Forestry Act (Northern Ireland) 1953

14 Forest parks. N.I.

[F1 (1) The Ministry may with the consent of the Ministry of Finance by regulation declare that any land owned by the Ministry shall be treated as a Northern Ireland forest park (in this section referred to as “a forest park” ) [F2 or as a Northern Ireland forest recreation area (in this section referred to as “a forest recreation area” )], and thereupon the public shall have access to that land subject to and in accordance with such byelaws as may be made under this section.

F2 [(1A) Sub-section (1) shall apply to land held by the Department under a lease in like manner as it applies to land owned by the Department but nothing in this section shall authorise anything which is contrary to the provisions of the lease.

(1B) For the purpose of improving the amenity of land acquired by the Department under this Act or under any other enactment or otherwise, the Department may provide on that land such facilities as it considers desirable for such improvement and, without prejudice to the generality of this power, such facilities may include—

(a) parking places, caravan parks, camping sites, shelters and lavatories;

(b) meals and refreshment;

(c) viewing points for the public, open spaces, footpaths and bridlepaths;

(d) the planting of trees to enhance the landscape;

(e) the provision of nature trails, arboreta, wildlife enclosures, interpretative centres, forest conservation areas, scenic drives;

and such other recreational, conservational and educational facilities as the Department considers appropriate.

(1C) The Department may, with the approval of the Department of Finance, impose such charges on persons entering all or any of the forest parks or forest recreation areas or making use of any facility provided as it considers reasonable.]

(2) The Ministry may make byelaws—

(a) prescribing the times during which the public shall have access to forest parks [F2 or forest recreation areas];

(b) making such provision as may appear to the Ministry to be necessary for the preservation of trees or timber in forest parks [F2 or forest recreation areas];

(c) prohibiting or regulating any act or thing tending to injury or disfigurement of forest parks [F2 or forest recreation areas] or the amenities thereof;

(d) without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this sub-section, providing for the reasonable use of forest parks [F2 or forest recreation areas] by the public for the purposes of exercise and recreation.

(3) The Ministry may authorise persons appointed or employed by the Ministry to exercise such powers and perform such duties as the Ministry may consider necessary for the enforcement of byelaws made under this section, and in particular any person so authorised may after due warning remove or exclude from any forest park [F2 or forest recreation area] a person who commits, or whom he reasonably suspects of committing, an offence against any byelaw made under this section or against the section which, by virtue of sub-section (1) of section fifty-seven of the Summary Jurisdiction and Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland), 1935 [1935 c.13] , was substituted for section four of the Vagrancy Act, 1824 [1824 c.83] .

(4) A person who commits an offence against any byelaw made under this section, or who obstructs any person authorised in accordance with sub-section (3) of this section, shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding[F3 level 3 on the standard scale] and, for a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding [F4 £2] in respect of each day during which the offence continues.]

F1 S. 14 repealed (13.9.2010 for s. 14(1B)(1C), otherwise prosp.) by Forestry Act (Northern Ireland) 2010 (c. 10), ss. 38(3), 39(1), Sch. 2 (with s. 37); S.R. 2010/309, art. 2, Sch.

F2 1977 NI 12

F3 1984 NI 3

F4 1977 NI 12