(1)Ministers may vest in themselves by a general vesting declaration any land which they are authorised to acquire compulsorily under section 22.
(2)Schedule 15 to the 1997 Act accordingly applies to the compulsory acquisition of land under section 22, with the following modifications—
(a)this Act is to be treated as a compulsory purchase order,
(b)Ministers are the “acquiring authority”,
(c)section 36 of this Act applies instead of paragraph 2, and
(d)in the definition of land in paragraph 39, “relevant enactments” means this Act.
(1)Before making a general vesting declaration, Ministers must—
(a)publish a compulsory purchase notice in one or more local newspapers circulating in the locality in which the land comprised in the general vesting declaration is situated,
(b)serve a notice in the same or a similar form (together with a copy of this Act and the Parliamentary plans) on—
(i)the owner of the land to which the general vesting declaration relates,
(ii)any occupier of that land (except tenants for any period of no longer than a month),
(iii)the holder of any real burden which would be extinguished under section 25 on the registration of the general vesting declaration, and
(iv)if a development management scheme applies to the land, the owners’ association concerned.
(2)A “compulsory purchase notice” means a notice in the form prescribed for notices under paragraph 6 of the First Schedule to the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 (c.42) which—
(a)states that this Act has received Royal Assent,
(b)describes the land to which the general vesting declaration relates,
(c)names a place where a copy of this Act, of the Parliamentary plans and of the book of reference may be inspected at all reasonable hours,
(d)states the effect of paragraphs 1 to 8 of Schedule 15 to the 1997 Act in the manner prescribed for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(a) of paragraph 2 of Schedule 15 to the 1997 Act, and
(e)invites every person who, if the general vesting declaration were made, would be entitled to compensation to give Ministers information in the form prescribed for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b) of that paragraph.