This amendment provides more elaborately for a point raised by Senator Costello on Committee Stage. The point is that where an owner of urban land makes his land non-derelict he should be entitled to a remission of the derelict sites levy, not for the whole financial year but for the period of the year for which his land was non-derelict. I thank Senator Costello for bringing this point to our notice and I am glad to have been able to accommodate him and other Members of the House who also had an interest in it.
Derelict Sites Bill, 1989: Report and Final Stages.
Government amendment No. 1:
In page 16, to delete lines 32 to 35 and to substitute the following:
"(7) Where urban land ceases to be derelict at any time during a local financial year, the amount of the derelict sites levy referred to in subsection (3) shall as respects that urban land be reduced by an amount determined by the formula——
A/365×B
where——
(a) ‘A' is the number of days remaining in the local financial year after the time at which the urban land ceased to be derelict, and
(b) ‘B' is the amount of the derelict sites levy as respects the urban land, determined in accordance with subsection (3),
and adjustment by way of refund or set-off, as may be appropriate, shall be made accordingly in relation to any amounts paid in respect of derelict sites levy or any amounts due or owing in respect of such levy in relation to that local financial year.".
Amendment agreed to.
We have been debating this Bill now for a number of days and I would like to thank all the Senators who devoted a lot of time to it. On behalf of my officials and on my own behalf, I want to express my sincere thanks to you all for your co-operation and for your understanding and I hope I was as courteous as you have been.
Bill, as amended, received for final consideration and passed.
Sitting suspended at 11.40 a.m. and resumed at 1 p.m.