17.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Article, the powers conferred on a statutory undertaker by or under any statutory provision to lay down or erect any apparatus under or over any land shall not be exercisable in relation to any land comprised in the route of a special road except with the consent in writing of the Department.
(2) The consent of the Department shall not be required under this Article for the laying down or erection by a statutory undertaker of any apparatus by way of renewal of any apparatus for the time being vested in or belonging to the statutory undertaker.
(3) The consent of the Department under this Article may be given subject to conditions, but those conditions shall not include a condition requiring any payment to be made by the statutory undertaker to the Department in respect of the exercise of the powers to the exercise of which the consent is given.
(4) Where any apparatus in respect of which the consent of the Department is required under this Article is proposed to be laid down or erected along a line crossing the route of a special road but not running along that route, the Department—
(a)shall not withhold its consent under this Article unless there are special reasons for doing so; and
(b)may, if it gives its consent subject to conditions, make contributions to the statutory undertaker in respect of any expenses incurred by the statutory undertaker in complying therewith.
(5) Any dispute between the Department and any statutory undertaker in respect of—
(a)the withholding of the consent of the Department in respect of apparatus to be laid down or erected as mentioned in paragraph (4);
(b)the imposition of any condition on the grant of such consent; or
(c)the making of any contributions under paragraph (4)(b);
shall be determined by arbitration.
(6) This Article shall have effect in addition to and not in substitution for any other statutory provision restricting or regulating the powers of any statutory undertaker to break open roads or enter upon land for the purpose of laying down or erecting apparatus.
(7) This Article shall apply to the holder of a licence under Article 10(1) of the Electricity Order as it applies to a statutory undertaker.
18.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Department may make an order to authorise—
(a)the stopping-up of any private means of access to land abutting on or adjacent to a special road or land forming the site of any works authorised by a designation order;
(b)the provision of new means of access to any such land.
(2) No order shall be made under paragraph (1)(a) unless the Department is satisfied that—
(a)access to the land is not reasonably required; or
(b)another reasonably convenient means of access to the land is available or will be provided in pursuance of an order made by virtue of paragraph (1)(b).
(3) Any person, other than a person authorised by the Department, who constructs or alters any means of access to a special road shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(4) Where—
(a)a person is convicted of an offence under paragraph (3); and
(b)he does not, within such period as the court may allow, remove or restore any means of access constructed or altered in contravention of that paragraph and make good any damage to the road,
then the Department may itself—
(i)remove or restore that means of access and make good any damage to the road; and
(ii)recover from that person any expenses thereby reasonably incurred by it.
19.—(1) Where—
(a)access to any land has been stopped-up in pursuance of an order made under Article 18(1)(a) or is limited by virtue of the restrictions imposed under this Part on the use of a special road; and
(b)any person has suffered damage in consequence thereof by the depreciation of any estate in the land to which he is entitled or by being disturbed in his enjoyment of the land,
he shall be entitled to recover from the Department compensation in respect of that damage.
(2) In assessing compensation to which any person is entitled by virtue of this Article regard shall be had to any new means of access provided or to be provided by the Department.
(3) Any question of disputed compensation arising under this Article shall be referred to and determined by the Lands Tribunal.
20.—(1) A special road shall not be used, except as provided by or under regulations made under this Article, by any traffic other than traffic of a class prescribed in relation to that road by the designation order made in respect of it.
(2) Until such date as may be declared by a notice published by the Department in the Belfast Gazette as the date on which a special road is open for use by traffic of the prescribed classes, no person shall use that special road unless he is authorised by the Department to do so.
(3) The Department may make regulations with respect to the use of special roads, and such regulations may, in particular—
(a)specify the manner in which and the conditions subject to which such roads may be used by traffic of the classes prescribed in relation to those roads in designation orders;
(b)authorise, or enable such authority as may be specified in the regulations to authorise, the use of such roads, on occasion or in emergency, or for the purpose of crossing, or for the purpose of securing access to land abutting on or adjacent to the roads, by traffic other than such traffic as aforesaid, or relax, or enable any such authority as aforesaid to relax, any prohibition or restriction imposed by the regulations.
(4) If any person uses a special road in contravention of paragraph (1) or (2), or of any regulations made under paragraph (3), he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
(5) This Article (other than paragraph (2) and so much of paragraph (4) as relates thereto) and any regulations made thereunder shall not apply to any part of a special road until the date declared by the notice mentioned in paragraph (2) as the date on which it is open for use by traffic of the prescribed classes, but nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as preventing the making of regulations under this Article so as to come into force, in relation to any such road, on that date.
21.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), any person who erects or exhibits or causes or permits to be erected or exhibited any advertisement or notice which is sited or designed wholly or mainly for the purpose of being visible to persons using a special road or which is likely to prejudice the safety of traffic using a special road shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—
(a)traffic signs or other notices erected or exhibited by, or by the direction of, an officer authorised by the Department or a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary;
(b)advertisements or notices exhibited on any structure, wall, hoarding or other apparatus which was in use for the exhibition of advertisements or notices which are or would be visible to the users of a special road at the time of the first publication in relation to that road of the notice referred to in paragraph 1 of Schedule 8.
(3) The Department may by regulations exempt from the provisions of paragraph (1) advertisements or notices of any class or description specified in the regulations or situated in any areas so specified or which comply with such conditions, if any, as may be so specified.
(4) Any person convicted of an offence under paragraph (1) shall within such period as the court may allow remove any advertisement or notice exhibited or displayed in contravention of that paragraph, and if he fails to do so he shall be guilty of a further offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one-tenth of level 3 on the standard scale for each day upon which such failure continues.
(5) Where a person who has been convicted under paragraph (1) becomes liable to prosecution for an offence under paragraph (4), the Department may itself remove the advertisement or notice and do all such things as may be necessary for that purpose and may recover from that person any expenses thereby reasonably incurred by it.
(6) Where in the opinion of the Department any advertisement or notice referred to in paragraph (2)(b) is prejudicial to the safety of traffic using a special road, the Department may serve a notice upon the owner or occupier of the land on which the advertisement or notice is situated directing him to remove the advertisement or notice (including any structure, wall, hoarding or other apparatus on which the advertisement or notice is exhibited) and, where a notice is so served, paragraphs 3 to 8 of Schedule 4 shall apply as if the notice had been served under Article 49.