§ After Clause 11 insert the following new clause:
144§ Power of Minister to attach conditions to compulsory rights orders
§ (".—(1) The Minister may, if he grants an application for a compulsory rights order, attach to it such conditions as he thinks fit (other than a condition for securing a matter that may be secured under the provisions of this Act relating to the safety of pipe-lines) with respect to—
- (a) the manner, method or timing of the execution of pipe-line works authorised by the order;
- (b) the execution, and the manner, method or timing of the execution, of works which it appears to him are or will be requisite or desirable prior to or in consequence of the execution of pipe-line works authorised by the order, or in consequence of a failure to comply with any such condition as has effect by virtue of the foregoing paragraph;
- (c) in a case where the order authorises a pipe-line or length thereof to be placed in land of which the owners are statutory undertakers, being operational land, the execution and the manner, method or timing of the execution, of works which it appears to him are or will be requisite or desirable in consequence of the pipe-line's or length's being situated in such land;
- (d) without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraphs, the execution of works referred to in any of those paragraphs by or under the supervision of the owners of land comprised in the order;
- (e) the payment of costs of the execution of any works or carrying out any other requirements to which a condition having effect by virtue of this section relates;
- (f) the settlement of any dispute arising in consequence of any such condition as aforesaid,
§ (2) Subject to the next following subsection, the Minister may at any time on the application of an owner, lessee or occupier (except a tenant for a month or any period less than a month) of land comprised in a compulsory rights order, or of the person for whose benefit such an order for the time being enures, or of his own motion, by order vary the first mentioned order—
- (a) where the first-mentioned order has effect without conditions, by attaching thereto a condition with respect to any of the matters referred to in the foregoing subsection;
- (b) where the first-mentioned order has effect subject to conditions, by revoking or varying any of them or by attaching thereto further such conditions as aforesaid.
§ (3) It shall be a condition precedent to the making of an order under the last foregoing subsection that, in the case of an order for which an application is made, the applicant, or, in any other case, the Minister, shall have served on every person concerned (other than the applicant in such a case as is first above mentioned) notice, in the prescribed form, stating the effect of the order and specifying the time (not being less than twenty-one days 145 from the date of service of the notice) within which and the manner in which objection to the making of the order may be made to the Minister; and where an objection is duly made by a person on whom the notice has been served, and is not withdrawn, the Minister shall not make the order without affording to the objector an opportunity of being heard by him, and if the objector avails himself of that opportunity, the Minister shall afford to the applicant (in the case of an order for which an application is made under the last foregoing subsection) and any other person to whom it appears to the Minister expedient to afford it, an opportunity of being heard on the same occasion.
§ (4) Upon the making of an order under subsection (2) of this section, in the case of an order made on an application, the applicant, or, in any other case, the Minister, shall take such steps for notifying the persons concerned as the Minister may direct, or as the case may be, shall think fit.
§ (5) If any works are executed in contravention of a condition attached to a compulsory rights order under this section, the person executing them, or, in the event of a failure by a person to comply with a requirement to carry out any works imposed on him by such a condition, that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable—
- (a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and such imprisonment;
- (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both a fine and such imprisonment.
§
(6) In this section the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them respectively—
operational land" in the application of this section to England and Wales has the same meaning as in the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, and in the application of this section to Scotland has the same meaning as in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1947;
persons concerned" means, in relation to a variation of a compulsory rights order, the person for whose benefit the order for the time being enures, and every owner, lessee and occupier (other than a tenant for a month or a period less than a month) of any land appearing to the Minister to be affected by the variation.
§ (7) If any question arises, in relation to this section, whether land of statutory undertakers is operational land as defined by this section, that question shall be determined by the appropriate Minister.
§ (8) The power conferred by subsection (2) of this section to make orders shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.")
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, this Amendment we have already dealt with when discussing No. 24. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Lord Chesham.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.