Report by the Joint committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons on public sewers (contributions by frontagers) : together with the proceedings of the committee and minutes of evidence and speeches delivered by counsel.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. Joint Committee on Public Sewers
Date:
1936
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report by the Joint committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons on public sewers (contributions by frontagers) : together with the proceedings of the committee and minutes of evidence and speeches delivered by counsel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    56/126 (page 28)
    13° Maii, 1936.] inured to the frontagers on these public streets. He also is a frontager on a public street, and his turn is coming, and he says ‘‘ A sewer is going to be put down there; my more fortunate predeces- sors before this legislation was enacted have had this benefit at my expense in part*, and now it is going to be put entirely upon myself’’. That is the one aspect of it. The other aspect of it is that as legislation changes and new bur- dens are imposed, those who lived in an era when the burdens were less onerous have the advantage, but the new people who come in under the new regime may have to pay more and differently from those who were fortunate enough to be under the old regime. Mr. Tyldesley Jones.| I am not aware that the present owner of the property can take credit for the burden borne by his predecessors. If he could, those of us who own property which can extend back for some centuries might have a very big credit balance when, we came to the rating of our properties. Lord Macmillan.] Yes, and if there is a change in the incidence of a rate, then you have, if I may be colloquial, to lump it. You cannot help it. You cannot say ‘‘I have made contributions in the past which must be taken into account.’ This seems a case of a particular benefit; other persons have been benefited individually, not merely the whole community, which is a case where the burden may change from time to time, but other individuals have been benefited and you, being an individual say, ‘‘ Why do not I get the same benefits as an individual as other individuals got? ”’ Mr. Tyldesley Jones.| There is one feature which destroys the point com- pletely at once, and it is this. You might put forward that argument if the identity of rating areas had remained undisturbed over the period, but we' know it has not. We know that the boundaries have changed;;.considerably, and though the ratepayer on this property has contributed in the past something in rates which ‘has been used. for the purposes of sewering some other area, it is by no means the same area which now constitutes the local authority’s district. New districts have been brought in, and that is just one of the points that is creating difficulties. T will take as illustration the town of Bognor Regis. I happen to have a map [ Continued. showing the sort of thing that happens. I am only referring to this as an illustration. Chairman. | That is one of the Bills of this ‘Session, is it not? Mr. Tyldesley Jones.| Yes. (The maps are handed in.) The old area was that within the blue border. Bognor, as now extended, is within the brown border. Roads repairable by the inhabitants at large are coloured light brown, and those with existing sewers are red. Now your Lordship will see that in the western part of what is now Bognor, there is a large number of roads light brown, that is roads repairable not sewered. Development takes place for instance on the Pagham Road. Do you see to the extreme west there is a road called Pagham Road, and there are a lot of streets called Gardens and Avenues laid out above? Development takes place there. What happens? A _ house which abuts on the Pagham Road would not be liable to pay anything towards the sewer which was laid in that road and from which it would get a benefit, but that house never contributed any- thing towards the cost of the sewer in the central part of Bognor, because that was formerly Bognor, when this place was not Bognor. The owner of this house is going to say, ‘‘I ought not to pay because my house abuts on a public road and I am going to require sewers to be provided for my house’’—at the expense of whom? The ratepayers of Bognor generally, including the central part of Bognor, but people in the central part of Bognor never got anything from him towards the cost of the construction of sewers in the centre of Bognor. Sir Henry Cautley.] But under the existing law he would not be liable to pay at all? Mr. Tyldesley Jones.| Who would not? Sir Henry Cautley.] This gentleman you are speaking of. Mr. Tyldesley Jones.] I agree. That is what we are seeking to alter. Sir Henry Cautley.| Indeed you are seeking to make him pay, to put a new liability on him. Mr. Tyldesley Jones.] I agree. The point that was made against me was that it is unfair to make this man in Pagham Road pay for the sewer in his road, be- cause for years and years he has been paying rates which have been used for