National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949

20 Byelaws for protection of nature reserves

(1) The Nature Conservancy may, as respects land which is being managed as a nature reserve under an agreement entered into with them or land held by them which is being managed as a nature reserve, make byelaws for the protection of the reserve :

Provided that byelaws under this section shall not have effect as respects any land in a reserve unless a declaration under the last foregoing section is in force declaring that the land is being managed as a nature reserve and notice of the declaration has been published in pursuance of that section.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the last foregoing subsection, byelaws under this section—

(a) may provide for prohibiting or restricting the entry into, or movement within, nature reserves of persons, vehicles, boats and animals ;

(b) may prohibit or restrict the killing, taking, molesting or disturbance of living creatures of any description in a nature reserve, the taking, destruction or disturbance of eggs of any such creature, the taking of, or interference with, vegetation of any description in a nature reserve, or the doing of anything therein which will interfere with the soil or damage any object in the reserve ;

(c) may prohibit or restrict the shooting of birds or of birds of any description within such area surrounding or adjoining a nature reserve (whether the area be of land or of sea) as appears to the Nature Conservancy requisite for the protection of the reserve;

(d) may contain provisions prohibiting the depositing of rubbish and the leaving of litter in a nature reserve ;

(e) may prohibit or restrict, or provide for prohibiting or restricting, the lighting of fires in a nature reserve, or the doing of anything likely to cause a fire in a nature reserve ;

(f) may provide for the issue, on such terms and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the byelaws, of permits authorising entry into a nature reserve or the doing of anything therein which would otherwise be unlawful, whether under the byelaws or otherwise;

(g) may be made so as to relate either to the whole or to any part of the reserve or, in the case of byelaws made under paragraph (c) of this subsection, of any such surrounding or adjoining area as is mentioned in that paragraph, and may make different provisions for different parts thereof:

Provided that byelaws under this section shall not interfere with the exercise by any person of a right vested in him as owner, lessee or occupier of land in a nature reserve, or in the case of such land in Scotland as limited owner thereof, or with the exercise of any public right of way or of any functions of statutory undertakers, of a river board or other drainage authority or a district board for a fishery district within the meaning of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1862, or of the Commissioners appointed under the Tweed Fisheries Act, 1857.

(3) Where the exercise of any right vested in a person, whether by reason of his being entitled to any interest in land or by virtue of a licence or agreement, is prevented or hindered by the coming into operation of byelaws under this section, he shall be entitled to receive from the Nature Conservancy compensation in respect thereof.