National Galleries of Scotland Act 2016 Explanatory Notes

Commentary on Sections

8.Section 1(1) provides that, when the Act comes into force, the relevant land will be deemed to be alienable common good land for the purposes of Part VI of the 1973 Act. This enables the Council to rely on section 74 of that Act, read with section 75(1), to dispose of the land.

9.Section 1(2) limits subsection (1) so that the Council may only dispose of the relevant land to the Board for the purpose of extending the Scottish National Gallery, The Mound, Edinburgh. The relevant land otherwise remains inalienable, and so the Council may not dispose of it under section 74 of the 1973 Act to any other party or for any other purpose without court authorisation or further legislation.

10.Section 2 provides that, when the Act comes into force, the relevant land will cease to form part of the Gardens and, consequently, the restriction on construction contained in section 22 of the Schedule to the 1991 Act will cease to apply to the relevant land.

11.Section 3 principally defines the relevant land. A plan which identifies its location and extent has been produced by the promoter and was published(1) when the Bill was introduced. It measures approximately 737 square metres.

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