Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963
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Power of authorised person to enter on land. |
83.—(1) An authorised person may, subject to the provisions of this section, enter on any land at all reasonable times between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. for any purpose connected with this Act. | |
(2) An authorised person entering on land under this section may do thereon all things reasonably necessary for the purpose for which the entry is made and, in particular, may survey, make plans, take levels, make excavations, and examine the depth and nature of the subsoil. | ||
(3) Before an authorised person enters under this section on any land, the appropriate authority shall either obtain the consent (in the case of occupied land) of the occupier or (in the case of unoccupied land) the owner or shall give to the owner or occupier (as the case may be) not less than fourteen days' notice in writing of the intention to make the entry. | ||
(4) A person to whom a notice of intention to enter on land has been given under this section by the appropriate authority may, not later than fourteen days after the giving of such notice, apply, on notice to such authority, to the justice of the District Court having jurisdiction in the district court district in which the land or part of the land is situate for an order prohibiting the entry, and, upon the hearing of the application, the justice may, if he so thinks proper, either wholly prohibit the entry or specify conditions to be observed by the person making the entry. | ||
(5) Where a justice of the District Court prohibits under this section a proposed entry on land, it shall not be lawful for any person to enter under this section on the land, and where a justice of the District Court specifies under this section conditions to be observed by persons entering on land, every person who enters under this section on the land shall observe the conditions so specified. | ||
(6) Subsections (3), (4) and (5) of this section shall not apply to entry for the purposes of Part IV of this Act and, in a case in which any such entry is proposed, if the occupier (in the case of occupied land) or the owner (in the case of unoccupied land) refuses to permit the entry— | ||
(a) the entry shall not be effected unless it has been authorised by an order of the justice of the District Court having jurisdiction in the district court district in which the land or part of the land is situate and, in the case of occupied land, save after at least twenty-four hours' notice of the intended entry, and of the object thereof, has been given to the occupier, | ||
(b) an application for such an order shall be made on notice (in the case of occupied land) to the occupier or (in the case of unoccupied land) to the owner. | ||
(7) Every person who, by act or omission, obstructs an authorised person in the lawful exercise of the powers conferred by this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds; and if in the case of a continuing offence the obstruction is continued after conviction, he shall be guilty of a further offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds for each day on which the obstruction is so continued. | ||
(8) In this section— | ||
“authorised person” means a person who is appointed by the planning authority or the Minister to be an authorised person for the purposes of this section; | ||
“appropriate authority” means— | ||
(a) in a case in which the authorised person was appointed by a planning authority—that authority, and | ||
(b) in a case in which the authorised person was appointed by the Minister—the Minister. |