Agricultural Land (Utilisation) Act 1931

PART II Provisions to be complied with by Minister before giving Notice in accordance with 8 & 9 Vict. c. 18. s. 18

1 Before giving notice in accordance with section eighteen of the Lands Clauses (Consolidation) Act, 1845, of his intention to acquire any land otherwise than by agreement, the Minister shall (save as in this Act otherwise expressly provided)—

(a) publish in one or more newspapers circulating within the district in which the land is situated a notice stating the fact that he intends to acquire the land compulsorily and describing by reference to a map the area proposed to be acquired and naming the place where a copy of the map may be seen at all reasonable hours; and

(b) serve on every owner, lessee and occupier (except tenants for one, or a less period than one, month) of the land a notice stating that he intends to acquire the land compulsorily and specifying the time within and the manner in which objections to the compulsory acquisition thereof can be made.

2 If no objection is duly made by any of the persons upon whom notices are required to be served, or if all objections so made are withdrawn, the Minister may serve notice to treat in accordance with the said section eighteen and proceed to acquire the land accordingly, but, in any other case, he shall not acquire the land compulsorily unless authorised to do so by means of a Provisional Order made by him and confirmed by Parliament, and for that purpose the Minister may submit a Bill to Parliament for the confirmation of any such Provisional Order:

Provided that the Minister may require any person who has made an objection to state in writing the grounds thereof, and if he is of opinion that every objection duly made relates exclusively to matters which can be dealt with by the arbitrator by whom the compensation is to be assessed, he may refer the objections to such one of the panel of official arbitrators appointed under the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, as may be selected by rules made by the reference committee under that Act, and if that arbitrator agrees that no objection relates to any matter which cannot be so dealt with as aforesaid, all such objections shall be deemed for the purposes of this paragraph to have been withdrawn.