§ Mr. Rookerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many ratepayers in Birmingham who have been granted a rate reduction under the General Rate Act 1967 in connection with the M6 motorway have subsequently lost part of the reduction due to increase in assessment for other factors;
(2)how many ratepayers in Birming ham who have been granted a rate reduction under the General Rate Act 1967 in connection with the M6 motorway have subsequently had their assessments increased as a result of the action of the district valuer;
(3)if he will instruct the district valuer and valuation officer for Birmingham to inform individual ratepayers of the actual amount of increase in assessment when such increase has the effect of nullifying the rate reduction obtained due to the presence of the M6 motorway.
§ Dr. GilbertFollowing decisions of a local valuation court in January 1974 on assessments in the old valuation list the valuation officer inspected and checked the survey details of some 1,900 houses affected by the M6 motorway in Perry Barr. Figures for other parts of Birmingham are not at present available. In some cases it was found that improvements had been made which the valuation officer was unaware of and which were not therefore reflected in the then current assessments. As a result of these inspections, proposals were made to reduce assessments in some 1,400 cases and to increase assessments in some 300 cases. In the remaining cases the value of the improvements was considered to offset the nuisance of the motorway.
In each case a letter was sent to the ratepayer explaining that the assessment in the valuation list did not take account of motorway nuisance or of improvements made since the last inspection and stating the course the valuation officer was proposing to take. Any ratepayer concerned can, of course, ask the valuation officer for further details.