Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907

PART VI Recreation Grounds

76 Powers as to parks and pleasure gardens

(1) The Local Government Board, for the purposes of this section, may make rules prescribing restrictions or conditions subject to which any powers conferred by the section shall with respect to any area in a public park or pleasure ground be exerciseable in relation to the enclosure or setting apart of the, area or in relation to the use of the area as the site of a building or convenience.

Subject to the restrictions or conditions prescribed by rules made under this section, the local authority shall, in addition to any powers under any general Act, have the following powers with respect to any public park or pleasure ground provided by them or under their management and control, namely, powers—

(a) To enclose during time of frost any part of the park or ground for the purpose of protecting ice for skating, and charge admission to the part inclosed, but only on condition that at least three-quarters of the ice available for the purpose of skating is open to the use of the public free of charge ;

(b) To set apart any such part of the park or ground as may be fixed by the local authority, and may be described in a notice board affixed or set up in some conspicuous position in the park or ground for the purpose of cricket, football, or any other game or recreation, and to exclude the public from the part set apart while it is in actual use for that purpose ;

(c) To provide any apparatus for games and recreations, and charge for the use thereof, or let the right of providing any such apparatus for any term not exceeding three years to any person ;

(d) To provide or contribute towards the expenses of any band of music to perform in the park or ground ;

(e) To enclose any part of the park or ground, not exceeding one acre, for the convenience of persons listening to any band of music, arid charge admission thereto ;

(f) To place, or authorise any person to place, chairs or seats in any such park or ground, and charge for, or authorise any person to charge for, the use of the chairs so provided ;

(g) To provide and maintain any reading rooms, pavilions, or other buildings and conveniences, and to charge for admission thereto, subject in the case of reading rooms to the limitation that such a charge shall not be made . on more than twelve days in any one year, nor on more than four consecutive days ;

(h) To let any pavilion or other building so provided by them to any person for the purpose of entertainments, and authorise that person to charge for admission thereto ;

(i) To provide and maintain refreshment rooms in any such park, and either manage them themselves, or, if they think fit, let them to any person for any term not exceeding three years.

(2) Any expenses of the local authority incurred in the exercise of the powers given to them by this section shall be defrayed out of the fund or rate out of which the expenses of the park or ground as to which the powers are exercised are payable, and any receipts arising from the exercise of any such powers shall be carried to the credit of the same fund or rate.

(3) The expenses incurred by the council in the exercise of their power under this section to provide or contribute to a band shall not in any one year exceed an amount equal to that which would be produced by a rate of an amount which shall be approved by the Local Government Board and shall not exceed a penny on the property liable to be assessed for the purpose of the rate out of which the expenses of the park or ground are payable, as assessed for the time being for the purposes of that rate.

(4) No power given by this section shall be exercised in such a manner as to contravene any covenant or condition subject to which a gift or lease of a public park or pleasure ground has been accepted or made, without the consent of the donor, grantor, lessor, or other person or persons entitled in law to the benefit of such covenant or condition.

77 Power to appoint officers

The local authority may appoint officers for securing the observance of this Part of this Act, and of the regulations and byelaws made thereunder, and may procure such officers to be sworn in as constables for that purpose, but any such officer shall not act as a constable unless in uniform or provided with a warrant.