Mineral Workings Act 1985
| Year | 1985 |
Mineral Workings Act 1985
1985 CHAPTER 12
An Act to repeal certain provisions of the Mineral Workings Acts 1951 and 1971, to transfer the assets of the Ironstone Restoration Fund to the British Steel Corporation, to make further provision about agricultural ironstone land and forestry on ironstone land, to confer powers in connection with the reclamation, improvement or bringing into use of certain land, and for connected purposes.
[27th March 1985]
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:—
1 Repeals.
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Act, the Mineral Workings Act 1951 (so far as unrepealed) and the Mineral Workings Act 1971 shall cease to have effect on 1 April 1985.
(2) Subsection (1) above does not apply to the following provisions of the 1951 Act:—
section 28 (modification of payments in lieu of restoration under ironstone leases);
sections 32 and 40(6) (temporary stopping up of highways);
section 41(2) (interpretation);
section 42(1) and (2) (Scotland); and
section 43 (citation and extent).
2 The fund.
(1) The assets of the Ironstone Restoration Fund (the fund) immediately before 1 April 1985 shall on that day become assets of the British Steel Corporation, and the fund shall then cease to exist.
(2) Not later than 31 August 1985, the Secretary of State shall prepare and send to the Comptroller and Auditor General an account showing all sums paid into and defrayed out of the fund in the financial year ending on 31 March 1985 and the state of the fund at the end of that financial year.
(3) The Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine, certify and report on the account and lay copies of it and of his report before each House of Parliament.
3 Ironstone extracted in 1984-85.
(1) This section applies where, during the financial year ending on 31 March 1985, an operator has extracted ironstone in respect of which contributions would (apart from this Act) be payable by him to the Secretary of State under section 1 of the 1971 Act.
(2) Not later than 30 April 1985 the operator shall make a return to the Secretary of State containing a statement of the tonnage of the ironstone.
(3) Notwithstanding section 16 of the Interpretation Act 1978 , the operator shall not be bound after 31 March 1985 to pay in respect of the ironstone any sum by way of contribution under section 1 of the 1971 Act.
(4) As soon as may be after 31 March 1985 the Secretary of State shall pay to the British Steel Corporation a sum equal to the amount he would (apart from this Act) have been bound to pay into the fund in respect of the ironstone under section 8 of the 1951 Act.
(5) Any expenses of the Secretary of State incurred under subsection (4) above shall be defrayed out of money provided by Parliament.
4 Arrangements affecting agricultural land.
(1) The repeal of section 20 of the 1951 Act (arrangements with Minister to bring worked ironstone land to good state of cultivation and fertility) shall not apply in the case of arrangements made under section 20 before 1 April 1985; but subsections (2) to (6) below shall apply in the case of any such arrangements on and after that day.
(2) The Minister may enter into an agreement to vary the arrangements only with the written approval of the British Steel Corporation.
(3) Unless they would otherwise cease to have effect before 1 April 1990, the arrangements shall cease to have effect on that day if—
(a ) they relate to land in the case of which all the work required by a restoration condition of a planning permission was completed before 1 January 1984, or
(b ) they were not made until after the completion of works carried out under section 16 of the 1951 Act in relation to the land in respect of which the arrangements were made.
(4) Subsection (3) above does not affect a provision, of the arrangements there mentioned, for the payment of grants in respect of expenditure incurred before 1 April 1990.
(5) Any expenses of the Minister incurred under the arrangements (whether in the form of grant or otherwise) shall be defrayed out of money provided by Parliament.
(6) The British Steel Corporation shall pay to the Minister sums equal to any expenses so incurred, and sums received by the Minister under this subsection shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
(7) The reference in subsection (1) above to section 20 of the 1951 Act includes references to section 21 of that Act, the definition of ‘management’ in section 41(1) of that Act, and section 10(3) of the Agriculture Act 1958 .
5 Finance for forestry.
(1) This section applies where on or after 1 April 1985 and before 1 April 1990 the Forestry Commissioners make, in the case of restored ironstone land, payments of grant under section 1 of the Forestry Act 1979 (grants in connection with use and management of land for forestry purposes) where the rate of the payments is one determined by the Commissioners after consultation with the British Steel Corporation and the Ironstone Royalty Owners' Association.
(2) The Corporation shall pay to the Commissioners sums equal to those payments and any expenses incurred by them on or after 1 April 1985 and before 1 April 1990 in connection with making the payments.
(3) Sums received by the Commissioners under subsection (2) above shall be paid into the Forestry Fund.
(4) In this section ‘restored ironstone land’ means worked ironstone land which is within the ironstone district and in relation to which—
(a ) all the work required by a restoration condition of a planning permission was completed before 1 April 1985, or
(b ) works carried out under section 16 of the 1951 Act were completed before that date.
6 Further provisions as to 1951 Act.
(1) Any payment made under section 4 of the 1951 Act before 1 April 1985 (as adjusted by any recovery actually made before that day under subsection (3) of that section) shall be taken to be equal to the amount actually due in respect of the financial year concerned.
(2) Notwithstanding section 16 of the Interpretation Act 1978 , no payment shall be made on or after 1 April 1985 under section 9, 12(5) or 18 of the 1951 Act.
(3) Paragraph 4 of Schedule 5 to the Forestry Act 1967 (special parliamentary procedure on compulsory purchase) shall not apply to a compulsory purchase order under section 40 of that Act for the acquisition of worked ironstone land within the ironstone district.
This subsection re-enacts section 25(2) of the 1951 Act.
(4) The following shall be inserted after section 41(2) of the 1951 Act—
(2A) In this Act, except where the contrary is provided or the context otherwise requires, expressions defined in the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 have the same meanings as in that Act.
In the application of this Act to Scotland, for the reference to the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 in this subsection there shall be substituted a reference to the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 .’
7 Power to enter former mining land etc.
(1) This section applies where a local authority have carried out, are carrying out or are considering whether to carry out works on any land under section 89(2) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (treatment of derelict land etc.) for the purpose of reclaiming or improving land under which relevant operations have been, but are no longer being, carried out or of enabling it to be brought into use.
(2) In this section ‘relevant operations’ has the same meaning as in section 89(2) (underground mining operations other than for coal).
(3) A person duly authorised in writing by the authority may at any reasonable time enter the land first-mentioned in subsection (1) above in order—
(a ) to carry out works under section 89(2);
(b ) to survey the land for the purpose of ascertaining the effect on it of works carried out under section 89(2);
(c ) to survey the land for the purpose of ascertaining the location, extent and state of mine workings produced by relevant operations, the state of the land, the risk of collapse of its surface, the likely extent of collapse, and the nature and extent of any works which may be necessary to prevent collapse or to deal with a collapse which has occurred.
(4) The power conferred by this section to survey land includes power to search and bore for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of its subsoil.
(5) A person may not under this section demand admission as of right to any land unless at least 10 clear days' notice in writing of...
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