Acquisition of land by development corporations and highway authoritiesS

8 Acquisition of land for highways in connection with new towns.S

(1)Where the Secretary of State is satisfied that the construction or improvement of a road is needed—

(a)outside the area of a new town, for the purpose of securing the development of land in that area in accordance with proposals approved by the Secretary of State under section 6 of this Act, or

(b)for the purpose of providing proper means of access to such an area,

a local [F1roads] authority may be authorised, by means of an order made by the authority and submitted to and confirmed by the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of Parts I and II of Schedule 3 to this Act, to acquire compulsorily any land as to which the Secretary of State is satisfied that its acquisition by the authority is requisite—

(i)for the construction or improvement of the road, or

(ii)for carrying out the improvement, or controlling the development, of frontages to the road or of lands abutting on or adjacent to the road.

(2)Where the Secretary of State is satisfied that the construction or improvement of a road is needed to supersede a part of a [F2a road for which he is the roads authority]whose supersession appears to him to be expedient for any such purpose as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b) above, he may be authorised, by means of an order made by him in accordance with the provisions of Part III of Schedule 3 to this Act, to acquire compulsorily any land as to which he is satisfied that its acquisition by him is requisite—

(a)for the construction or improvement of the road, or

(b)for carrying out the improvement, or controlling the development, of frontages to the road or of lands abutting on or adjacent to the road.

(3)A compulsory purchase order under this section shall, in so far as it relates to land—

(a)which is the property of a local authority or which is held inalienably by the National Trust, or

(b)which forms part of a common or open space,

be subject to the special provisions of Part IV of the said Schedule 3.

(4)Where an acquiring authority have been authorised under subsection (1) or subsection (2) above to acquire compulsorily land forming part of a common or open space, that authority may be authorised under the same subsection to acquire compulsorily land for giving in exchange for the land acquired.

(5)The provisions of Part V of Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the validity and date of operation of compulsory purchase orders under this section.

(6)A local [F1roads] authority may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, acquire by agreement any land which they could be authorised under subsection (1) above to acquire compulsorily.

(7)In relation to operational land of statutory undertakers the foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect subject to section 10 of this Act.