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(7) In any case falling within subsection (5) or (6), the compliance period for the | |
notice shall accordingly run from the date which is its operative date by virtue | |
of that subsection (and any period which may have started to run from a date | |
preceding that on which the appeal was made shall accordingly be | |
disregarded). | 5 |
Powers of entry | |
10 Powers of entry for the purposes of complaints and appeals | |
(1) Where, under this Act, a complaint has been made or a remedial notice has | |
been issued, a person authorised by the relevant authority may enter the | |
neighbouring land in order to obtain information required by the relevant | 10 |
authority for the purpose of determining— | |
(a) whether this Act applies to the complaint; | |
(b) whether to issue or withdraw a remedial notice; | |
(c) whether to vary a requirement of a remedial notice; | |
(d) whether a requirement of a remedial notice has been complied with. | 15 |
(2) Where an appeal has been made under section 7, a person authorised— | |
(a) by the Secretary of State, or | |
(b) by a person appointed to determine appeals on his behalf, | |
may enter the neighbouring land in order to obtain information required by the | |
Secretary of State, or by the person so appointed, for the purpose of | 20 |
determining an appeal under this Act. | |
(3) A person shall not enter land in the exercise of a power conferred by this | |
section unless at least 24 hours’ notice of the intended entry has been given to | |
every occupier of the land. | |
(4) A person authorised under this section to enter land— | 25 |
(a) shall, if so required, produce evidence of his authority before entering; | |
and | |
(b) shall produce such evidence if required to do so at any time while he | |
remains on the land. | |
(5) A person who enters land in the exercise of a power conferred by this section | 30 |
may— | |
(a) take with him such other persons as may be necessary; | |
(b) take with him equipment and materials needed in order to obtain the | |
information required; | |
(c) take samples of any trees or shrubs that appear to him to form part of a | 35 |
high hedge. | |
(6) If, in the exercise of a power conferred by this section, a person enters land | |
which is unoccupied or from which all of the persons occupying the land are | |
temporarily absent, he must on his departure leave it as effectively secured | |
against unauthorised entry as he found it. | 40 |
(7) A person who intentionally obstructs a person acting in the exercise of the | |
powers under this section is guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on | |
summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. | |
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Enforcement of remedial notices | |
11 Offences | |
(1) Where, at any time after the end of the compliance period, any action required | |
by a remedial notice to be taken has not been taken, any person who is then the | |
owner or occupier of the neighbouring land shall be guilty of an offence and | 5 |
liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard | |
scale. | |
(2) In proceedings against a person for an offence under subsection (1) it shall be | |
a defence for him to show that he did everything he could be expected to do to | |
secure compliance with the notice. | 10 |
(3) Where a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) was not sent a | |
copy of the remedial notice under any provision of this Act and either— | |
(a) at the time of the offence he was the owner of the neighbouring land | |
and the notice was not registered as a local land charge in pursuance of | |
section 5(8), or | 15 |
(b) he was not then the owner of that land, | |
it shall be a defence for him to show that he was not aware of the existence of | |
the notice. | |
In a case where paragraph (b) applies and the notice is so registered, the effect | |
of section 198 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (c. 20) (constructive notice) shall | 20 |
be disregarded for the purposes of this subsection. | |
(4) Where a person is convicted of an offence under subsection (1) and it appears | |
to the court that— | |
(a) the failure to comply with the remedial notice is continuing, and | |
(b) it is in that person’s power to comply with it, | 25 |
the court may, in addition to or instead of imposing any punishment, order | |
him to take, within such reasonable period as may be fixed by the order, such | |
steps as may be specified in the order for complying with the notice. | |
(5) Where a person fails without reasonable excuse to comply with an order under | |
subsection (4)— | 30 |
(a) he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a | |
fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale; and | |
(b) if the offence is continued after conviction, he shall be guilty of a further | |
offence and so liable to a fine not exceeding one-twentieth of that level | |
for each day on which the offence is so continued. | 35 |
12 Remedial action by relevant authority etc | |
(1) Where, at any time after the end of the compliance period, any action required | |
by a remedial notice to be taken has not been taken— | |
(a) a person authorised by the relevant authority may enter the | |
neighbouring land and take the required action; and | 40 |
(b) the relevant authority may recover any expenses reasonably incurred | |
by that person in doing so from any person who is the owner or an | |
occupier of the land. | |
(2) Any such expenses shall be, until recovered, a local land charge and binding | |
on successive owners or occupiers of the land. | 45 |
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(3) Where any such expenses are recoverable form two or more persons, they shall | |
be jointly and severally liable for those expenses. | |
(4) A person shall not enter land in the exercise of a power conferred by this | |
section unless at least 7 days’ notice of the intended entry has been given to | |
every occupier of the land. | 5 |
(5) A person authorised under this section to enter land— | |
(a) shall, if so required, produce evidence of his authority before entering; | |
and | |
(b) shall produce such evidence if required to do so at any time while he | |
remains on the land. | 10 |
(6) A person who enters land in the exercise of a power conferred by this section | |
may— | |
(a) use a vehicle to enter the land; | |
(b) take with him such other persons as may be necessary; | |
(c) take with him equipment and materials needed for the purpose of | 15 |
taking the required action. | |
(7) If, in the exercise of a power conferred by this section, a person enters land | |
which is unoccupied or from which all of the persons occupying the land are | |
temporarily absent, he must on his departure leave it as effectively secured | |
against unauthorised entry as he found it. | 20 |
(8) Section 289 of the Public Health Act 1936 (c. 49) (power of court to require | |
occupier to permit work to be done by owner) shall apply with any necessary | |
modifications for the purpose of giving the owner of land to which a remedial | |
notice relates the right, as against all other persons interested in the land, to | |
comply with the notice. | 25 |
(9) Any person who wilfully obstructs a person acting in the exercise of powers | |
under this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary | |
conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. | |
13 Offences committed by bodies corporate | |
(1) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to | 30 |
have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable | |
to any neglect on the part of— | |
(a) any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body | |
corporate, or | |
(b) any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, | 35 |
he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of that offence and be liable to | |
be proceeded against and punished accordingly. | |
(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection | |
(1) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection | |
with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body | 40 |
corporate. | |
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Supplementary provisions | |
14 Orders and regulations | |
(1) Any power of the Secretary of State to make an order or regulations under this | |
Act shall be exercisable by statutory instrument. | |
(2) A statutory instrument containing any regulations made by the Secretary of | 5 |
State under this Act (other than any regulations under section 17) shall be | |
subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of | |
Parliament. | |
(3) No regulations under section 17 shall be made by the Secretary of State | |
(whether alone or with other provisions) unless a draft of the statutory | 10 |
instrument containing the regulations has been laid before, and approved by a | |
resolution of, each House of Parliament. | |
(4) Any order or regulations under this Act may— | |
(a) contain such consequential, incidental, supplementary or transitional | |
provisions or savings (including provisions applying, with or without | 15 |
modifications, provisions made by or under other enactments) as the | |
Secretary of State considers appropriate; and | |
(b) make different provisions for different cases. | |
15 Other documents | |
(1) Any complaint, notice or notification authorised or required to be made, issued | 20 |
or given by virtue of this Act must be in writing. | |
(2) Any notification or other document required to be given or sent to any person | |
by virtue of this Act shall be taken to be duly given or sent to him if served in | |
accordance with the following provisions of this section. | |
(3) Such a document may be served by delivering it to the person in question or | 25 |
by leaving it at his proper address, or by sending it by post to him at that | |
address. | |
(4) Such a document may— | |
(a) in the case of a body corporate, be served on the secretary or clerk of | |
that body; | 30 |
(b) in the case of a partnership, be served on a partner or a person having | |
the control or management of the partnership business. | |
(5) For the purposes of this section and of section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 | |
(c. 30) (service of documents by post) in its application to this section, a | |
person’s proper address shall be his last known address, except that— | 35 |
(a) in the case of a body corporate or their secretary or clerk, it shall be the | |
address of the registered or principal office of that body; | |
(b) in the case of a partnership or person having the control or the | |
management of the partnership business, it shall be the principal office | |
of the partnership; | 40 |
and for the purposes of this subsection the principal office of a company | |
registered outside the United Kingdom or of a partnership carrying on | |
business outside the United Kingdom shall be their principal office within the | |
United Kingdom. | |
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(6) If a person has specified an address in the United Kingdom other than his | |
proper address within the meaning of subsection (5) above as the one at which | |
he or someone on his behalf will accept documents of a particular description, | |
that address shall also be treated for the purpose of this section and section 7 | |
of the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30) as his proper address in connection with | 5 |
the service on him of a document of that description. | |
(7) Where— | |
(a) by virtue of this Act any document is required to be given or sent to the | |
owner or occupier of any land, and | |
(b) the name or address of any such person cannot after reasonable inquiry | 10 |
be ascertained, | |
the document may be served either by leaving it in the hands of a person who | |
is or appears to be resident or employed on the land or by leaving it | |
conspicuously affixed to some building or object on the land. | |
16 Interpretation | 15 |
In this Act— | |
“complaint” shall be construed in accordance with section 1(1) and (4); | |
“the complainant” has the meaning given by section 1(3); | |
“the compliance period” has the meaning given by section 5(6); | |
“domestic property” has the meaning given by section 3(1); | 20 |
“high hedge” has the meaning given by section 2(1); | |
“local authority”, in relation to England, means— | |
(a) a district council, | |
(b) a county council for a county in which there are no districts, | |
(c) a London borough council, or | 25 |
(d) the Common Council for the City of London; | |
and, in relation to Wales, means a county council or a county borough | |
council; | |
“the neighbouring land” has the meaning given by section 1(3); | |
“occupier”, in relation to any land, means the person entitled to | 30 |
possession of the land by virtue of an estate or interest in it, | |
“the operative date” shall be construed in accordance with sections 5(5) | |
and 9(5) and (6); | |
“owner”, in relation to any land, means a person (other than a mortgagee | |
not in possession) who, whether in his own right or as trustee for any | 35 |
person— | |
(a) is entitled to receive the rack rent of the land, or | |
(b) where the land is not let at a rack rent, would be so entitled if it | |
were so let; | |
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of | 40 |
State; | |
“the relevant authority” has the meaning given by section 1(3); | |
“remedial notice” shall be construed in accordance with section 5(1). | |
17 Power to amend sections 1 and 2 | |
(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations do one or both of the following— | 45 |
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(a) amend section 1 for the purpose of extending the scope of complaints | |
relating to high hedges to which this Act applies; and | |
(b) amend the definition of “high hedge” in section 2(1) and any provision | |
of section 2(2). | |
(2) Any regulations under subsection (1) may make such consequential | 5 |
amendments of this Act as the Secretary of State considers appropriate. | |
18 Financial provisions | |
There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament— | |
(a) any expenses incurred by the Secretary of State in consequence of this | |
Act; and | 10 |
(b) any increase attributable to this Act in sums payable out of money so | |
provided by virtue of any other Act. | |
19 Crown application | |
(1) Any provision made by or under this Act binds the Crown. | |
(2) The Crown is not, however, criminally liable as a result of any such provision. | 15 |
(3) Subsection (2) does not affect the application of any such provision to persons | |
in the service of the Crown. | |
20 Wales | |
(1) This Act applies to Wales with the substitution of a reference to the National | |
Assembly for Wales for each reference to the Secretary of State. | 20 |
(2) Subsection (1) does not have effect in relation to section 14(2) or (3). | |
21 Short title, commencement and extent | |
(1) This Act may be cited as the High Hedges Act 2003. | |
(2) This Act shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may appoint | |
by order; and different days may be so appointed for different purposes. | 25 |
(3) This Act extends to England and Wales only. | |
(4) Nothing in this Act shall impose any charge on the people or on public | |
funds, or vary the amount or incidence of or otherwise alter any such charge | |
in any manner, or affect the assessment, levying, administration or | |
application of any money raised by any such charge. | 30 |
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