Right of entry
Section 125 – Powers of entry to survey land
330.This section provides a power for a person with authorisation from Welsh Ministers to enter land for the purposes of surveying or taking levels of that land in connection with:
an application for infrastructure consent (or a proposed application);
an infrastructure consent order that authorised the compulsory acquisition of that land or an interest in it or a right over it.
331.This section requires an authorised person entering land to produce evidence of that authorisation, if requested, provide notice of intended entry if the land is occupied and comply with any conditions set out in the authorisation. An authorised person may also take any other persons that are necessary on to the land and must, if leaving the land when no owner or occupier is present, leave it as effectively secured against trespassers as they found it.
332.Authorisation to survey land also includes the right to search and bore to determine the nature of soil or presence of minerals if prior notice of this intention has been provided.
333.This section provides that an offence is committed if a person authorised to enter land is intentionally obstructed from doing so.
334.Compensation for any damage caused to the land or property may be recovered from the person authorised to enter the land.
Section 126 – Powers of entry to survey land: Crown Land
335.This section provides that the powers set out in section 125 also apply to Crown land, subject to the person exercising the power gaining permission to enter the land from the person who appears to have the authority to give it or the appropriate Crown authority (which is defined in section 134).
336.This section also provides that specified subsections of section 125 do not apply in relation to Crown Land.
