Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1994 No. 426 (N.I. 1)
NORTHERN IRELAND
The Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994
Made 24th February 1994
Coming into operation in accordance with Article 1(2) and (3)
At the Court of Saint James, the 24th day of February 1994
Present,
The Counsellors of State
Whereas Her Majesty, in pursuance of the Regency Acts 1937 to 1953, was pleased, by Letters Patent dated the 16th day of February 1994, to delegate to the six Counsellors of State therein named or any two or more of them full power and authority during the period of Her Majesty’s absence from the United Kingdom to summon and hold on Her Majesty’s behalf Her Privy Council and to signify thereat Her Majesty’s approval for anything for which Her Majesty’s approval in Council is required:
And whereas a draft of this Order has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament:
Now, therefore, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother and His Royal Highness The Prince Edward, being authorised thereto by the said Letters Patent, and in pursuance of the powers conferred by paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Act 19741, and all other powers enabling Her Majesty, and by and with the advice of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, do on Her Majesty’s behalf order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—
PART I
INTRODUCTORY
Title and commencement
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3) and to Article 56(3), this Order shall come into operation on the expiration of 2 months from the day on which it is made.
(3) The following provisions shall come into operation on such day or days as the Department may by order appoint, namely—
(a)
(a) Part IV;
(b)
(b) Schedule 6;
(c)
(c) paragraphs 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 to 12 and 14 of Schedule 9, and Article 71(2) so far as relating thereto.
Interpretation
2.—(1) Subject to paragraph (4), the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19542shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(2) In this Order—
“the 1982 Act” means the Civil Aviation Act 19823;
“airport” means any area of land or water designed, equipped, set apart or commonly used for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft and services and facilities for use in connection with the landing and departure of aircraft and includes any area or space, whether on the ground, on the roof of a building or elsewhere, which is designed, equipped or set apart for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft capable of descending or climbing vertically;
“airport operator” means the person for the time being having the management of an airport, or, in relation to a particular airport, the management of that airport;
“the CAA” means the Civil Aviation Authority;
“the Companies Order” means the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 19864;
“the Department” means the Department of the Environment;
“licensed airport” means an airport licensed under an Order in Council under section 60 of the 1982 Act (Air Navigation Orders);
“modifications” includes additions, omissions and amendments;
“operator”, in relation to an aircraft, means the person for the time being having the management of the aircraft;
“regulated airport” means an airport in respect of which—
(a) a permission to levy airport charges is in force under Part IV; or
(b) there subsists a pending application for such a permission made in accordance with Article 29;
“statutory provision” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19545;
“subsidiary” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 4 of the Companies Order.
(3) For the purposes of this Order, a hovercraft within the meaning of the Hovercraft Act 19686is not an aircraft.
(4) For the purposes of this Order, section 20(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 applies with the omission of the words “the liability of whose members is limited” and, where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, applies 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 corporate.
PART II
POWERS IN RELATION TO LAND EXERCISABLE IN CONNECTION WITH AIRPORTS
Compulsory acquisition
Power to acquire land compulsorily
3.—(1) This Article applies to any regulated airport, other than a regulated airport managed by a district council under Article 17.
(2) The airport operator of an airport to which this Article applies may for any purpose connected with the safe and efficient performance of his functions as such acquire land compulsorily.
(3) The power of an airport operator to acquire land compulsorily under this Article may be exercised for the purpose of providing or improving any road which is to be provided or improved in pursuance of an order under Article 10 or for any other purpose for which land is required in connection with such an order.
(4) The power of an airport operator to acquire land compulsorily under this Article includes power to acquire, by the creation of a new right, an easement or other right over land.
(5) Where an airport operator proposes to acquire land compulsorily under this Article, the operator may apply to the Department for an order (“a vesting order”) vesting that land in the operator and the Department shall have power to make a vesting order.
(6) Schedule 6 to the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 19727shall apply for the purposes of the acquisition of land by means of a vesting order made under this Article in the same manner as it applies to the acquisition of land by means of a vesting order made under that Act subject to the following modifications—
(a)
(a) for any reference to the council there shall be substituted a reference to the airport operator;
(b)
(b) for any reference to the Department concerned there shall be substituted a reference to the Department;
(c)
(c) for any reference to that Act there shall be substituted a reference to this Order;
(d)
(d) in paragraph 6(2) for the words from “the fund” onwards there shall be substituted “funds of the airport operator (in this Schedule referred to as “the compensation fund”), and shall be discharged by payments made by the airport operator”; and
(e)
(e) in paragraph 12(2) for “the clerk of the council” there shall be substituted “such person as may be designated for the purposes of this Schedule by the airport operator”.
(7) The power to make a vesting order under this Article in respect of land—
(a)
(a) which is the property of any public body which has power under any statutory provision to acquire land compulsorily; or
(b)
(b) which is declared by or under any statutory provision to be inalienable,
shall not, where representations objecting to the proposal for making the order have been duly made by the owner of the land and have not been withdrawn, be exercised in relation to that land unless the proposal for making the order has been approved by a resolution of the Assembly.
(8) In paragraph (7) “public body” means a body established by or under any statutory provision.
Power of entry in connection with compulsory acquisition of land
4.—(1) Where an airport operator proposes to make an application to the Department for a vesting order under Article 3 in respect of any land, a person authorised in writing by the operator may, at any reasonable time, enter the land in order to make a survey for the purpose of determining whether the application should be made.
(2) A person authorised to enter any land under this Article shall not demand to do so as of right unless—
(a)
(a) 14 days notice of the intended entry has been given to the occupier; and
(b)
(b) if required to do so, he has produced evidence of his authority.
(3) Any person who intentionally obstructs a person acting in the exercise of a power conferred by this Article shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
Disposal of compulsorily acquired land
5.—(1) This Article applies to the disposal of any land—
(a)
(a) which was acquired compulsorily by the airport operator of any airport to which Article 3 applies or any predecessor in title of his under Article 3 or any other statutory provision; and
(b)
(b) which, at the time of the disposal, forms part of an airport or is attached to an airport and administered with it as a single unit or has, at any time since the date of its acquisition, formed part of an airport or been so attached and administered.
(2) An airport operator shall not dispose of any land to which this Article applies, or any estate in such land, within the period of 25 years beginning with the date of its acquisition as mentioned in paragraph (1), unless—
(a)
(a) the disposal is for the purposes of the provision of any of the services and facilities associated with the operation of an airport; or
(b)
(b) the disposal is of a leasehold interest in the land for a term of less than 7 years; or
(c)
(c) the Department consents to the disposal.
(3) Any consent of the Department under this Article may be given subject to such conditions as it thinks fit.
Protection of land from compulsory acquisition
6. Where—
(a) an application for a vesting order is made by a person with power to acquire land compulsorily (other than an airport operator) in respect of land which includes land belonging to the airport operator of an airport to which Article 3 applies and used for any purpose connected with the performance of his...
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