New Streets Act 1951
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1951 c. 40 |
| Year | 1951 |
New Streets Act , 1951
(14 & 15 Geo. 6) CHAPTER 40
An Act to secure the satisfactory construction, lighting, sewerage, furnishing and completion of streets adjacent to new buildings, and to oblige and empower local authorities to adopt such streets.
[3rd July 1951]
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:—
1 Payments to be made by owners of new buildings in respect of street works.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where it is proposed to erect any building for which plans are required to be deposited with the local authority in accordance with building byelaws, and the building will have a frontage on a private street, no work shall be done in or for the purpose of erecting the building unless the owner of the land on which it is to be erected or a previous owner thereof has paid to the local authority, or secured to the satisfaction of the authority the payment to them of, such sum as may be required under the next following section in respect of the cost of street works in that street.
(2) If any work is done in contravention of the preceding subsection, the owner of the land on which the building is to be erected and, if he is a different person, the person undertaking the erection of the building shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and any further contravention in respect of the same building shall constitute a new offence and may, on summary conviction, be punished accordingly:
Provided that where the person undertaking the erection of the building, not being the owner of the land on which it is to be erected, is charged with an offence under this subsection, it shall be a defence for him to prove that he had reasonable grounds for believing that the said sum had been paid or secured by the owner of the land in accordance with the preceding subsection.
Proceedings under this subsection shall not be taken by any person other than the local authority.
(3) This section shall not apply—
(a ) in a case where the owner of the land on which the building is to be erected will be exempt, by virtue of any provision in the appropriate private street works code, from liability to pay expenses incurred in respect of street works in the private street in question;
(b ) in a case where the building proposed to be erected will be situated in the curtilage of, and be appurtenant to, an existing building;
(c ) in a case where plans for the building have been deposited with the local authority in accordance with building byelaws before the commencement of this Act;
(d ) in a case where an agreement has been made by any person with the local authority under section one hundred and forty-six of the Public Health Act, 1875, providing for the carrying out at the expense of that person of street works in the street or a part thereof comprising the whole of the part on which the frontage of the building will be, and for securing that the street or part thereof, on completion of the works, will become a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large;
(e ) in a case where the local authority, being satisfied that the street or such a part thereof as aforesaid is not, and is not likely within a reasonable time to become, sufficiently built-up to justify the use of powers under the appropriate private street works code for securing the carrying out of street works in the street or part thereof, by notice in writing exempt the building from this section;
(f ) in a case where the local authority, being satisfied that the street is not, and is not likely within a reasonable time to become, joined to a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large, by notice in writing exempt the building from this section;
(g ) in a case where the whole street, being less than one hundred yards in length, or a part of the street not less than one hundred yards in length and comprising the whole of the part on which the frontage of the building will be, was at the commencement of this Act built-up to such an extent that the aggregate length of the frontages of the buildings on both sides of the street or part constituted at least one half of the aggregate length of all the frontages on both sides of the street or part;
(h ) in a case (not falling within the last preceding paragraph) where the local authority, being satisfied that the street was at the commencement of this Act substantially built-up, by notice in writing exempt the building from this section;
(i ) in a case where the building is proposed to be erected on land belonging to, or in the possession of, the British Transport Commission or any Executive established by or under section five of the Transport Act, 1947, the council of a county, county borough, metropolitan borough or county district, the Common Council of the City of London, or a development corporation established under section two of the New Towns Act, 1946;
(j ) in a case where the building is proposed to be erected by a trading or industrial estate company within the meaning of section fifteen of the Distribution of Industry Act, 1945, and the cost thereof is to be defrayed wholly or mainly by a government department.
2 Determination of liability for and amount of payments.
(1) In any case to which the preceding section applies, the local authority shall, within one month after the plans of the building deposited in accordance with building byelaws have been passed, serve a notice on the person by or on whose behalf the plans were deposited requiring the payment or the securing under the preceding section of a sum specified in the notice.
(2) The sum to be specified in a notice under the preceding subsection shall be such sum as, in the opinion of the local authority, would be recoverable under the appropriate private street works code in respect of the frontage of the proposed building on the private street if the authority were then to carry out such street works in the street as they would require under that code before declaring the street to be a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large.
The local authority may treat a part of the street comprising the whole of the part on which the frontage of the building will be as constituting a separate street for the purposes of this subsection.
(3) The local authority may, by a further notice served on the same person, substitute a smaller sum for the sum specified in the notice served under subsection (1) of this section.
(4) Not later than one month after the service of the notice under subsection (1) of this section or, if within that month a further notice has been served under the last preceding subsection, not later than one month after the service of that notice, the person on whom the notice under the said subsection (1) was served or, if he is a different person, the owner of the land on which the building is to be erected may appeal to the Minister, and the Minister may substitute a smaller sum for the sum specified by the local authority.
On any appeal under this subsection, the Minister shall give the appellant an opportunity of being heard before a person appointed by the Minister.
3 Sums paid or secured to be in discharge of further liability for street works.
(1) Where a sum has been paid or secured under section one of this Act by the owner of land in respect of the cost of street works to be carried out in the private street on which that land has a frontage, the liability of that owner or any subsequent owner of that land in respect of the carrying out of street works in that street under the appropriate private street works code shall, as respects that frontage, be deemed to be discharged to the extent of the sum so paid...
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