Stormont Regulation and Government Property Act (Northern Ireland) 1933

Stormont Regulation and Government Property Act (Northern Ireland) 1933 F1

1933 CHAPTER 6

An Act to make provision with respect to the regulation of the Stormont Estate and the purchase and disposal of land for the public services.

[28th March 1933]

F1 functions transf. by SR 1999/481

1 Power to make regulations as to Stormont Estate. N.I.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act the Ministry of Finance may make such regulations with respect to the Stormont Estate as the said Ministry may consider necessary for all or any of the following purposes:—

(a) for the admission of the public to the Stormont Estate, at such times, and upon such conditions, as may be specified in the regulations; and

(b) for specifying the parts of the Stormont Estate to which the public may be admitted or to which any such regulations apply; and

(c) for securing the proper supervision of the Stormont Estate, or any specified part thereof, and the preservation of order and prevention of abuses therein.

(2) Any person who fails to comply with, or acts in contravention of, any regulations made under this section shall be liable on conviction to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

(3) Copies of regulations made under this section shall be displayed at the Stormont Estate in such manner as the Ministry may consider best adapted for giving information to persons affected by the regulations.

(4) All regulations made under this section shall, so soon as may be after they are made, be laid before each House of Parliament. If either House of Parliament, within the statutory period next after any regulation made as aforesaid has been laid before such House, resolves that the regulation shall be annulled, the regulation shall, after the date of the resolution, be void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of a new regulation.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Ss. 1-4 excluded (9.3.2006) by the Stormont Estate (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/612 (N.I. 5)), arts. 1(2), 3(2)

2 Powers and duties of rangers and police. N.I.

(1) Any person appointed by the Ministry of Finance to secure the observance of the regulations made under the foregoing provisions of this Act and in force with respect to the Stormont Estate (in this Act referred to as a “ranger” ) shall, in such part of the Estate as may be specified in the regulations, have all such powers, privileges and immunities, be liable to perform such duties, and be subject to such responsibilities, as if such ranger were a constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary on duty.

A ranger shall obey such lawful commands as he may from time to time receive from the Ministry of Finance in respect of his conduct in the execution of his office.

(2) A ranger in uniform, and any persons whom such ranger may call to his assistance, may take into custody, without a warrant, any person who in such part of the Stormont Estate as aforesaid within the view of such ranger fails to comply with or acts in contravention of any regulation made by the Ministry of Finance under this Act, in any case where the name and residence of the person offending is unknown to, and cannot be ascertained by, such ranger. A person so taken into custody may be handed over to, and kept in custody by, an officer or constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary; and the ranger by whom a person has been so handed over shall, as soon as may be, take such steps as may be proper to have that person dealt with according to law.

(3) Where any person offending as aforesaid, on being required by a ranger or by an officer or constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary to give his name and address, gives a false name or false address, such person shall on conviction be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

(4) Where any person is convicted by a court of summary jurisdiction of an assault upon a ranger when in the execution of his duty, such person shall be liable in the discretion of the court either—

(a) to pay a penalty not exceeding[F2 level 2 on the standard scale] and in default of payment to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months; or

(b) to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding six months.

(5) Arrangements may be made between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home AffairsF3 whereby officers and constables of the Royal Ulster Constabulary shall have the powers and duties of a ranger within the Stormont Estate; and, if such arrangements are made, the provisions of this section shall have effect accordingly.

F2 1984 NI 3

F3 SI 1973/2163

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C2 Ss. 1-4 excluded (9.3.2006) by the Stormont Estate (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/612 (N.I. 5)), arts. 1(2), 3(2)

3 Prosecutions and application of penalties. N.I.

(1) All offences against this Act or any regulations made under this Act shall be prosecuted, and all penalties under this Act shall be recovered, in manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Acts;…

(2) Proceedings in respect of an offence against this Act or any regulations made under this Act may, without prejudice to any other manner of proceeding authorised by the Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Acts, be brought before and determined by any court of summary jurisdiction within the jurisdiction of which any part of the Stormont Estate is situate.

Subs. (3) rep. by 1954 c. 9 (NI)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C3 Ss. 1-4 excluded (9.3.2006) by the Stormont Estate (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/612 (N.I. 5)), arts. 1(2), 3(2)

4 Savings as to certain powers and rights. N.I.

(1) The powers conferred by the foregoing provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any powers exercisable by the Ministry of Finance or any officer or servant of the said Ministry apart from this Act; and the last-mentioned powers may be exercised as if this Act had not been passed.

(2) Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Act, or in any regulations made thereunder, shall be deemed to confer upon the public—

(a) any right of access to or user of the Stormont Estate, or

(b) any right of way over, or other right whatever in relation to, the Stormont Estate.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C4 Ss. 1-4 excluded (9.3.2006) by the Stormont Estate (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/612 (N.I. 5)), arts. 1(2), 3(2)

5 Provisions as to taking and disposal of land for the public services. N.I.

F4 (1) F5 The Ministry of Finance may purchase by agreement or take on lease any land, where the same is required for the purpose of any powers or duties of the said Ministry or for the administration of any public service in Northern Ireland.

(2) Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained in this section, the Ministry of Finance may sell, exchange, lease or surrender on any terms any land for the time being vested in that Ministry, and on any such exchange may give or receive any money for equality of exchange; and that Ministry may sell either by public auction or by private contract, and may make any stipulations, as to title or otherwise, in any conditions of sale or contract for sale or exchange.

(3) On any sale, exchange, lease or surrender, the Ministry of Finance may stipulate for, create or reserve all such rights or easements as may be deemed proper.

(4) With the consent of the Ministry of Finance, any other Ministry of Northern Ireland may exercise, with respect to land for the time being vested in such other Ministry for the purpose of its powers or duties, the like powers as are conferred on the Ministry of Finance by sub-sections (2) and (3) of this section.

(5) A sale, exchange, lease, or surrender of land under this section shall be at the best price or for the best rent or otherwise on the best terms which, in the opinion of the[F6 Department of Finance and Personnel], can reasonably be obtained:

Provided that a nominal price or rent, or a price or rent or terms other than the best that can reasonably be obtained, may be accepted[F6 with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel, by a department of Northern Ireland], in a case where—

(i) the land is to be sold, leased, or otherwise transferred to a local authority, or to a body or persons not trading for profit and authorised by or under any enactment to carry on a public undertaking; and

(ii) the[F6 Department of Finance and Personnel] is satisfied that such sale, lease or transfer will result in the development, improvement or general benefit of any land held by a Ministry of Northern Ireland.

(6) ….F7 any moneys received by a Ministry in respect of any transaction carried out by such Ministry in the exercise of any power conferred upon it by this section shall be paid to the Exchequer of Northern Ireland…F8 .

(7) The provisions of this section shall not have effect—

(a) so as to enable the hereditaments described in the Schedule to this Act to be sold, exchanged, leased or surrendered;

(b) so as to affect the power of any Ministry of Northern Ireland to purchase, take on lease, sell, exchange, lease or surrender any land for the purposes of any instrument under which such Ministry acts as trustee;

(c) so as to apply to the purchase, taking on lease, sale, exchange, lease or surrender of land by a Ministry of Northern Ireland in any case where power in that behalf is conferred on such Ministry by any enactments other than this section.

F4 1948 c.25 (NI); 1955 c.2 (NI); 1964 c.28 (NI); 1965 c.9 (NI); 1965 c.13 (NI); 1966 c.36 (NI); 1970 c.9 (NI); 1972 c.5 (NI); 1972 NI 12; 1972 NI 17; 1972 NI 20; 1973 NI 2; 1980 NI 11; 1981 NI 3; 1975 c.77

F5 1980 c.65; 1973 NI 21

F6 1982 NI 6

F7 1950 c.3 (NI)

F8 1955 c.6 (NI)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C5 S. 5 excluded (22.4.2013) by Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (c. 11), ss. 39(2), 48(2); S.R. 2013/104, art. 2(i)

C6 S. 5(7)(a) excluded (9.3.2006) by the Stormont Estate (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/612 (N.I. 5)), arts. 1(2), 2(2)(a)

6 Interpretation. N.I.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them, that is to say:—

• “Land” includes buildings and water and any interests in land or water and any easement or right in, to or over land or water:

• “Lease” includes the granting of land at a rent for a term of years or in perpetuity, and with or without the payment of a fine:

• “Statutory period” means …

• definition in 1954 c. 33 (NI) substituted by 1979 NI 12

• “Stormont Estate” means the Stormont Castle Demesne including all land at Stormont for the time being held for the public purposes of the Parliament and Government of Northern Ireland.

Subs. (2) rep. by 1954 c. 33 (NI)

7 Short title. N.I.

This Act may be cited as the Stormont Regulation and Government Property Act (Northern Ireland), 1933.

SCHEDULE

N.I. HEREDITAMENTS MENTIONED IN SUB-SECTION 7(a) OF SECTION 5 OF THIS ACT

1 N.I. The lands, buildings and premises at Stormont in the Townlands of Ballymiscaw, Killeen and Ballycloughan, in the Barony of Castlereagh Lower and County of Down, described in an Indenture made the thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one, between Arthur Charles Stewart Cleland of the first part, Colonel Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith, Bart., K.C.M.G., and Andrew Leyland Hillyar Cleland of the second part, and the Commissioners of His Majesty's Works and Public Buildings of the third part, and intended to be conveyed by the said Commissioners to the Ministry of Finance for Northern Ireland.

Para. 2 rep. by 1955 c. 2 (NI)