New Towns (Amendment) Act 1976

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1976 c. 68
Year1976


New Towns (Amendment)Act 1976

1976 CHAPTER 68

An Act to provide for the transfer to district councils of the interest of the Commission for the New Towns and development corporations in dwellings and of any associated property, rights, liabilities and obligations; to increase the maximum number of members of development corporations; and for connected purposes.

[15th November 1976]

Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—

Transfer and management of housing

Transfer and management of housing

S-1 Transfer of housing and associated property, etc., to district councils.

1 Transfer of housing and associated property, etc., to district councils.

(1) A scheme may be made in accordance with and subject to the provisions of this Act providing for the transfer from a new town corporation of their interest in any dwellings of a new town and any of their associated property, rights, liabilities and obligations to the council of the district in which the dwellings are situated or any adjoining district.

(2) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires,—

‘transfer scheme’ means a scheme under this section;

‘transferred dwellings’ and ‘transferred land’ mean respectively dwellings and land an interest in which is transferred or proposed to be transferred by any transfer scheme;

‘transferred’, in relation to other property or any rights, liabilities or obligations, means transferred or proposed to be transferred by any transfer scheme;

and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly.

(3) The following property, rights, liabilities and obligations of a new town corporation shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as associated with any transferred dwellings in which they have or had an interest, that is to say—

(a ) any interest of the corporation in any land occupied or set aside for occupation or use with a transferred dwelling;

(b ) any interest of the corporation in land in the vicinity of transferred dwellings which is held by them for the benefit or use of the occupiers or other inhabitants of those dwellings (rather than the inhabitants of the new town as a whole) or for providing facilities for the inhabitants of those dwellings, and any other property and any rights of the corporation so held;

(c ) any property and rights held by the corporation for the administration of an estate comprising any transferred dwellings or other transferred land or the maintenance or service of any transferred dwellings or other transferred land, or otherwise in connection with any transferred property;

(d ) any rights, liabilities and obligations which the corporation have in connection with any transferred dwellings or other transferred property or rights or in connection with any dwellings of the new town in which the corporation have disposed of their interest;

(e ) any interest of the corporation in land awaiting development as part of an estate comprising any transferred dwellings or other transferred land and set aside by the corporation for the erection of dwellings or for the erection of any other buildings for any purpose mentioned in paragraph (b ) or (c ) above;

(f ) any interest of the corporation in land set aside by them as an open space for the use or enjoyment of the occupiers or other inhabitants of any transferred dwellings;

(g ) any property, rights, liabilities or obligations of the corporation prescribed by the Secretary of State by order as being of a description which it is appropriate in his opinion to transfer with any property, rights, liabilities or obligations mentioned in any of the foregoing paragraphs.

(4) Any order under this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order thereunder.

(5) The power conferred by this section to make any order shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

S-2 Consultations with a view to transfer schemes.

2 Consultations with a view to transfer schemes.

(1) Where one of the conditions mentioned in subsection (2) below is satisfied with respect to a new town, the Secretary of State may give directions to the new town corporation for the town and to the council of any district within which any part of the area of the new town is situated requiring them to enter into consultations with him, with each other and with the council of any other district within which any part of the area of the new town or any dwellings of the new town or any associated property is or are situated, with a view to a transfer scheme being made in respect of the new town by the new town corporation and the council to whom the directions are given.

(2) The said conditions are:—

(a ) an order has been made before the commencement of this Act with respect to the new town under section 41 of the 1965 Act (transfer of development corporation's property to the Commission) transferring the property of its development corporation to the Commission for the New Towns;

(b ) the site of the new town was first designated not less than 15 years before the date of the directions under this section;

(c ) the Secretary of State has, after consulting the new town corporation for the town concerned, formed the opinion that the development of the new town has been substantially completed or that the carrying out of a transfer scheme would not be detrimental to the laying out of the new town or the completion of its development.

(3) Where the site of a new town was first designated not less than 15 years before a request under this subsection, but no directions have been given with respect to the new town under this section, the new town corporation or the council of any district within which any part of the area of the town is situated may request the other and the Secretary of State to enter into consultations with a view to a transfer scheme being made in respect of the new town by the corporation and the council; and the corporation and the council and the Secretary of State shall enter into such consultations with each other and with the council of any other district within which any part of the area of the new town or any dwellings of the new town or any associated property is or are situated.

S-3 Preparation and contents of transfer schemes.

3 Preparation and contents of transfer schemes.

(1) If after any consultations under section 2 above with respect to a new town it appears to the Secretary of State that it is expedient for the new town corporation and a district council to whom directions have been given or by or to whom a request has been made under that section to make a transfer scheme, he may, subject to the following provisions of this Act, give directions to the corporation and the council to make and submit to him within a specified time a transfer scheme, or, where one has already been made, a further transfer scheme, with respect to the new town, providing for the transfer to the council of the corporation's interest in all or any of the dwellings of the new town and of any of the corporation's associated property, rights, liabilities and obligations.

(2) In determining what land should, or should not, be transferred by a transfer scheme the Secretary of State and the parties making the scheme shall have regard to the need for facilitating proper estate management, after the vesting of the transferred land, both of that land and of any other land in its vicinity.

(3) Directions under this section shall, unless they state that in the opinion of the Secretary of State it is not appropriate for the corporation and the council concerned to enter into management arrangements with respect to any land in the new town, require the corporation and council to include in the scheme management arrangements, that is to say arrangements for the management by the council—

(a ) subject to subsection (4) below, of all those dwellings within their district or any adjoining district which are not transferred, but in which the corporation have an interest for the time being, and

(b ) if the parties think fit, of any other land not transferred in which the corporation have an interest for the time being and which in the interests of proper estate management it is expedient should be managed together with those dwellings.

(4) The parties may exclude any dwelling from management arrangements if in their opinion it is unlikely that the dwelling will be transferred by a subsequent transfer scheme or there are other special reasons for its exclusion.

(5) Directions under this section may—

(a ) specify any dwellings of a new town, or a number or description of such dwellings, which in the opinion of the Secretary of State should be excluded from transfer on the ground that the new town corporation's interest in them should be disposed of to some person other than the district council;

(b ) in the case of directions which do not require the transfer of a new town corporation's interest in all the dwellings of the new town to a district council, specify the dwellings or description of dwellings which must be transferred; and

(c ) require the inclusion in the transfer scheme of any description of provisions which are authorised to be so included by any enactment contained in this Act other than this subsection.

(6) A transfer scheme shall—

(a ) specify the dwellings and other property transferred, any transferred rights, liabilities and obligations and any land which is the subject of any management arrangements, describing them sufficiently to enable them to be readily identified and, in the case of land and of any rights in, under or over land which it is reasonably practicable to indicate on or by reference to a map,...

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