Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Act 1944
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1944 c. 26 |
| Year | 1944 |
Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Act, 1944
(7 & 8 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 26.
An Act to make provision as to water supplies, sewerage and sewage disposal in rural localities, and to make expenses incurred by rural district councils in connection with water supply, sewerage and sewage disposal general expenses.
[27th July 1944]
Be 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:—
1 Government contributions towards expenses of local authorities for rural water supplies and sewerage.
(1) Subject to such conditions as the Treasury may determine, the Minister of Health (in this Act referred to as ‘the Minister’) may, in any case in which it appears to him to be desirable so to do, undertake to make a contribution towards the expenses incurred by a local authority at any time after the passing of this Act—
(a ) in providing a supply, or improving an existing supply, of water in a rural locality;
(b ) in making adequate provision for the sewerage, or the disposal of the sewage, of a rural locality:
Provided that the Minister shall not undertake to make a contribution towards the expenses of making provision for the sewerage, or the disposal of the sewage, of a rural locality unless he is satisfied that the need for making the provision is due to anything done or proposed to be done, whether before or after the passing of this Act, to supply, or increase the supply of, water in pipes in that locality.
(2) Subject to the provisions of the next succeeding subsection, an undertaking under this section shall provide for the making of the contribution in the form of a lump sum, payable either as a whole on the completion of the works to be executed or of the transaction to be effected for the purposes of the supply of water, or the purposes of sewerage or sewage disposal, as the case may be, or, in the case of the execution of works, in instalments on the completion of parts of the works.
(3) Where the expenses incurred by the local authority are expenses in respect of liabilities arising from time to time under a lease or hiring agreement or a contract for the supply of water or for sewage disposal, an undertaking under this section may provide for the making of the contribution in the form of sums payable from time to time, within any period not exceeding twenty years from the date of the undertaking.
In this subsection, the expression ‘contract for the supply of water’ includes any undertaking to make, or guarantee of, payments to a person supplying water given under section one hundred and twenty-three of the Public Health Act, 1936 , or under this Act.
(4) The Minister may withhold, or reduce the amount of, a contribution which he has undertaken to make towards the expenses incurred by a local authority in respect of any works or transaction, if it appears to him either—
(a ) that any of the works have been executed in an unsatisfactory manner; or
(b ) that the effectiveness of any of the works is substantially less than as estimated in the proposals submitted to him by the local authority, and that the difference is due to any default, for which the local authority is responsible, in the formulation of the proposals; or
(c ) that there has been any default in the carrying out of the transaction.
(5) Any contributions made by the Minister under this section shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament, and shall not, in the aggregate, exceed fifteen million pounds.
(6) Local authorities, for the purposes of this section, shall be—
(a ) the council of any borough or urban or rural district;
(b ) the council of a county which is for the time being exercising the functions relating to water supply or sewerage or sewage disposal of any such council as aforesaid by virtue of an agreement under section three hundred and twenty, or an order under section three hundred and twenty-two, of the Public Health Act, 1936, or by virtue of a local Act (whether passed before or after the passing of this Act);
(c ) a joint board, or joint committee, constituted by or under any Act (whether public general or local and whether passed before or after the passing of this Act) for the purposes of the provision of a common water supply or common sewerage or common sewage disposal.
(7) The Rural Water Supplies Act, 1934 , shall cease to have effect except as respects undertakings thereunder given before the passing of this Act.
2 Contributions by county councils.
(1) Where the Minister undertakes under the preceding section to make a contribution towards expenses incurred by the council of any borough or urban or rural district or by a joint board or joint committee, the council of the county within which the area of the authority to whom the undertaking is given falls, or, where that area falls within more than one county, the councils of each of the counties, shall undertake to make towards those expenses contributions of such amount, and payable at such times and subject to such conditions, as may be agreed between the council and the authority or in default of agreement as may be determined by the Minister:
Provided that, where the amount of any such contribution is determined by the Minister, it shall not, without the consent of the council of the county, exceed the amount of the contribution which the Minister has himself undertaken to make.
(2) Where the council of any borough or urban or rural district or a joint board or joint committee submit to the Minister proposals with a view to his undertaking, under the preceding section, to make a contribution towards the expenses incurred by them in carrying out the proposals, they shall—
(a ) before submitting the proposals to him, transmit for their observations thereon particulars thereof to the council of any county which will, under this section, be bound to undertake to make contributions towards those expenses if the Minister gives the undertaking; and
(b ) report to the Minister, when they submit the proposals to him, the observations, if any, of any such county council thereon.
(3) Where, under the preceding section, the Minister withholds, or reduces the amount of, a contribution which he has undertaken to make thereunder towards any such expenses as aforesaid, the council of the county may withhold, or, as the case may be, reduce in the same proportion, the amount of the contributions which they have undertaken under this section...
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