Scottish Development Agency Act 1975

8 Derelict land. U.K.

(1) Where it appears to the Agency that land is derelict, neglected or unsightly and that steps should be taken for the purpose of enabling the land (in this Act referred to as “derelict land”) to be brought into use or of improving its appearance, the Agency shall, in accordance with arrangements approved by the Secretary of State, exercise the powers conferred by this section.

(2) The Agency may acquire, by agreement or compulsorily, the derelict land and any other land, whether or not adjacent to the derelict land, whose acquisition is reasonably required for the purpose of bringing into use or improving the appearance of the derelict land, and may carry out on the derelict land and other land such works as appear to them to be expedient for the purpose of enabling the land to be brought into use or of improving its appearance.

(3) After carrying out works on land under this section, the Agency may dispose of the land free of charge to a local authority or to a development corporation within the meaning of the M1 New Towns (Scotland) Act 1968 for the purpose of use of the land as a public open space.

(4) The Agency may appoint a local authority or other public body to act as their agent for the purposes of this section, and any such authority or body so appointed may exercise any of the powers of the Agency under this section other than the power of the Agency to acquire land compulsorily or to dispose of land under subsection (3) above.

(5) Where the Agency exercise or propose to exercise their powers under this section in connection with land as respects which a local authority have before the appointed day incurred expenditure in the exercise of similar powers, the Agency may, if they think fit, pay to the authority concerned the amount of that expenditure or any part thereof.

(6) The Agency’s powers under this section shall be exercisable on and after such date as the Secretary of State may by order appoint (in this section referred to as “the appointed day”).

(7) Section 8(3)and (5) of the M2 Local Employment Act 1972(derelict land) shall cease to have effect on the appointed day,except in the case of schemes as respects which an offer of grant hasbeen made by the Secretary of State and the scheme to which it relateshas been a subject of a tender accepted by the local authorityconcerned before that day.

(8) On the appointed day section 10 of the M3 Local Government(Scotland) Act 1966 (derelict land) and section 67(1)(c) of the M4 Countryside (Scotland) Act 1967 (so far as relating to section2(1)(b) of the M5 Local Government (Development and Finance)(Scotland Act 1964) shall cease to have effect, except in the case ofschemes as respects which an offer of grant has been made by theSecretary of State and the scheme to which it relates has been thesubject of a tender accepted by the local authority concerned beforethat day.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 The text of ss. 8(7)(8) and 27 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.

Marginal Citations

M1 1968 c. 16.

M2 1972 c. 5.

M3 1966 c. 51.

M4 1967c. 86.

M5 1964 c. 67.