Citation and commencement

1. This Order may be cited as the British Gas plc. (Rateable Values) (Scotland) Order 1995 and shall come into force on 1st April 1995.

Interpretation

2.-(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires-

"the 1975 Act" means the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975;

"the Company" means British Gas plc.;

"financial year" means the period of twelve months beginning with 1st April;

"gas" means any substance which is, or if it were in a gaseous state would be, gas within the meaning of Part I of the Gas Act 1986(2);

"non-domestic water rate" shall be construed in accordance with the provisions of section 40 of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980(3);

"prescribed class of lands and heritages" means the class of lands and heritages prescribed for the purposes of section 6(1) of the 1975 Act in article 3 of this Order;

"relevant pipeline" means any pipeline in Scotland occupied by the Company and having a design operating pressure exceeding 7 bars; and

"services" means the pipe and other apparatus installed for each consumer between the distribution mains and the consumer's gas meter.

(2) Any reference in this Order to-

(a)lands and heritages occupied by the Company includes a reference to lands and heritages which, if unoccupied, are owned by the Company; and

(b)lands and heritages used for any purpose includes a reference to lands and heritages which are unused but in relation to which it appears that, when next in use, they will be used for such a purpose.

Prescribed class of lands and heritages

3. The following class of lands and heritages is hereby prescribed for the purposes of section 6(1) of the 1975 Act, namely any lands and heritages in Scotland occupied by the Company and used for any of the purposes of production, treatment, transmission, distribution or storage of gas, including plant and equipment installed therein or thereon and, without prejudice to the foregoing generality, gas terminals, gas research stations, pressure reduction stations, governor stations, holder stations, mains, services and radio stations, insofar as any of them is used for any of the foregoing purposes.

Non-domestic water rate

4. The non-domestic water rate shall not be leviable in respect of the prescribed class of lands and heritages in respect of the financial year 1995-96.

Aggregate amount of rateable values for financial years 1995-96 to 1999-2000

5. For the purposes of section 6(1) of the 1975 Act, the aggregate amount of the rateable values of the prescribed class of lands and heritages-

(a)for the financial year 1995-96, is hereby prescribed as £53,343,087;

(b)for each of the following four financial years, shall be calculated in accordance with the formula-

Apportionment of aggregate amount of rateable values

6.-(1) For the purposes of section 6(2) of the 1975 Act, the aggregate amount of the rateable values of the prescribed class of lands and heritages for the financial year 1995-96 which is prescribed by article 5(a) above shall be apportioned among the local authorities specified in column 1 of Schedule 1 to this Order in the amount shown opposite the name of each such local authority in column 2 of that Schedule.

(2) For those purposes, the aggregate amount of the rateable values of the prescribed class of lands and heritages for each of the four financial years following financial year 1995-96 (ascertained in accordance with article 5(b) above) shall be apportioned among the local authorities specified in column 1 of Schedule 2 to this Order in accordance with the formula-

Amendment of enactments

7. The following amendments shall be made to the enactments specified in articles 8 and 9 below in their relation to the valuation of the prescribed class of lands and heritages for the financial year 1995-96 and the four following financial years.

8. In section 6(1) of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956(4), after the words "this Act", there shall be inserted the words "and to any Order made by the Secretary of State under section 6 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975".

9.-(1) Section 2(1)(c) of the 1975 Act shall be amended by inserting at the end the following:-

"(iii)upon their ceasing to be lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the British Gas plc. (Rateable Values) (Scotland) Order 1995 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as "the 1995 Order");".

(2) Section 2(1)(d) of that Act shall be amended by inserting after the words "lands and heritages" the following words:-

• "(other than lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1995 Order)".

(3) After paragraph (g) of section 2(1) of that Act there shall be inserted the following paragraph:-

"(gg)by entering therein any lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1995 Order together with the rateable values apportioned by that Order to the local authorities whose areas comprise or form part of the valuation area;".

(4) In paragraph (a) of section 2(2) of that Act, after the words "subsection (1)(a)" there shall be inserted the words "or (gg)".

(5) In section 3(4) of that Act, after the words "lands and heritages" where they appear for the first time, there shall be inserted the following:-

• "(other than lands and heritages within the class of lands and heritages prescribed in the 1995 Order)".

Revocation

10. The British Gas plc. (Rateable Values) (Scotland) Order 1994(5) is hereby revoked.

Article 6(1)

SCHEDULE 1Apportionment of aggregate amount of rateable values of prescribed class of lands and heritages for financial year 1995-96

Article 6(2)

SCHEDULE 2ionment of aggregate amount of rateable values of prescribed class of lands and heritages for 1996-97 and three following financial years

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order makes provision for the valuation for financial years 1995-96 to 1999-2000 of certain lands and heritages occupied by British Gas plc. ("the prescribed class of lands and heritages") (article 3).

The Order prescribes the aggregate amount of the rateable values of the prescribed class of lands and heritages for financial year 1995-96 at £53,343,087 and prescribes a formula for calculating the aggregate amount for each of the following four financial years (article 5). It also apportions the aggregate amounts among local authorities in accordance with the Schedules to the Order (article 6).

The Order provides that the non-domestic water rate shall not be leviable in respect of the prescribed class of lands and heritages for financial year 1995-96 (article 4).

The Order amends certain enactments relating to the valuation of the prescribed class of lands and heritages and revokes the Order for financial year 1994-95 concerning British Gas plc. (articles 7 to 10).