§ Mr. Moateasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what provisions exist to permit certain local authorities to maintain rate differentials between urban and rural areas; if these provisions are transitional; and if it is Government policy for these differentials to be phased out.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettThe Local Government (Differential Precepting and Rating) Order of 1974 made under Section 254 of the Local Government Act 1972 required district councils—and non-metropolitan county councils—to operate temporary differential rating schemes after reorganisation in those cases where there were significant variations between the poundages formerly charged in the component parts of a new local authority area. The last of these schemes comes to 573W an end on 31st March 1978, after which the general expenses of any authority must be reflected in a uniform rate poundage throughout the authority's area.
Under Section 147(3) of the Local Government Act 1972 a district council may, however, declare any expenses incurred by it to be special expenses chargeable only on a part of its area; and, exceptionally, certain expenses of a local authority may be statutorily defined as special expenses chargeable only on a limited area. The provisions of Section 147(3) are not transitional and the Government have no intention of phasing them out.