Housing (Scotland) Act 1987

Further provisions relating to acquisition of land

5 (1) In so far as a resolution passed under section 89 or 91 provides that some or all of the buildings in a housing action area should be demolished, the powers of acquiring land comprised in or surrounded by or adjoining such an area conferred on a local authority by Part IV and this Schedule shall not be restricted by the fact that buildings within that area have been demolished since the area was declared to be a housing action area.

(2) Land for the purposes of Part IV and this Schedule may be acquired by a local authority by agreement under section 70 of the [1973 c. 65.] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (acquisition of land by agreement).

(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph (4), a local authority may be authorised by the Secretary of State to purchase land compulsorily for the same purposes as they may acquire land by agreement under paragraphs 3 and 4, and the [1947 c. 42.] Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 shall apply in relation to any such compulsory purchase as if this Act had been in force immediately before the commencement of that Act, but subject to the following modifications—

(a) the compulsory purchase order shall not be in the form prescribed under paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to that Act, but shall be in a form prescribed under this paragraph;

(b) the notices referred to in paragraphs 3 and 6 of the said Schedule 1 shall not be in the form prescribed under those paragraphs, but shall be in a form prescribed under this paragraph;

(c) the order shall show separately the houses in the housing action area which do not meet the tolerable standard and, as the case may be, that standard along with any other standard specified under section 90 or by virtue of section 91 and the land proposed to be purchased outside the area;

(d) the order as confirmed by the Secretary of State shall not authorise the local authority to purchase any house on less favourable terms with respect to compensation than the terms on which the order would have authorised them to purchase the house if the order had been confirmed without modification;

(e) if the Secretary of State is of opinion that any land included by a local authority in a housing action area ought not to have been so included, he shall on confirming the order so modify it as to exclude that land for all purposes from that area;

(f) in section 1 of that Act, any reference to the said Schedule 1 shall be construed as a reference to that Schedule as modified by this sub-paragraph;

(g) in Part IV of that Schedule any reference to that Act or that Schedule and any reference to any regulation made thereunder shall be construed respectively as a reference to that Act as modified by this sub-paragraph and as including a reference to any regulation made under this sub-paragraph;

(h) section 3 of that Act (power to extinguish certain public rights of way over land acquired) shall be omitted.

(4) Where a local authority have published and served notice of a final resolution in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 declaring an area to be—

(a) a housing action area for demolition, they shall submit any order authorising the compulsory purchase of land in the area to the Secretary of State within a period of 6 months from the date of the said publication and service,

(b) a housing action area for improvement or for demolition and improvement, any such order as aforesaid shall not be made by the local authority before the expiry of a period of 3 months and shall be submitted to the Secretary of State within a period of 9 months from the date of the said publication and service,

but the Secretary of State may in the circumstances of a particular case, allow such longer period for the periods of 6 months and 9 months mentioned respectively in paragraphs (a) and (b) as he thinks appropriate.