47.—(1) A person must not promote or take part in a trial of any description between motor vehicles on a public path or other public right of way unless the holding of the trial has been authorised under this Article by the district council.
(2) A district council shall not give an authorisation under this Article unless satisfied that consent in writing to the use of any length of public path or other public right of way for the purposes of the trial has been given by the owner and by the occupier of the land over which that length of public path or other public right of way runs, and any such authorisation may be given subject to compliance with such conditions as the district council thinks fit.
(3) A person who—
(a)contravenes paragraph (1); or
(b)fails to comply with any conditions subject to which an authorisation under this Article has been granted,
is guilty of an offence.
(4) The holding of a trial authorised under this Article is not affected by any statutory provision prohibiting or restricting the use of public paths or other public rights of way or a specified public path or other public right of way; but this Article does not prejudice any right or remedy of a person as having any interest in land.
(5) In the case of a public path or other public right of way which runs over Crown land, the reference in paragraph (2) to the owner of the land shall be construed as a reference to the appropriate authority.
(6) In paragraph (5) “Crown land” and “appropriate authority” have the same meaning as in Article 53 of the Access to the Countryside (Northern Ireland) Order 1983F1.