Section 45 Powers of local authorities over unclaimed land
211.Section 45 substantially re-enacts section 9 of the 1965 Act. It confers powers on a local authority (defined in subsection (3) to include a parish or community council) to protect land registered as common land or a town or village green where the land has no owner recorded in the register of title at the Land Registry, and the local authority cannot identify the owner of the land. In some cases these powers may be exercisable even though an owner is noted in the ownership section of the commons register, because the ownership section of the commons register is not usually updated when ownership of the land changes, and may be out of date.
212.Subsection (2) enables a local authority to take any steps to protect the land against unlawful interference that could be taken by the owner of the land, and to institute proceedings for any offence committed by a person in respect of the land. The powers in section 45 are exercisable by National Park authorities by virtue of paragraph 1(2)(d) of Schedule 9 to the Environment Act 1995 (and consequential amendment is made to that provision by paragraph 6(a) of Schedule 5).