Rating (Morpeth, Ashington and Newbiggin)

HC Deb 11 February 1969 vol 777 cc264-6W

Mr. Will Owen

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government how many individual rate rebates have been paid to ratepayers in the borough of Morpeth, the urban district council of Ashington, and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in the county of Northumberland, under the Rating Act, 1965, in each of the last three years; and what was the average benefit.

Mr. Skeffington

The average numbers of recipients of rate rebates under the Rating Act, 1966, and the average rebate, for the years 1966–67 and 1967–68, are as follows:

	Average number of recipients
	1966–67	1967–68
Morpeth B.	273	221
Ashington U.D.	723	385
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea U.D.	209	205

	Average rebate
	1966–67	1967–68
	£	s.	d.	£	s.	d.
Morpeth B.	13	10	0	14	13	0
Ashington U.D.	9	2	0	12	3	0
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea U.D.	11	15	0	11	11	0

The figures for 1968–69 are not yet available.

Mr. Will Owen

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what was the average benefit per head to ratepayers in the borough of Morpeth, the urban district council of Ashington and New biggin in the county of Northumberland, in each of the last four years under the provisions of the Rating (Interim Relief) Act, 1964.

Mr. Skeffington

Grant paid by the Government under Section 1 of the Act (which provides for grants to rating authorities of areas with relatively high proportions of old people) was as follows:

	1964–65	1965–66	1966–67
	£	£	£
Morpeth B.	985	975	975
Ashington U.D.	2,000	2,360	2,670
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea U.D.	30	150	190

No grant was paid in 1967–68.

The grants under Section 1 benefited all ratepayers as follows:

	Reduction in rate poundage
	1964–65	1965–66	1966–67
	d.	d.	d
Morpeth B.	½	½	½
Ashington U.D.	⅔	1	1
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea U.D.	1/20	1/5	¼

	Average relief per ratepayer
	1964–65	1965–66	1966–67
	s.	d.	s.	d.	s.	d.
Morpeth B.	4	3	4	0	3	10
Ashington U.D.	3	9	4	6	5	0
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea U.D.	0	2	0	9	1	0

Under Section 2 of the Act authorities were enabled to grant relief to individual householders suffering hardship because of rate increases since 1962–63. The only relief granted under this section was by Ashington Urban District Council in 1965–66; the total amount of this relief was £114, and the average relief was about £5 4s. 0d.