National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000

Miscellaneous

27Records

(1)This section applies to all records (in whatever form or medium)—

(a)transferred to and vested in a National Park authority by virtue of this Act,

(b)created or acquired by the authority in the exercise of its functions, or

(c)otherwise in its keeping.

(2)The authority must, after consulting the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, make arrangements for the preservation and management of the records and must ensure that the records are preserved and managed in accordance with those arrangements.

(3)The authority may from time to time revise those arrangements but before making any material change must consult the Keeper.

(4)Despite subsection (2) the authority may dispose of records which in its opinion are not worthy of preservation.

(5)The authority—

(a)must ensure that the Keeper has, at all reasonable hours, unrestricted access to the records preserved by it,

(b)may afford facilities for any person to inspect and, on payment of a reasonable fee, to obtain copies of or extracts from those records.

(6)If any enactment makes provision relating to records of a specific kind which is inconsistent with subsections (1) to (5), those subsections are subject to that enactment.

28Inquiries and other hearings

(1)The Scottish Ministers may cause an inquiry or other hearing to be held if it appears to them expedient to do so in connection with—

(a)any of the functions of a National Park authority,

(b)any of their functions in relation to a National Park authority.

(2)Subsections (2) to (8) of section 210 (local inquiries) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) apply in relation to such inquiries or other hearings as they apply to inquiries held under that section.

(3)Subsection (1) is without prejudice to any other provision of this Act or any other enactment by virtue of which an inquiry or other hearing is authorised or required to be held.

29Transfer of staff, property and liabilities

Schedule 4, which makes provision about transfer of staff, property and liabilities in connection with the establishment of a National Park authority or the exercise of its functions, has effect.

30Modification and revocation of designation orders

(1)The Scottish Ministers may by order modify or revoke a designation order.

(2)Subsections (3) and (4) apply where the Scottish Ministers propose to make an order under subsection (1)—

(a)modifying—

(i)the area of a National Park identified in a designation order,

(ii)the functions conferred on a National Park authority by virtue of section 9(2)(d) or under section 10,

(iii)the matters specified in a designation order by virtue of section 7(1)(c) or (d), or

(b)revoking a designation order.

(3)In such a case the Scottish Ministers must set out in writing—

(a)the proposed modifications, or

(b)as the case may be, that they propose that the designation order should be revoked,

and, in either case, their reasons for the proposal.

(4)A proposal under subsection (3) is to be treated as a National Park proposal; and—

(a)sections 3 to 5 apply in relation to such a proposal, and

(b)sections 6 and 7 apply in relation to an order under subsection (1) of this section made in pursuance of such a proposal,

with such modifications as the Scottish Ministers may by order specify.

(5)Sections 2 to 7 do not otherwise apply in relation to an order under subsection (1) of this section.