PART 2CONSERVATION OF NATURAL HABITATS AND HABITATS OF SPECIES

Management agreements

Existing agreements17.

(1)

For the purposes of these Regulations, any agreement made before 1st April 2010 in relation to land in England or Wales which on or after that date becomes land within a European site, or adjacent to such a site, being an agreement made under—

(a)

section 16 of the 1949 Act M1 (agreements for management of nature reserves),

(b)

section 15 of the Countryside Act 1968 M2 (areas of special scientific interest), or

(c)

section 7 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 M3 (management agreements),

has effect upon the designation of the site as if it were a management agreement entered into by Natural England or F1the Natural Resources Body for Wales (as the case may be) under regulation 16.

(2)

Any other thing done or deemed to have been done under—

(a)

any provision of Part 3 (nature conservation) of the 1949 Act, or under Part 6 (general, financial and supplementary) of that Act so far as it applies for the purposes of Part 3, or

(b)

section 15 of the Countryside Act 1968,

in respect of any land prior to that land becoming land within a European site, or adjacent to such a site, continues to have effect as if done under the corresponding provision of these Regulations.

(3)

Any reference in a relevant enactment to a nature reserve within the meaning of section 15 M4 (meaning of “nature reserve”) of the 1949 Act is to be construed as including a reference to a European site, and in this paragraph “a relevant enactment” means an enactment not contained in, or in an instrument made under, the 1949 Act or the WCA 1981.