HL Deb 06 April 1976 vol 369 cc1641-2

[No. 18]

After Clause 3 insert the following new clause

Information for caravanners about rating of caravan sites mentioned in section 3

.—(1) Where the assessor alters the valuation roll under section 3(1) above, he shall include in the notice of deletion which he sends in pursuance of section 3(3) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 to each person named in the valuation roll as the occupier of a pitch for a leisure caravan, the following additional information—

  1. (a) the name and location of the caravan site on which the pitch is situated;
  2. (b) a statement that the assessor has deleted from the valuation roll the entry relating to the pitch because, for the purposes of valuation and rating, he is treating the caravan site including the pitch as a single unit in the occupation of the site operator;
  3. (c) the number of such pitches which the assessor is including in the said single unit;
  4. (d) the amount of the rateable value of the said single unit which the assessor attribute to such pitches; and
  5. (e) the rate in the pound (as reduced under section 7(1) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966) at which rates are levied within the area in which the site is situated for the first year in which the site and pitches thereon are assessed as a single unit.
(2) Subsections (5) and (9) of section 3 above shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that section.

Baroness BIRK

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 18. This new clause is the outcome of the Government's rethinking of the problem of giving information to caravanners to enable them to check the fairness of any rent increase which may be sought on grounds of the transfer of the rate burden.

For Scotland, however, it is possible to adapt an existing procedure to provide for the transmission of this information direct to each caravanner affected, rather than to require a notice to be displayed on the site. For future years, caravanners interested in knowing valuation details can consult the valuation roll, which is open to public inspection and will give all the necessary information, which is not the case in England. That is why this Amendment is worded in this way. I beg to move.

Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Baroness Birk.)

Lord ELTON

My Lords, I think that in these devolutionary days it is fitting wryly to comment that the Scots seem to have the better of it for once. Indeed, in the other place questions were asked why the English could not do as well. I do not wish to delay the House on this at this point, but in devolutionary days, as I say, there is always the danger of jealousy across the Border. Let us avoid it when we can.