Ancient Monuments Act 1931
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1931 c. 16 |
| Year | 1931 |
Ancient Monuments Act, 1931
(21 & 22 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 16.
An Act to amend the Law relating to ancient monuments.
[11th June 1931]
Be it enacted by the King'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:—
Schemes for preserving amenities of ancient monuments.
1 Schemes for preserving amenities of ancient monuments.
(1) For the purpose of preserving the amenities of any ancient monument, the Commissioners may, subject to the provisions of this section, prepare and confirm a scheme (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘a preservation scheme’) for any area comprising or adjacent to the site of the monument, being an area to which, in the opinion of the Commissioners, it is necessary or expedient for that purpose that the scheme should apply.
(2) Every preservation scheme shall define by reference to a map annexed thereto the area to which the scheme is applicable (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the controlled area’) and may provide for all or any of the following matters, that is to say:—
(a ) for prohibiting or restricting the construction, erection or execution of buildings, structures and other works above ground within the controlled area, or the alteration or extension of any such buildings, structures or works in such manner as materially to affect their external appearance;
(b ) for prescribing the position, height, size, design, materials, colour and screening, and otherwise regulating the external appearance, of buildings, structures and other works above ground within the controlled area;
(c ) for prohibiting or restricting the felling of trees, quarrying and excavations within the controlled area;
(d ) for otherwise restricting the user of land within the controlled area to such extent as may appear to the Commissioners to be expedient for the purpose of preserving the amenities of the monument;
(e ) for such other matters as appear to the Commissioners to be incidental to or consequential on the foregoing provisions of this section or to be necessary for giving effect to those provisions.
(3) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the confirmation, variation and revocation of preservation schemes.
(4) Nothing in any preservation scheme shall affect any building, structure or other work above ground or any alteration or extension thereof, if it was constructed, erected or executed before the date when notice of intention to confirm the scheme was published in the London Gazette under the First Schedule to this Act, and for the purpose of this provision a building, structure or other work and any alteration or extension thereof shall be deemed to have been constructed, erected or executed before that date—
(a ) if its construction, erection or execution was begun before that date; or
(b ) if and so far as its construction, erection or execution was necessary for the purpose of performing a contract made before that date.
(5) Any person whose property is injuriously affected by the coming into force of a preservation scheme shall be entitled to obtain compensation in respect thereof from the Commissioners, subject to the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act.
(6) If any person contravenes any provision of a preservation scheme for the time being in force, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds for every day on which the contravention occurs or continues.
(7) If, after any person has been convicted of a contravention of a preservation scheme by reason that any building, structure or other work is not in conformity with the scheme, the contravention continues after the expiration of such period as the court before whom he was convicted may determine, the Commissioners shall have power to do all such acts as, in their opinion, are necessary for removing so much of the building, structure or work as is not in conformity with the scheme, or for making it conform with the scheme, and any expenses incurred by the Commissioners in so doing shall be recoverable summarily as a civil debt from the person convicted.
2 Power of Commissioners to contribute to expenses of town planning schemes.
(1) If it appears to the Commissioners that a town planning scheme approved after the commencement of this Act under the Town Planning Act, 1925 , has the effect of preserving to the satisfaction of the Commissioners the amenities of an ancient monument, the Commissioners may defray, either in whole or in part, such part of the expenses incurred by any local authority in connexion with the scheme as, in the opinion of the Commissioners, is attributable to the provisions of the scheme having the effect aforesaid.
(2) In this section the expression ‘local authority’ means a local authority as defined by the Town Planning Act, 1925, or a county council.
Amendments of
3 Extension of powers as respects maintenance of ancient monuments.
(1) The powers conferred by section four of the principal Act upon the Commissioners and upon local authorities with respect to the maintenance of an ancient monument of which they are the guardians shall, except in so far as may be otherwise expressly provided by the deed constituting the Commissioners or the local authority guardians of the monument, include power to do all such things as may be necessary for the maintenance of the monument and for the exercise of proper control and management with respect thereto by the Commissioners or authority, and in particular (without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision or of the provisions of the said section four) power to make any examination of the monument, and to open up the monument or make excavations therein for the purpose of examination or otherwise.
(2) The Commissioners and a local authority shall, for the purpose of exercising any of their powers under the said section four in relation to any ancient monument of which they are the guardians, have access to the monument by any person authorised by them to act on their behalf as well as by themselves, their inspectors, agents, and workmen.
(3) The Commissioners may, in connexion with an ancient monument of which they are not the owners or guardians, undertake, or assist in, or defray or contribute towards the cost of, any work, which, if they were the guardians of the monument, they would be empowered to do by section four of the principal Act and the foregoing provisions of this section:
Provided that—
(a ) the Commissioners shall not exercise the powers conferred by this subsection except with the consent of every person whose consent to the work would apart from this subsection be required; and
(b ) no expenses shall be incurred by the Commissioners under this subsection in connexion with any monument which is occupied as a dwelling-house by any person other than a person employed as the caretaker thereof or his family.
4 Amendments as to Preservation Orders.
(1) Section six of the principal Act shall have effect in relation to any Preservation Order made after the commencement of this Act as if for subsection (3) thereof (which relates to the duration and confirmation of Preservation Orders) there were substituted the following subsections, that is to say:—
(3) On the making of a Preservation Order the Commissioners shall cause the Order to be published in the London Gazette and a copy of the Order to be fixed on some conspicuous part of the monument, and shall also cause a copy of the Order, together with a notice stating the effect thereof, to be served upon the owner and upon the occupier of the monument.
(3A) (3a ) If within three months after the publication of the Order in the London Gazette any person, who appears to the Commissioners to have an interest in the monument, gives notice in writing to the Commissioners that he objects to the Order, the Order shall, if the objection is not withdrawn, cease to have effect upon the expiration of a period of twenty-one months from the making thereof unless it is confirmed by Parliament, but in any other case the Order shall, without confirmation by Parliament, have effect until revoked by an Order made by the Commissioners in like manner as the original Order.
(3B) (3b ) Where under the foregoing provisions of this section a Preservation Order ceases to have effect by reason of its not being confirmed by Parliament, no further Preservation Order shall be made in respect of the same monument until after the expiration of five years from the date on which the former Order ceased to have effect.’
(2) In subsection (2) of section seven of the principal Act the words ‘owing to neglect’ shall be substituted for the words ‘owing to the neglect of the owner.’
5 Amendment as to voluntary contributions.
(1) The Commissioners shall have power under section nine of the principal Act to receive voluntary contributions towards the cost of the maintenance and preservation of any ancient monument, and to enter into any agreement with the owner of any such monument or with any other person as to the maintenance and preservation of the monument and the cost thereof, notwithstanding that the Commissioners are not the owners or guardians of the monument.
(2) For the purpose of the said section, references to the preservation of a monument shall be construed as including references to the preservation of the amenities of the monument.
6 Amendments as to...
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