is expedient to authorise—

A. The payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any increase in the sums payable out of such moneys under any other enactment which may be attributable to provisions of the said Act of the present Session—

  1. (1) transferring to local authorities the right to possession of land in England and Wales used or held for use for housing purposes under emergency powers, and enabling those authorities to retain possession of such land until the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and sixty;
  2. (2) regulating the use, retention and release of such land, and making provision for matters connected therewith, including pro vision for payments to be made by the said authorities to owners of such land, for the application thereto of enactments relating to requisitioned land, and for the purchase of the land by the local authority in certain cases:
  3. (3) requiring contributions to be made to the housing revenue account in respect of certain houses leased or purchased by the said authorities.

B. The payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of sums required by the Minister of Housing and Local Government for making the following payments in respect of expenditure of the said local authorities, that is to say:—

  1. (1) sums equal to any compensation paid by those authorities in respect of such land 1237 as aforesaid under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section two of the Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939, or under any agreement for the payment of compensation in lieu of compensation under that paragraph (including any such compensation which would be so paid if the local authority were not at the material time the owners of the land);
  2. (2) contributions in respect of any deficit incurred by those authorities (as assessed by the said Minister) in connection with such land while in their possession under the said Act of the present Session, and in respect of payments made by those authorities to owners of such land under provisions of the said Act enabling such owners to accept as statutory tenant of a dwelling the person occupying it as licensee of the local authority, at the following rate, that is to say—
    1. (a) in respect of deficit incurred and payments falling to be made in the period beginning with the commencement of the said Act of the present Session and ending with the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and fifty-six, one hundred per cent.;
    2. (b)in respect of deficit incurred and payments falling to be made in the years ending with the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and fifty-seven to nineteen hundred and sixty inclusive, seventy-five per cent.;
  3. (3) special grants to such authorities, pay able at the discretion of the said Minister, with the consent of the Treasury, and of such amounts as he may, with the like con sent, determine, in respect of the year ending with the thirty-first day of March, nine teen hundred and fifty-seven or any subsequent financial year;
  4. (4) contributions in respect of any deficit (as estimated by the said Minister in accordance with the provisions of the said Act of the present Session) likely to be incurred in respect of houses leased or purchased by the said authorities and approved by the Minister in accordance with the said Act, of an amount equal to seventy-five per cent. of that deficit and payable for the following period, that is to say: —
    1. (a) in the case of a house taken on lease, the term of the lease or ten years, whichever is the shorter; and
    2. (b) in the case of a house purchased, a period of twenty years.

C. The repayment into the Exchequer, out of moneys provided by Parliament—

  1. (1) of the aggregate amount remaining outstanding on the first day of April, nine teen hundred and fifty-five, of all sums issued before that date out of the Consolidated Fund under subsection (1) of section eight of the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act, 1944, together with interest on the said aggregate amount, by seven equal annual instalments;
  2. (2) of any sums issued as aforesaid after the said date, by payments made before the 1238 expiration of the financial year in which those sums are issued,
and the issue out of the Consolidated Fund of sums paid into the Exchequer as mentioned in this paragraph and the application of sums so issued in redemption or payment of debt, or, in so far as they represent interest, towards meeting such part of the annual charges for the National Debt as represents interest.

D. The payment into the Exchequer of any sums received by the said Minister in pursuance of any provisions of the said Act of the present Session.

Resolution agreed to.