Civil Defence Act 1939

8 Powers of local authorities to construct underground car-parks suitable for use as air-raid shelters.

(1) A local authority who have power under section sixty-eight of the [15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 71.] Public Health Act, 1925, or under section twenty of the [25 & 26 Geo. 5. c. 47.] Restriction of Ribbon Development Act, 1935, to provide parking places may, for the purpose of providing underground parking places suitable also for use as air-raid shelters, exercise the like powers as are exercisable by local authorities under the last preceding section for the purposes therein mentioned, and the last preceding section shall have effect accordingly, subject, however, to the following provisions of this section:

Provided that in exercising their powers under this section the local authority shall, so far as is reasonably consistent with the interests of civil defence, have regard to the amenities of any protected square or land held inalienably by the National Trust.

(2) Any such local authority as aforesaid who are not the local authority for the purposes of this Part of this Act and are not exercising functions under this Part of this Act by virtue of a delegation shall not make any proposal for the exercise of the said powers for the purpose of providing such an underground parking place as aforesaid, without the approval of the local authority for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

(3) Where a local authority propose to exercise the said powers for the purpose of constructing such an underground parking place, they shall, in addition to giving notice to the persons to whom they are required to give notice by subsection (1) of the last preceding section,—

(a) give notice in writing to the Minister and the Minister of Transport;

(b) publish by advertisement in a newspaper circulating in the area of the authority a notice describing the nature of their proposals and specifying the land to which they relate and naming the place where plans illustrative of their proposals may be inspected at all reasonable hours by any person free of charge.

(4) If, within twenty-eight days after the publication of the notice, any notice of objection to the proposals is served on the local authority by any person affected thereby, the authority shall refer the notice of objection to the Minister of Transport for his consideration, and shall not proceed with the proposals unless the Minister of Transport, after holding, if he thinks fit, an inquiry, has approved the proposals either with or without modification.

(5) The local authority shall not, whether or not any such objection or modification as aforesaid has been made, proceed with any proposals under this section unless the Minister, after satisfying himself that the underground parking place proposed to be provided will be suitable for use as an air-raid shelter, and after considering the needs of the locality, the situation and the capacity of the shelter and any other matters appearing to him to be relevant, has approved the proposals.

(6) Subsection (2) of the last preceding section shall not apply in any case where the powers conferred by that section are exercised by virtue of and in accordance with this section.

(7) So much of the expenses of a local authority providing a parking place by virtue of this section as is solely attributable to the rendering of the parking place suitable for use as an air-raid shelter, being expenses incurred with the approval of the Minister, shall be deemed to be expenditure for the purpose of making provision for the protection of persons and property from injury or damage in the event of hostile attack from the air for the purposes of the provisions of the Act of 1937 relating to the approval of expenditure of councils and the payment of grants out of moneys provided by Parliament in respect thereof.