Hill Farming Act 1946

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved


Hill Farming Act, 1946

(9 & 10 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 73.

An Act to make provision for promoting the rehabilitation of hill farming land; for the payment of subsidies in respect of hill sheep and hill cattle, for controlling the keeping of rams and ram lambs; for regulating the burning of heather and grass; for amending the law as to the valuation of sheep stocks in Scotland; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[6th November 1946]

B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Rehabilitation of Hill Farming Land.

Rehabilitation of Hill Farming Land.

S-1 Grants under schemes for improvement of hill farming land.

1 Grants under schemes for improvement of hill farming land.

(1) With a view to the rehabilitation of hill farming land the appropriate Minister may approve schemes duly submitted to him within five years from the commencement of this Act providing for the making of improvements for the benefit of such land or of other land suitable for use therewith for hill farming purposes (in this Act referred to as ‘hill farming land improvement schemes’), and may, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, make out of moneys provided by Parliament grants (in this Act referred to as ‘improvement grants’) in respect of the cost of work done in accordance with an approved hill farming land improvement scheme.

(2) Before approving a hill farming land improvement scheme the appropriate Minister shall satisfy himself as to the following requirements, that is to say,—

(a ) that the land for the benefit of which the improvements are proposed ought to be used for hill farming purposes, and comprises an area suitable to be dealt with as a unit for the purpose of rehabilitation thereof for such purposes, and that the improvements proposed are comprehensive enough to provide adequately for the rehabilitation of the land for such purposes; and

(b ) that the cost of the work required for making any of the improvements proposed will not be unreasonably high in relation to the benefit to be derived therefrom;

and before varying an approved scheme under any of the provisions of this Act in that behalf he shall satisfy himself that the scheme as varied will be in conformity with those requirements.

(3) In this Act—

the expression ‘hill farming land’ means mountain, hill and heath land which is suitable for use for the maintenance of sheep of a hardy kind but not of sheep of other kinds, or which by improvement could be made so suitable;

the expression ‘hill farming purposes’ means the maintenance of sheep of a hardy kind and the keeping and management thereof in accordance with the recognised practices of hill sheep farming, and includes other activities carried on in connection therewith; and

the expression ‘improvement’ means, subject to the provisions of this section, an operation of any of the kinds specified in the First Schedule to this Act, and any operation incidental to, or necessary or proper in the carrying out of, an operation of any such kind or for securing the full benefit thereof.

(4) Subject to the provisions of section thirty-seven of this Act, the Ministers may from time to time by order modify the kinds of operations that are to be treated as improvements for the purposes of this Act by adding to the First Schedule to this Act, or by deleting therefrom, or modifying the description of, a kind of operation for the time being therein specified:

Provided that, for the purposes of this Act in its application to a scheme approved before the coming into force of an order under this subsection, any operation which would have been treated as an improvement apart from the order shall continue to be so treated, except that no provision for the carrying out of an operation which by virtue of the order is not to be treated as an improvement shall be made by any subsequent variation of the scheme.

(5) In considering the approval or variation of hill farming land improvement schemes the appropriate Minister shall have regard to any other provisions in force which may authorise the giving of assistance out of public moneys, by way of grant, subsidy or otherwise in respect of improvements of the kind proposed, and the giving of assistance under any such other provision in respect of cost that would otherwise be the subject of an improvement grant shall be a ground on which the appropriate Minister may reduce or withhold the grant.

S-2 Amounts, and payment, of grants under improvement schemes.

2 Amounts, and payment, of grants under improvement schemes.

(1) The amount which may be paid by way of an improvement grant in respect of the cost of any work shall be one half of the cost of that work so far as approved by the appropriate Minister as having been reasonably incurred.

(2) Subject to any provision to the contrary made by the approved scheme, an improvement grant payable in respect of the cost of any work shall be paid to the person responsible under the scheme for doing that work.

(3) An improvement grant in respect of the cost of any work may be paid on the completion of the work, or by instalments on the completion of parts thereof.

(4) The aggregate of the amounts of improvement grants paid shall not exceed a maximum of four million pounds:

Provided that provision for increasing the said maximum by not more than one million pounds may be made by an order made by the Ministers with the consent of the Treasury at any time within five years from the commencement of this Act and approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.

S-3 Contents, submission and approval of improvement schemes.

3 Contents, submission and approval of improvement schemes.

(1) A hill farming land improvement scheme shall describe the improvements proposed, the work required for making the improvements and the land on which the work is to be done, and shall specify, as respects each item of the work therein described, some person as the person responsible for doing that work.

(2) Such a scheme may be submitted by any person having an interest in the land for the benefit of which improvements are thereby proposed, or by any person desiring to acquire such an interest as aforesaid in the event of the scheme's being approved, or by two or more such persons, and the appropriate Minister may approve such a scheme submitted as aforesaid either with or without modifications.

(3) References in this Act to work done in accordance with an approved hill farming land improvement scheme shall be construed, as respects work done at any time, as references to work described in such a scheme (as it stands at that time, whether as approved or as varied under any of the provisions of this Act in that behalf) and done on the land therein described as the land on which the work is to be done by the person therein specified as the person responsible for doing the work.

(4) Every person who has an interest in land on which, in accordance with such a scheme as approved or as varied as aforesaid, any work is to be done, and who has joined in submitting the scheme or consented to the approval thereof, or has consented to the variation thereof, as the case may be, and every person deriving title to any interest in that land through or under or in succession to any such person, shall be under obligation to permit the doing on the land of all things reasonably necessary to be done thereon for the doing of the work and the maintenance of the improvement.

(5) Before approving or varying such a scheme the appropriate Minister shall satisfy himself that the person or persons who will be responsible under the scheme as approved, or as varied as aforesaid, as the case may be, for doing the work described therein is or are willing that the work for which he or they respectively will be so responsible should be done by him or by them respectively, and that he or they will be in a position to do it having regard to the provisions of the last preceding subsection and to the nature of the interest or interests in the land of the persons who have joined or consented as aforesaid.

(6) The person specified in such a scheme as the person responsible for doing any work may make arrangements with the appropriate Minister or the appropriate local committee constituted under this Act for the doing of the work by the said Minister or committee instead of that person, but at his expense and so that for the purposes of improvement grant the work shall be treated as having been done by that person.

S-4 Revocation or variation of improvement schemes by consent.

4 Revocation or variation of improvement schemes by consent.

4. A hill farming land improvement scheme may be revoked or varied at any time by the appropriate Minister—

a ) on application in that behalf being made to him by the person or persons who under the scheme, as it stands immediately before the revocation or variation, is or are responsible for doing the work described therein; or
b ) in the absence of such application if that person, or each of those persons, consents
S-5 Revocation or variation of improvement...

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