Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972

172 Action by Secretary of State in relation to purchase notice

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section and to section 173 of this Act, if the Secretary of State is satisfied that the conditions specified in section 169(1)(a) to (c) of this Act are fulfilled in relation to a purchase notice, he shall confirm the notice.

(2) If it appears to the Secretary of State to be expedient to do so, he may, in lieu of confirming the purchase notice, grant planning permission for the development in respect of which the application was made, or, where planning permission for that development was granted subject to conditions, revoke or amend those conditions so far as appears to him to be required in order to enable the land to be rendered capable of reasonably beneficial use by the carrying out of that development.

(3) If it appears to the Secretary of State that the land, or any part of the land, could be rendered capable of reasonably beneficial use within a reasonable time by the carrying out of any other development for which planning permission ought to be granted, he may, in lieu of confirming the purchase notice, or in lieu of confirming it so far as it relates to that part of the land, as the case may be, direct that planning permission for that development shall be granted in the event of an application being made in that behalf.

(4) If it appears to the Secretary of State to be expedient that another local authority or statutory undertakers should acquire the interest of the owner or lessee for the purpose of any of their functions, he may, if he confirms the notice, modify it, either in relation to the whole or in relation to any part of the land to which it relates, by substituting that other authority or, as the case may be, those statutory undertakers for the local planning authority on whom the notice was served.

(5) In section 171 of this Act, any reference to the taking of action by the Secretary of State under this section is a reference to the taking by him of any such action as is mentioned in subsections (1) to (4) of this section, or to the taking by him of a decision not to confirm the purchase notice either on the grounds that any of the conditions referred to in subsection (1) of this section are not fulfilled or by virtue of section 173 of this Act.