Ancient monuments and archaeological areas
3.—(1) For the purposes of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979(1) (in this article referred to as “the 1979 Act”)—
(a)the interest of a Corporate Officer or the Corporate Officers in any land shall be regarded as a Crown interest, within the meaning of section 50 of that Act (application to Crown land);
(b)any operations carried out by or on behalf of a Corporate Officer or the Corporate Officers shall be regarded as carried out by or on behalf of the Crown; and
(c)the use of the land for the purposes of the House of Lords, the House of Commons or both those Houses shall be regarded as use by or on behalf of the Crown;
and in relation to land which is Crown land, within the meaning of section 50 of the Act, by virtue only of sub-paragraph (a) above, “the appropriate authority” for the purposes of that section shall be the Corporate Officer or, as the case may be, the Corporate Officers in whom is vested the interest in the land.
(2) To the extent that a Corporate Officer or the Corporate Officers has or have responsibility for the management of any land in which he or they has or have no interest but which forms part of the Palace of Westminster, the Corporate Officer or Corporate Officers shall be regarded as having the status of a government department for the purposes of section 50(4)(a) of the 1979 Act, which defines “the appropriate authority” in relation to certain land belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Crown.
(3) In this article “land” has the same meaning as in the 1979 Act.