8Powers relating to land
(1)The Authority may for the purposes of the undertaking acquire land by agreement, whether by way of purchase, exchange, lease or otherwise.
(2)The Secretary of State for the Environment may authorise the Authority to purchase compulsorily any land which they require for the purposes of the undertaking and the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, shall apply as if the Authority were a local authority within the meaning of that Act and as if this Act had been in force immediately before that Act.
(3)The Authority may dispose of land belonging to them in such manner, whether by way of sale, exchange, lease, the creation of any easement, right or privilege or otherwise, for such period, upon such conditions and for such consideration as they think fit.
(4)The Authority—
(a)may, for the purposes of the undertaking, manage, use or develop land belonging to them as they think fit; and
(b)in addition may, with a view to selling or otherwise disposing of any right or interest in the land after the development is carried out—
(i)retain any land belonging to them which is not required for the purposes of the undertaking and develop it or procure its development for use by other persons; and
(ii)where the use of land belonging to them for the purposes of the undertaking can be combined with its use for other purposes, develop the land or procure its development for use wholly or partly by other persons.
(5)Where the Authority intend to develop or procure the development of land belonging to them for purposes other than the purposes of the undertaking, and are of opinion that the land cannot by itself be developed satisfactorily, they may acquire adjoining land by agreement, whether by way of purchase, exchange, lease or otherwise, for the purpose of developing it or of procuring its development together with the other land.
(6)Nothing in subsection (2) of this section shall authorise the compulsory acquisition of any operational land of the gas undertakers.
(7)For the purpose of the acquisition by the Authority of land by agreement, the provisions of Part I (other than sections 4 to 8 and sections 27 and 31) and of subsection (3) of section 38 of the Compulsory Purchase Act, 1965, shall apply to the exclusion of the Lands Clauses Acts, and as if this Act were mentioned in Schedule 6 to the said Act of 1965.