Commentary on Sections Part 3 — Buildings of special architectural or historic interest Chapter 5 — Acquisition and preservation of buildings of special interest Section 148 — Grant or loan by local authority for repair or maintenance of buildingSection 149 — Recovery of grant made by local authority
555.Section 148 enables a county or county borough council, a National Park authority or a joint planning board (referred to collectively in this section as relevant local authorities) to offer financial support for incurred or planned expenditure for the repair and maintenance of historic buildings and associated gardens. Under the definition in section 210, a building for the purposes of section 148 may include plant or machinery forming part of the structure.
556.Under subsection (1), a relevant local authority may contribute towards any expenditure for the repair or maintenance of a listed building in or near its authority area or for the repair or maintenance of a building in its authority area that is not listed but that the authority considers to be of special architectural or historic interest. Subsection (2) further permits an authority to extend any funding to include a contribution to the maintenance of a garden associated with a historic building.
557.Subsection (3) allows a contribution under this section to be made by a grant or a loan. Subsections (4) and (6) provide that a relevant local authority may make loans and grants subject to conditions. For example, the authority might set a condition requiring the recipient to provide some form of public access to the building and/or an associated garden.
558.Section 149 provides that where a condition of a grant made by a relevant local authority under section 148 is not complied with, the authority may recover the amount of the grant, or any part of it (subsection (2))
559.Subsections (3) to (5) provide that if the recipient of the grant disposes of all or part of the interest that they have in the property within 3 years of the day on which the grant was made, a relevant local authority may recover all or part of the grant.
560.These recovery powers might be used if, for example, a building’s value increases as a result of the grant-funded works, and the grant recipient then sells the building in order to capitalise.