Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979
| Year | 1979 |
Ancient Monumentsand Archaeological AreasAct 1979
1979 CHAPTER 46
An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to ancient monuments; to make provision for the investigation, preservation and recording of matters of archaeological or historical interest and (in connection therewith) for the regulation of operations or activities affecting such matters; to provide for the recovery of grants under section 10 of the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 1972 or under section 4 of the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 in certain circumstances; and to provide for grants by the Secretary of State to the Architectural Heritage Fund.
[4th April 1979]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Ancient Monuments
Protection of scheduled monuments
1 Schedule of monuments.
(1) The Secretary of State shall compile and maintain for the purposes of this Act (in such form as he thinks fit) a schedule of monuments (referred to below in this Act as ‘the Schedule’).
(2) The Secretary of State shall on first compiling the Schedule include therein—
(a ) any monument included in the list last published before the commencement of this Act under section 12 of the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913 ; and
(b ) any monument in respect of which the Secretary of State has before the commencement of this Act served notice on any person in accordance with section 6(1) of the Ancient Monuments Act 1931 of his intention to include it in a list to be published under section 12.
(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, the Secretary of State may on first compiling the Schedule or at any time thereafter include therein any monument which appears to him to be of national importance.
(4) The power of the Secretary of State under subsection (3) above to include any monument in the Schedule does not apply to any structure which is occupied as a dwelling house by any person other than a person employed as the caretaker thereof or his family.
(5) The Secretary of State may—
(a ) exclude any monument from the Schedule; or
(b ) amend the entry in the Schedule relating to any monument (whether by excluding anything previously included as part of the monument or adding anything not previously so included, or otherwise).
(6) As soon as may be after—
(a ) including any monument in the Schedule under subsection (3) above;
(b ) amending the entry in the Schedule relating to any monument; or
(c ) excluding any monument from the Schedule;
the Secretary of State shall inform the owner and (if the owner is not the occupier) the occupier of the monument, and any local authority in whose area the monument is situated, of the action taken and, in a case falling within paragraph (a ) or (b ) above, shall also send to him or them a copy of the entry or (as the case may be) of the amended entry in the Schedule relating to that monument.
(7) The Secretary of State shall from time to time publish a list of all the monuments which, are for the time being included in the Schedule, whether as a single list or in sections containing the monuments situated in particular areas; but in the case of a list published in sections, all sections of the list need not be published simultaneously.
(8) The Secretary of State may from time to time publish amendments of any list published under subsection (7) above, and any such list (as amended) shall be evidence of the inclusion in the Schedule for the time being—
(a ) of the monuments listed; and
(b ) of any matters purporting to be reproduced in the list from the entries in the Schedule relating to the monuments listed.
(9) An entry in the Schedule recording the inclusion therein of a monument situated in England and Wales shall be a local land charge.
(10) It shall be competent to record in the Register of Sasines—
(a ) a certified copy of the entry or (as the case may be) the amended entry in the Schedule relating to any monument in Scotland which is heritable; and
(b ) where any such monument is excluded from the Schedule and a certified copy of the entry in the Schedule relating to it has previously been so recorded under paragraph (a ) above, a certificate issued by or on behalf of the Secretary of State stating that it has been so excluded.
(11) In this Act ‘scheduled monument’ means any monument which is for the time being included in the Schedule.
2 Control of works affecting scheduled monument.
(1) If any person executes or causes or permits to be executed any works to which this section applies he shall be guilty of an offence unless the works are authorised under this Part of this Act.
(2) This section applies to any of the following works, that is to say—
(a ) any works resulting in the demolition or destruction of or any damage to a scheduled monument;
(b ) any works for the purpose of removing or repairing a scheduled monument or any part of it or of making any alterations or additions thereto; and
(c ) any flooding or tipping operations on land in, on or under which there is a scheduled monument.
(3) Without prejudice to any other authority to execute works conferred under this Part of this Act, works to which this section applies are authorised under this Part of this Act if—
(a ) the Secretary of State has granted written consent (referred to below in this Act as ‘scheduled monument consent’) for the execution of the works; and
(b ) the works are executed in accordance with the terms of the consent and of any conditions attached to the consent.
(4) Scheduled monument consent may be granted either unconditionally or subject to conditions (whether with respect to the manner in which or the persons by whom the works or any of the works are to be executed or otherwise).
(5) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (4) above, a condition attached to a scheduled monument consent may require that the Secretary of State or a person authorised by the Secretary of State be afforded an opportunity, before any works to which the consent relates are begun, to examine the monument and its site and carry out such excavations therein as appear to the Secretary of State to be desirable for the purpose of archaeological investigation.
(6) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, if a person executing or causing or permitting to be executed any works to which a scheduled monument consent relates fails to comply with any condition attached to the consent he shall be guilty of an offence, unless he proves that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid contravening the condition.
(7) In any proceedings for an offence under this section in relation to works within subsection (2)(a ) above it shall be a defence for the accused to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid or prevent damage to the monument.
(8) In any proceedings for an offence under this section in relation to works within subsection (2)(a ) or (c ) above it shall be a defence for the accused to prove that he did not know and had no reason to believe that the monument was within the area affected by the works or (as the case may be) that it was a scheduled monument.
(9) In any proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be a defence to prove that the works were urgently necessary in the interests of safety or health and that notice in writing of the need for the works was given to the Secretary of State as soon as reasonably practicable.
(10) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
(a ) on summary conviction or, in Scotland, on conviction before a court of summary jurisdiction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; or
(b ) on conviction on indictment to a fine.
(11) Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to applications for, and the effect of, scheduled monument consent.
3 Grant of scheduled monument consent by order of the Secretary of State.
(1) The Secretary of State may by order grant scheduled monument consent for the execution of works of any class or...
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