Public Health Act 1961

29 Powers of local authority in relation to demolitions

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a local authority may serve a notice under this section on any person who undertakes the demolition of the whole or of part of a building.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the demolition—

(a) of an internal part of a building where the building is occupied, and it is intended that it should continue to be occupied, or

(b) of a building which has a cubic content (as ascertained by external measurement) of not more than one thousand seven hundred and fifty cubic feet, or, where a greenhouse, conservatory, shed or prefabricated garage forms part of a larger building, of that greenhouse, conservatory, shed or prefabricated garage, or

(c) without prejudice to the last foregoing paragraph, of an agricultural building (as defined in section two of the Rating and Valuation (Apportionment) Act, 1928) unless it is contiguous to another building which is not itself of a kind mentioned in this or the last foregoing paragraph.

(3) No person shall undertake a demolition to which subsection (1) of this section applies unless a notice specifying the building and the works of demolition intended to be carried out has been given to the local authority; and a person contravening this subsection shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds:

Provided that notice need not be given under this subsection of a demolition undertaken to comply with any requirement contained in—

(a) a notice, order or other instrument issued by, or on the application of, the local authority in pursuance of any power conferred by or under an Act of Parliament, or

(b) an injunction or other direction given in legal proceedings brought by the local authority,

except where compliance with the requirement is effected, at the election of the person complying with it, either by undertaking the demolition or by taking some other steps.

(4) The time within which a notice may be served under subsection (1) of this section shall be—

(a) where a notice was given under subsection (3) of this section, within six weeks from the giving of that notice, or such longer period as the person undertaking the demolition may in writing allow, and

(b) in the case of a demolition undertaken to comply with a requirement contained in a demolition order or clearance order under the Housing Act, 1957, at any time not more than seven days after serving on the person undertaking the demolition a copy of the demolition order or clearance order in accordance with that Act, or within such longer period as the person undertaking the demolition may in writing allow, and

(c) in any other case, within six weeks from the beginning of the demolition.

(5) A notice under subsection (1) of this section may require the person undertaking the demolition to take action under all or any of the following paragraphs, that is to say—

(a) to shore up adjacent buildings,

(b) to weatherproof any surfaces of an adjacent building which are exposed by the demolition,

(c) to remove material or rubbish resulting from the demolition and clearance of the site,

(d) to disconnect and seal, at such points as the local authority may reasonably require, any sewer, drain or water pipe in or under the building to be demolished,

(e) to remove any such sewer, drain or water pipe and seal any sewer, drain or water pipe with which the sewer, drain or pipe to be removed is connected, and

(f) to make good to the satisfaction of the local authority the surface of the ground disturbed by anything done under paragraph (d) or paragraph (e) of this subsection.

(6) No one shall be required under paragraph (d) or paragraph (e) of subsection (5) of this section to carry out any work in land outside the premises on which the works of demolition are being carried out if he has no right to carry out that work, but, subject to the provisions of Part XII of the Public Health Act, 1936, with respect to the breaking open of streets, the person undertaking the demolition, or the local authority acting in his default, may break open any street for the purpose of complying with any such requirement.

(7) Nothing in subsection (5) of this section shall be construed as exempting any person from the obligation to obtain any consent required under section sixty-eight of the Third Schedule to the Water Act, 1945 (which relates to alterations in supply pipes and other apparatus), or under any similar enactment.

(8) Before a person complies with any requirement under paragraph (d) or paragraph (e) of subsection (5) of this section he shall give at least forty-eight hours notice to the local authority, and before he complies with paragraph (f) of that subsection, he shall give at least twenty-four hours notice to the local authority ; and a person who fails to comply with this subsection shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(9) The provisions of Part XII of the Public Health Act, 1936, with respect to appeals against, and the enforcement of, notices requiring the execution of works shall apply in relation to any notice given under subsection (1) of this section.

(10) Among the grounds on which an appeal may be brought under subsection (3) of section two hundred and ninety of the Public Health Act, 1936, against a notice under subsection (1) of this section shall be—

(a) in the case of a notice requiring an adjacent building to be shored up, that the owner of the building is not entitled to the support of that building by the building which is being demolished, and ought to pay, or contribute towards, the expenses of shoring it up, and

(b) in the case of a notice requiring any surfaces of an adjacent building to be weatherproofed, that the owner of the adjacent building ought to pay, or contribute towards, the expenses of weatherproofing those surfaces.

(11) Where the grounds on which an appeal under the said section two hundred and ninety is brought include any ground specified in the last foregoing subsection, the appellant shall serve a copy of his notice of appeal on the person or persons referred to in that ground of appeal, and on the hearing of the appeal the court may make such order as it thinks fit in respect of the payment of, or contribution towards, the cost of the works by any such person, or as to how any expenses which may be recoverable by the local authority are to be borne as between the appellant and any such other person.

(12) This section shall hot apply to a demolition begun before the commencement of this Act.