Interpretation2

• “Act” includes an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly;

• F2“the Act of 1971” means the Planning and Land Compensation Act (Northern Ireland) 1971;

• “the affected area”, in relation to an agricultural unit, means so much of that unit as, on the date of service of a blight notice, consists of land falling within any of the specific descriptions;

• “agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes;

• “agricultural unit” means land which is occupied as a unit for agricultural purposes, including any dwelling-house or other building occupied by the same person for the purpose of farming the land;

• F3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• “appropriate authority”, in relation to any land, means the government department, district council or other bodyF4 or person by which, by virtue of the circumstances described in Article 3, the land is liable to be acquired as mentioned in that Article or is indicated as being proposed to be so acquired;

• “authority possessing compulsory acquisition powers” means a person with power to acquire an interest in land otherwise than by agreement;

• “blight notice” means a notice served under ArticleF5 12 or 14 which has not been withdrawn;

• F6 “ capital value ” means capital value for the purposes of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 and shall be construed in accordance with Article 39 of that Order;

• “the claimant” in relation to a blight notice means the person who served that notice and any reference to the interest of the claimant in relation to such a notice is a reference to the interest which the notice requires the appropriate authority to purchase as mentioned in Article 5 or 14;

• “the Department” means the Department of the Environment;

• “hereditament” (subject to paragraphs (3) and (4)) means the aggregate of the land which forms the subject of a single entry in F7a valuation list for the time being in force;

• “mortgagee” includes a person entitled to a charge or lien for securing money or money's worth;

• F8 “ net annual value ” means net annual value for the purposes of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 and shall be construed in accordance with Articles 39 and 39A of that Order;

• F9“the Planning Order” means the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991;

• F16 “ the Planning Act ” means the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011;

• “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Department;

• “relevant statutory provision” in relation to land falling within any of the specified descriptions, means the statutory provision which provides for the compulsory acquisition of land as being land falling within that description;

• “specified descriptions” means the descriptions specified in Article 3(1)(a) to (l);

• “tenancy” includes a tenancy created or renewed in pursuance of any enactment, but does not include—

  1. a

     a mortgage term;

  2. b

     any estate arising in favour of a mortgagor solely by reason of his attorning tenant to his mortgagee;

• “unaffected area” has the meaning assigned by Article 9(1).

• F10 “ value ”, in relation to a hereditament, means the value which on the date of service of a blight notice, is shown in a valuation list as the net annual value (if any) or, as the case maybe the capital value (if any) of the hereditament or in relation to land certified by the Commissioner of Valuation under this paragraph means the net annual value or, as the case maybe, the capital value as it appears in such a certificate;

• “ valuation list ” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 2(2) of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977;