The Non-Domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) Order 1997

Made: 21st November 1997

Laid before Parliament: 28th November 1997

Coming into force: 19th December 1997

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 42A(3)(c) and (5), 43(6B)(b), 47(3A)(b) and 140 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988¹ and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Order:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Non-Domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) Order 1997 and shall come into force on 19th December 1997.

• (2) In this Order “the 1988 Act” means the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

Designation of rural areas

2

• (1) There are designated as rural areas for the purposes of section 42A (rural settlement lists) of the 1988 Act—

• (a) each parish, and each unparished area, mentioned or described in either of the Schedules to each of the housing orders, and

• (b) each area mentioned or described in article 2(c) of each of those orders specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1,

including any part of such an area which is, by virtue of its omission from the area delineated on any map referred to in such an order, not designated by such an order as a rural area;

• (c) the parishes named in the second column of Part 1 of Schedule 2 in the counties named in the first column, and

• (d) the areas described in Part 2 of that Schedule.

• (2) In this article—

• ‘the housing orders’ means the orders specified in Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 1, being orders designating rural areas for the purposes of section 17 (the right to acquire) of the Housing Act 1996² and section 1AA(3)(a) (additional right to enfranchise) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967³, and

references to grid lines are to lines on the Ordnance Survey National Grid.

Rateable value limits

3

• (1) £5,000 is the amount prescribed as the maximum amount of rateable value for the purposes of section 43(6B)(b) (mandatory relief for general stores and post offices) of the 1988 Act.

• (2) £10,000 is the amount prescribed as the maximum amount of rateable value for the purposes of section 47(3A)(b) (discretionary relief in rural areas) of the 1988 Act.

• (3) This article applies in relation to hereditaments shown in local non-domestic rating lists for billing authorities in England.

SCHEDULE 1 — The housing orders

Part 1

• The Housing (Right to Acquire or Enfranchise) (Designated Rural Areas in the North West and Merseyside) Order 1997⁴.

• The Housing (Right to Acquire or Enfranchise) (Designated Rural Areas in the East) Order 1997⁵.

• The Housing (Right to Acquire or Enfranchise) (Designated Rural Areas in the North East) Order 1997⁶.

Part 2

• The Housing (Right to Acquire or Enfranchise) (Designated Rural Areas in the West Midlands) Order 1997⁷.

• The Housing (Right to Acquire or Enfranchise) (Designated Rural Areas in the South West) Order 1997⁸.

• The Housing (Right to Acquire or Enfranchise) (Designated Rural Areas in the South East) Order 1997⁹.

SCHEDULE 2

Part 1 — Additional parishes designated

Part 2 — Other areas designated

So much of the London borough of Bromley as lies south of grid line TQ63 (being a line on the Ordnance Survey National Grid) or east of grid line TQ48.

In Northamptonshire, the unparished area¹⁰ bounded by the parishes of Irchester, Irthlingborough, Higham Ferrers and Newton Bromswold.

Signed

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Hilary Armstrong — Minister of State, — Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions — 21st November 1997

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Schedule 1 to the Local Government and Rating Act 1997 amends the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to make provision for mandatory relief from non-domestic rates for certain general stores and post offices, and discretionary relief for hereditaments used for purposes beneficial to the local community, in certain rural settlements in areas designated as rural areas by order of the Secretary of State. The rural settlements are to be identified on lists drawn up by billing authorities.

Article 2 of this order designates for the purposes of these provisions areas in England identified by reference to orders designating areas for the purposes of the right to acquire under the Housing Act 1996 and the additional right to enfranchise under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (see S.I. [1997/620](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/620) to 625 inclusive), and certain other areas specified in article 2 and Schedule 2.

Article 3 , which also applies in England only, prescribes maxima of rateable value, above which hereditaments will not be eligible for the relief. £5,000 is prescribed in relation to mandatory relief, and £10,000 in relation to discretionary relief.

Footnotes