Tramways Act 1870
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1870 c. 78 |
| Year | 1870 |
Tramways Act, 1870
(33 & 34 Vict.) CHAP. 78.
An Act to facilitate the construction and to regulate the working of Tramways.
[9th August 1870]
B E 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:
Preliminary.
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as ‘TheTramways Act, 1870.’
2 Limitation of Act.
2. This Act shall not extend to Ireland.
3 Interpretation of terms.
3. For the purposes of this Act the terms herein-after mentioned shall have the meanings herein-after assigned to them; that is to say,
The terms ‘local authority’ and ‘local rate’ shall mean respectively the bodies of persons and rate named in the table in Part One of the schedule (A.) to this Act annexed:
The term ‘road’ shall mean any carriageway being a public highway, and the carriageway of any bridge forming part of or leading to the same:
The term ‘road authority’ shall mean, in the districts specified in the table in Part Two of the schedule (A.) to this Act annexed, the bodies of persons named in the same table, and elsewhere any local authority, board, town council, body corporate, commissioners, trustees, vestry, or other body or persons in whom a road as defined by this Act is vested, or who have the power to maintain or repair such road:
The term ‘district’ in relation to a local authority or road authority, shall mean the area within the jurisdiction of such local authority or road authority:
The term ‘prescribed’ shall mean prescribed by any rules made in pursuance of this Act:
The term ‘the Lands Clauses Acts’ means, so far as the Provisional Order in which that term is used relates to England, The Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845; and so far as the same relates to Scotland, The Lands Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845; together with, in each case, The Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts Amendment Act, 1860:
The term ‘two justices’ shall, in addition to its ordinary signification, mean one stipendiary or police magistrate acting in any police court for the district.
PART I.
Provisional Orders authorising the Construction of Tramways.
4 By whom Provisional Orders authorising the construction of tramways may be obtained.
4. Provisional Orders authorising the construction of tramways in any district may be obtained by—
(1) (1.) The local authority of such district; or by—
(2) (2.) Any person, persons, corporation, or company, with the consent of the local authority of such district; or of the road authority of such district where such district is or forms part of a highway district formed under the provisions of ‘The Highway Acts:’
And any such local authority, person, persons, corporation, or company shall be deemed to be promoters of a tramway, and are in this Act referred to as ‘the promoters.’
Application for a Provisional Order shall not be made by any local authority until such application shall be approved in the manner prescribed in Part III. of the schedule A. to this Act annexed.
Where in any district there is a road authority distinct from the local authority, the consent of such road authority shall also be necessary in any case where power is sought to break up any road subject to the jurisdiction of such road authority, before any Provisional Order can be obtained.
5 The Board of Trade may in certain cases dispense with the consent of local or road authority.
5. Where it is proposed to lay down a tramway in two or more districts, and any local or road authority having jurisdiction in any of such districts does not consent thereto, the Board of Trade may, nevertheless make a Provisional Order authorising the construction of such tramway if they are satisfied, after inquiry, that two thirds of the length of such tramway is proposed to be laid in a district or in districts the local and road authority or the local and road authorities of which district or districts do consent thereto; and in such case they shall make a special report stating the grounds upon which they have made such order.
6 Notices and deposit of documents by promoters as in schedule.
6. The promoters intending to make an application for a Provisional Order shall proceed as follows:—
(1) (1.) In the months of October and November next before their application, or in one of those months, they shall publish notice of their intention to make such application by advertisement; and they shall, on or before the fifteenth day of the following month of December, serve notice of such intention, in accordance with the standing orders (if any) of both Houses of Parliament for the time being in force with respect to Bills for the construction of tramways:
(2) (2.) On or before the thirtieth day of the same month of November they shall deposit the documents described in Part Two of the same schedule, according to the regulations therein contained:
(3) (3.) On or before the twenty-third day of December in the same year they shall deposit the documents described in Part Three of the same schedule, according to the regulations therein contained:
All maps, plans, and documents required by this Act to be deposited for the purposes of any Provisional Order may be deposited with the persons and in the manner directed by the Act of the session of Parliament held in the seventh year of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth and the first year of Her present Majesty, intituled ‘An Act to compel clerks of the peace for counties and other persons to take the custody of such documents as shall be directed to be deposited with them under the standing orders of either House of Parliament;’ and all the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly.
7 Power for Board of Trade to determine on application and on objection.
7. The Board of Trade shall consider the application, and may, if they think fit, direct an inquiry in the district to which the same relates, or may otherwise inquire as to the propriety of proceeding upon such application, and they shall consider any objection thereto that may be lodged with them on or before such day as they from time to time appoint, and shall determine whether or not the promoters may proceed with the application.
8 Power for Board of Trade to make Provisional Order.
8. Where it appears to the Board of Trade expedient and proper that the application should be granted, with or without addition or modification, or subject or not to any restriction or condition, the Board of Trade may settle and make a Provisional Order accordingly.
Every such Provisional Order shall empower the promoters therein specified to make the tramway upon the gauge and in manner therein described, and shall contain such provisions as (subject to the requirements of this Act) the Board of Trade, according to the nature of the application and the facts and circumstances of each case, think fit to submit to Parliament for confirmation in manner provided by this Act; but so that any such Provisional Order shall not contain any provision for empowering the promoters or any other person to acquire lands otherwise than by agreement, or to acquire any lands, even by agreement, except to an extent therein limited, or to construct a tramway elsewhere than along or across a road, or upon land taken by agreement.
9 Regulations as to construction of tramways in towns.
9. Every tramway in a town which is hereafter authorised by Provisional Order shall be constructed and maintained as nearly as may be in the middle of the road; and no tramway shall be authorised by any Provisional Order to be so laid that for a distance of thirty feet or upwards a leis space than nine feet and six inches shall intervene between the outside of the footpath on either side of the road and the nearest rail of the tramway if one third of the owners or one third of the occupiers of the houses, shops, or warehouses abutting upon the part of the road where such less space shall intervene as aforesaid shall in the prescribed manner and at the prescribed time express their dissent from any tramway being so laid.
10 Nature of traffic on tramway and tolls to be specified in Provisional Order.
10. Every such Provisional Order shall specify the nature of the traffic for which such tramway is to be used, and the tolls and charges which may be demanded and taken...
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