Welsh Development Agency Act 1975

23 Powers of entry

(1) Any person duly authorised in writing by the Secretary of State or the Agency may, at any reasonable time, enter upon land in order to survey it for the purposes of determining whether, and if so in what manner, the functions of the Agency or the Secretary of State under any provision of this Act should be exercised in relation to the land.

(2) The power of survey conferred by this section includes power to search and bore for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the subsoil or the presence of minerals in it.

(3) A person authorised under this section to enter upon any land shall, if so required by the occupier or anyone acting on his behalf, produce evidence of his authority, and shall not demand admission as of right to any land which is occupied unless at least five days notice, or in the case of land occupied for residential purposes at least fourteen days notice, of the intended entry has been given to the occupier.

(4) Where any land is damaged in the exercise of a power of entry conferred by this section, compensation in respect of that damage may be recovered by any person interested in the land from the Secretary of State or the Agency, as the case may be.

(5) A person shall not carry out any works authorised by this section unless notice of his intention so to do has been included in the notice required by subsection (3) above, and if the land in question is held by any statutory undertakers and those undertakers object to the proposed works on the ground that the carrying out of those works would be seriously detrimental to the carrying on of their statutory undertaking, the works shall not be carried out without authority of the appropriate Minister.

(6) A person entering upon any land by virtue of this section may take with him such other persons as may be necessary.

(7) It shall be the duty of a person exercising powers conferred by this section—

(a) to take reasonable care to avoid injury to plant, machinery, equipment, livestock, crops or enclosures, and

(b) on leaving any land, to secure it as effectively against unauthorised entry as he found it.

(8) Any reference to land in the foregoing provisions of this section includes a reference to buildings or other structures on land.

(9) A person who wilfully obstructs any person acting in the exercise of powers under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

(10) If any person who, in compliance with the provisions of this section, is admitted into a factory, workshop or workplace discloses to any person any information obtained by him therein as to any manufacturing process or trade secret, he shall, unless the disclosure is made in the course of performing his duty in connection with the purpose for which he was authorised to enter the premises, be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400 or on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine, or both.