asked the Minister for Local Government whether he is aware that farmers who have land within urban areas and city boroughs are at a grave disadvantage in the matter of rate relief, housing grants, etc.; and that with modern transport the advantage of proximity value has largely disappeared; and if he will take action in the new Housing Bill to ensure that these farmers can enjoy the advantages by way of rate relief and grants that are available to their brother farmers elsewhere.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land in Urban Areas.
33.
The Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Acts apply only to land in county health districts. Land in urban areas, however, is rated only on a proportion of the valuation. Such land includes, in addition to parks, playing fields, and other open spaces, building sites and other nonagricultural land which, as compared with land in county health districts, has an enhanced value as potential sites for housing and other development, due in the main, to the operations of the local authority and the availability of the public services provided. It is not proposed to change the law affecting the rating of land in urban areas.
The standard rates of State housing grants are payable in urban as well as rural areas. The higher scale of grants for small farmers and other classes in rural areas is a measure designed to deal with the special problems of rural rehousing. So far as supplementary grants are concerned, there is no discrimination in housing legislation between farmers in urban areas and those in rural areas.