Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

71 Acquisition of land compulsorily. S

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, for the purposes of any of their functions under this or any other enactment, a local authority may be authorised by the Minister concerned with the function in question to purchase compulsorily any land, whether situated inside or outside their area.

(2) A local authority may not be authorised under subsection (1) above to purchase land compulsorily for any purpose in relation to which their power of acquisition is by any enactment expressly limited to acquisition by agreement.

(3) Where one or more local authorities propose, in exercise of the power conferred by subsection (1) above, to acquire any land for more than one purpose, the Minister or Ministers whose authorisation is required for the exercise of that power shall not be concerned to make any apportionment between those purposes nor, where there is more than one local authority, between those authorities, and—

(a) the purposes shall be treated as a single purpose and the compulsory acquisition shall be treated as requiring the authorisation of the Minister, or the joint authorisation of the Ministers, concerned with those purposes; and

(b) where there is more than one local authority concerned, the authorities may nominate one of them to acquire the land on behalf of them all and the authority so nominated shall accordingly be treated as the acquiring authority for the purposes of any enactment relating to the acquisition.

(4) The M1 Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 shall apply in relation to the compulsory purchase of land in pursuance of subsection (1) above as if that subsection were contained in an Act in force immediately before the commencement of that Act.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 71 amended (temp. from 4.1.1995 until 1.4.1996) by 1994 c. 39, s. 182(1)(b); S.I. 1994/2850, art. 3(a), Sch. 2

C2 S. 71 applied (2.8.2005) by Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 5), ss. 4, 90, Sch. 1 para. 2(2) (with s. 77); S.S.I. 2005/392, art. 2(k)

Marginal Citations

M1 1947 c. 42.