Scottish Development Agency Act 1975

10 Powers of entry. U.K.

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, any person duly authorised in writing by . . . F1 the Agency may, at any reasonable time, enter upon land in order to survey it—

(a) where the Agency have under consideration the lease or purchase of the land;

(b) for the purpose of the erection of buildings or other structures, or the carrying out of works or other operations on the land or the provision of equipment and services on or in connection with the land;

(c) for the purpose of determining whether, and if so in what manner, any of the functions of the Agency . . . F1 (other than functions referred to in section 2(2)(a) or (b) of this Act) should be exercised in relation to the land.

(2) A person authorised under this section to enter upon any land shall, if so required by the occupier or anyone acting on his behalf, produce evidence of his authority, and shall not demand admission as of right to any land which is occupied unless at least 5 days’ notice, or in the case of land occupied for residential purposes at least 14 days’ notice, of the intended entry has been given to the occupier.

(3) Where any land is damaged in the exercise of a power of entry conferred under this section or in the making of any survey for the purpose of which any such power of entry has been so conferred, compensation in respect of that damage may be recovered by any person interested in the land from the Secretary of State or the Agency, as the case may be and the amount of such compensation shall, in the case of any dispute, be determined by the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.

(4) Any power conferred by this section to survey land shall be construed as including power to search and bore for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the subsoil or the presence of minerals therein:

Provided that a person shall not carry out any works authorised by this subsection unless notice of his intention so to do has been included in the notice required by subsection (2) of this section, and if the land in question is held by any statutory undertakers, and those undertakers object to the proposed works on the ground that the carrying out thereof would be seriously detrimental to the carrying on of their undertaking, the works shall not be carried out except with the authority of the appropriate Minister.

In this subsection “appropriate Minister” and “statutory undertakers” have the same meanings as they have respectively in sections 213 and 275 of the M1 Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 except that “appropriate Minister” includes the Secretary of State for Industry in relation to the Post Office and the Secretary of State in relation to the Civil Aviation Authority and “statutory undertakers” includes the Post Office and the Civil Aviation Authority.

(5) A person entering upon any land by virtue of this section may take with him such other persons as may be necessary, and on leaving any premises which he has so entered, being either unoccupied premises or premises of which the occupier is temporarily absent, shall leave them as effectively secured against unauthorised entry as he found them.

(6) A person who wilfully obstructs any person acting in the exercise of his powers under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

(7) If any person who, in compliance with the provisions of this section, is admitted into a factory, workshop or workplace discloses to any person any information obtained by him therein as to any manufacturing process or trade secret, he shall, unless the disclosure is made in the course of performing his duty in connection with the purpose for which he was authorised to enter the premises, be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400 or on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or both.

[F2 (8) Nothing in this section shall affect any rights conferred by or in accordance with the telecommunications code on the operator of a telecommunications system or any duty of any such operator under that code or apply to any telecommunication apparatus kept installed for the purposes of any such system.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words repealed by Local Government and Planning (Scotland) Act 1982 (c. 43, SIF 81:2), Sch. 4 Pt. II

F2 S. 10(8) substituted by Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12, SIF 96), Sch. 4 para. 63

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 10(4) extended by Gas Act 1986 (c. 44, SIF 44:2), s. 67(1)(3), Sch. 7 para. 2(1)(xxxi), Sch. 8 para. 33

C2 S. 10(4) modified by Gas Act 1986 (c. 44, SIF 44:2), s. 67(1)(3), Sch. 7 para. 2(9)(g), Sch. 8 para. 33

Marginal Citations

M1 1972 c. 52.