Part II Provision of Telecommunication Services
Acquisition etc. of land by public telecommunications operators
35 Compulsory purchase of land in Scotland.
F1(1)
Subject to subsection (2) below, the Secretary of State may authorise a public telecommunications operator to purchase compulsorily any land in Scotland which is required by the operator for, or in connection with, the establishment or running of the operator’s system or as to which it can reasonably be foreseen that it will be so required; and the M1Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure)
(Scotland) Act 1947 shall apply to any compulsory purchase under this section as if the operator were a local authority within the meaning of that Act and as if this section had been in force immediately before the commencement of that Act.
(2)
No order shall be made authorising a compulsory purchase under this section except with the consent of the Director.
(3)
The power of purchasing land compulsorily under this section includes power to acquire a servitude or other right over land by the creation of a new right.
(4)
The following provisions of F2the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 shall have effect in relation to land acquired compulsorily by a public telecommunications operator under this section as they have effect in relation to land acquired compulsorily by statutory undertakers under any other enactment, namely—
(a)
F2section 197
(provisions as to churches and burial grounds);
(b)
F2section 198
(use and development of land for open spaces); and
(c)
F2sections 224 to 227
(extinguishment of rights of way, and rights as to apparatus, of statutory undertakers).
(5)
Where a public telecommunications operator has acquired land under this section, he shall not dispose of that land or of any interest or right in or over it except with the consent of the Director.