HL Deb 07 July 1947 vol 150 cc95-7

ASSESSMENT OF COMPENSATION TO STATUTORY UNDERTAKERS.

PART I.

Amount of Compensation.

1. The compensation to be paid—

  1. (a) in respect of any decision given under paragraph 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, refusing permission to develop operational land or granting such permission subject to conditions;
  2. (b) in respect of any order made by a government department under paragraph 2 of that Schedule refusing the sanction of that department in respect of any development of such land, or directing that permission to develop such land shall be deemed to be granted subject to conditions;
  3. (c) in respect of any order made under paragraph 3 of that Schedule revoking or modifying permission to develop such land;
  4. (d) in respect of any order made under paragraph 4 of that Schedule in relation to such land;
  5. (e) in respect of the extinguishment of any right or the imposition of any requirement, under Section twenty-five of this Act as applied for the purposes of Part IV of the said Act;
  6. (f) in respect of any such compulsory purchase as is mentioned in subsection (5) of Section forty-four of the said Act.
shall in default of agreement be assessed by the arbitration of the tribunal constituted in accordance with the provisions of Part II of this Schedule, and the amount of the compensation shall be an amount calculated in accordance with the provisions of the next following paragraph:

Provided that, as respects compensation in respect of a compulsory purchase, if, before the expiration of two months from the date on which notice to treat is served in respect of the interest of the person by whom the statutory undertaking is carried on, that person gives notice in writing to the purchasing authority that he elects that as respects all or any of the land comprised in the purchase the compensation shall be ascertained in accordance with the enactments, other than rule (5) of the rules set out in Section two of the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, which would be applicable apart from the provisions of this Schedule, the compensation shall be so ascertained.

2.—(1) The amount of the said compensation shall, subject to the provisions of this paragraph, be the aggregate of the following amounts, that is to say—

  1. (a) the amount of any expenditure reasonably incurred in acquiring land, providing apparatus, erecting buildings or doing work for the purpose of any adjustment of the carrying on of the undertaking rendered necessary by the proceeding giving rise to compensation; and
  2. (b) where any such adjustment is made, the estimated amount of any decrease in net receipts from the carrying on of the undertaking pending the adjustment, in so far as the decrease is directly attributable to the said proceeding, together with such amount as appears reasonable compensation for any estimated decrease in net receipts from the carrying on of the undertaking in the period after the adjustment has been completed, in so far as the decrease is directly attributable to the adjustment; or
  3. (c) where no such adjustment is made, such amount as appears reasonable compensation for any estimated decrease in net receipts from the carrying on of the undertaking which is directly attributable to the proceeding giving rise to compensation; and
  4. (d) in the case of compensation in respect of the imposition of a requirement under Section twenty-five of this Act to remove any apparatus, any expense reasonably incurred by the person carrying on the undertaking in complying with the requirement, reduced by the value after removal of the apparatus removed.

(2) The amount of any compensation assessed in accordance with the preceding sub-paragraph shall be reduced by such amount (if any) as appears to the tribunal to be appropriate to offset—

  1. (a) the estimated value of any property (whether moveable or immoveable) belonging to the person carrying on the statutory undertaking in question and used for the carrying on thereof which as the result of any such adjustment as is mentioned in the preceding sub-paragraph ceases to be so used, in so far as the value of the property has not been taken into account under head (d) of the preceding sub-paragraph; and
  2. (b) the estimated amount of any increase in net receipts from the carrying on of the undertaking in the period after any such adjustment has been completed, in so far as that amount has not been taken into account under head (b) of the preceding sub-paragraph and is directly attributable to the adjustment,
and by any further amount which appears to the tribunal to be appropriate having regard to any increase in the capital value of immoveable property belonging to the person carrying on the statutory undertaking in question which is directly attributable to any such adjustment as aforesaid, allowance being made for any reduction made under head (b) of this sub-paragraph.

(3) References in this paragraph to a decrease in net receipts shall be construed as references to the amount by which a balance of receipts over expenditure is decreased, or of expenditure over receipts is increased, or, where a balance of receipts over expenditure is converted into a balance of expenditure over receipts, as references to the aggregate of the two balances; and references to an increase in net receipts shall be construed accordingly.

(4) In this paragraph the expression "proceeding giving rise to compensation" means the particular action (that is to say, purchase, extinguishment of a right, imposition of a requirement, refusal of permission, grant of permission subject to conditions, or revocation or modification of permission or order under paragraph 4 of the Fifth Schedule to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947) in respect of which compensation falls to be assessed, as distinct from any development or project in connection with which the action in question may have been taken.

PART II.

Tribunal for assessment of compensation to statutory undertakers.

3.—(1) The tribunal for the assessment of compensation referred to in Part I of this Schedule shall consist of four persons, namely—

  1. (a) a barrister or solicitor of not less than seven years' standing, appointed by the Lord Chancellor to act as chairman:
  2. (b) two persons appointed by the Minister as persons having special knowledge and experience of the valuation of land and of civil engineering respectively; and
  3. (c) for each claim coming before the tribunal, a person selected by the appropriate Minister, as a person having special knowledge and experience of statutory undertakings of the kind carried on by the claimant, from the members of a panel appointed by appropriate Ministers of persons appearing to them to have such knowledge and experience of statutory undertakings.

(2) The Treasury may pay out of moneys provided by Parliament to the members of the tribunal such remuneration (whether by way of salaries or by way of fees), and such allowances, as the Treasury may determine.

(3) The provisions of Sections three, five and six of the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, shall apply in relation to the tribunal and proceedings before the tribunal as they apply in relation to an official arbitrator and proceedings before an official arbitrator, with the substitution for references in the sail Section five to the acquiring authority of references to the person from whom compensation is claimed and with the modification that rules regulating the procedure before the tribunal shall be made by the Lord Chancellor.