§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to have the report from the district auditor's inquiries into the former Clay Cross Urban Council; and if he will publish it.
§ Mr. CroslandUnder the relevant legislative provisions district auditors are not required to report to me but to the local authority. Local authorities are obliged to make these reports available for the inspection of any local government elector of their area.
§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will meet representatives of Derbyshire ratepayers living outside the former Clay Cross Council boundary, who have expressed oposition to the proposal that they will be surcharged in order to contribute towards funding the deficit left by the former Clay Cross Council.
666W
§ Mr. CroslandI have not received such a request.
§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what communications he has received from ratepayers in Derbyshire, outside the former boundary of Clay Cross Council, expressing opposition to the proposal that they will be surcharged in order to contribute towards funding the deficit left by the former Clay Cross Council;
(2) Whether, under his proposals for funding the deficit left by the former Clay Cross Council, other Derbyshire ratepayers who do not reside within the former Clay Cross Council boundary will be surcharged.
§ Mr. CroslandAs I said in my statement on 6th November, it is proposed that local authorities should be empowered to make good the lost rent income over a period of years out of future rents; alternatively they might decide that the losses could be borne in whole or in part on the rates. The method of recovery would be a matter for local democratic decision. I have received five comunications from ratepayers in Derbyshire, outside the former Clay Cross Urban District expressing opposition to recovery being made from the rates.
§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to introduce legislation to relieve former councillors of their disqualifications consequent upon the Housing Finance Act; and whether, in the case of Clay Cross, such legislation will be conditional on a satisfactory report by the district auditor now inquiring into the former council's financial management for 1972– 73 and 1973–74.
§ Mr. CroslandA Bill will be introduced shortly. It will be concerned solely with the consequences of late implementation of the Housing Finance Act, not with other matters.
§ Mr. Rostasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he now proposes to provide a subsidy from the national Exchequer towards the deficit by the former Clay Cross Urban Council; and, if so, how much.
§ Mr. CroslandThere is no question of central Government subsidy being paid 667W in respect of losses covered by the surcharges already imposed on the former councillors, or in respect of other losses of rent income which fall to be recovered under the proposals I described in my statement of 6th November. The entitlement to subsidy in respect of admissible expenditure on repair and maintenance work at Clay Cross in 1973–74 is at present under consideration, in accordance with the normal criteria, since this subsidy had not been claimed by the former urban district council.