National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949

103 General provisions as to acquisition of land

(1) Any power conferred by this Act on the Nature Conservancy or a local authority to acquire land compulsorily shall be exercisable in any particular case on their being authorised so to do by the Minister.

(2) In relation to the compulsory acquisition of land under this Act by the Nature Conservancy or a local authority, the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, shall apply as if this Act had been in force immediately before the commencement of that Act and as if in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section one thereof, in Part I of the First Schedule thereto and in the Second Schedule thereto references to a local authority included references to the Nature Conservancy:

Provided that section two of the said Act (which confers temporary powers for the speedy acquisition of land in urgent cases) shall not apply to any such compulsory acquisition as is mentioned in this subsection.

(3) The Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, shall apply to the Nature Conservancy as it applies to a Government department.

(4) In relation to the compulsory acquisition of land under this Act by the Minister or the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, the said Act of 1946 shall apply as if this Act had been in force immediately before the commencement of that Act and as if paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section one thereof included a reference to any compulsory purchase by either of the said Ministers under this Act.

(5) The following provision shall have effect, in relation to the acquisition of land under this Act, in substitution for section one hundred and fifty-seven of the Local Government Act, 1933 (which provides for the acquisition of land by local authorities by agreement for the purposes of their functions), that is to say, a local authority may with the consent of the Minister by agreement acquire, whether by way of purchase, lease or exchange, any land, whether within or without the area of the local authority, which they require for the purpose of any of their functions under this Act or any other land which they may be authorised under this Act to acquire compulsorily.

(6) In this section, and in any enactment in this Act which confers a power to acquire land compulsorily, the expression " land " includes any interest in land; and the provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts incorporated with this Act by virtue of paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, as applied by subsections (2) and (4) of this section, shall apply with the necessary modifications in relation to the compulsory acquisition of any interest in land, being an interest not falling within the definition of " lands " contained in the Lands Clauses Acts.

(7) In the application of this section to Scotland there shall be substituted, for references to the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, and to section one hundred and fifty-seven of the Local Government Act, 1933, respectively, references to the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act, 1947, and to section one hundred and fifty-six of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947, and in subsection (5) there shall be substituted for the words " whether by way of purchase, lease or exchange " the words " whether by way of purchase, feu, lease or exchange "; and subsection (4) shall not apply.