Environment Act 1995

Establishment of National Park authoritiesE+W

63 Establishment of National Park authorities.E+W

(1)The Secretary of State may—

(a)in the case of any National Park for which there is an existing authority, or

(b)in connection with the designation of any area as a new such Park,

by order establish an authority (to be known as “a National Park authority”) to carry out in relation to that Park the functions conferred on such an authority by or under this Part.

(2)An order under this section may provide, in relation to any National Park for which there is an existing authority—

(a)for the existing authority to cease to have any functions in relation to that Park as from the time when a National Park authority becomes the local planning authority for that Park;

(b)for such (if any) of the functions of the existing authority as, by virtue of this Part, are not as from that time to be functions of the National Park authority for that Park to become functions of the person on whom they would be conferred if the area in question were not in a National Park; and

(c)for the winding up of the existing authority and for that authority to cease to exist, or to be dissolved, as from such time as may be specified in the order.

(3)Subject to any order under subsection (4) below, where there is a variation of the area of a National Park for which there is or is to be a National Park authority, the Park for which that authority is or is to be the authority shall be deemed, as from the time when the variation takes effect, to be that area as varied.

(4)Where provision is made for the variation of the area of a National Park for which there is or is to be a National Park authority, the Secretary of State may by order make such transitional provision as he thinks fit with respect to—

(a)any functions which, in relation to any area that becomes part of the National Park, are by virtue of the variation to become functions of that authority; and

(b)any functions which, in relation to any area that ceases to be part of the National Park, are by virtue of the variation to become functions of a person other than that authority.

(5)Schedule 7 to this Act shall have effect with respect to National Park authorities.

64 National Park authorities in Wales.E+W

(1)Where a National Park planning board has been constituted for the area of any particular existing National Park in Wales, the Secretary of State may exercise his power under section 63 above to establish a National Park authority in relation to that National Park by making an order under that section designating for the body corporate constituted as that board a date earlier than 31st March 1997 on which that body—

(a)shall cease to be a National Park planning board, and

(b)shall be constituted the National Park authority in relation to that National Park,

without affecting its corporate status (and an order made under or by virtue of that section may make provision re-naming that body accordingly).

(2)Any order under—

(a)paragraph 3A of Schedule 17 to the 1972 Act (special planning boards), or

(b)section 2(1B) of the M1Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (joint planning boards),

relating to the body corporate constituted as the National Park planning board in question shall have effect on and after the designated date for that body as an order under section 63 above relating to that body in its capacity as the National Park authority in relation to the National Park in question.

(3)For the purposes of any order establishing a National Park authority under section 63 above by virtue of subsection (1) above, or any order which, by virtue of subsection (2) above, has effect as an order under that section—

(a)the requirements of paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 7 to this Act with respect to consultation with councils for principal areas shall, by virtue of the establishment of the National Park planning board, be deemed to have been complied with as respects any provision of the order;

(b)in the case of any member of the National Park planning board immediately before the designated date who was holding that office by virtue of his appointment as such by the Secretary of State under and in accordance with paragraph 11 of Schedule 17 to the 1972 Act (which requires prior consultation), the appointment shall, on and after the designated date, have effect for the remainder of the period for which it was made as an appointment as a member of the National Park authority made by the Secretary of State in accordance with paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 7 to this Act;

(c)in the case of any other member of the National Park planning board immediately before the designated date who is on that date a member of a principal council for an area which includes the whole or any part of the National Park in question, his appointment as a member of that board shall, on and after the designated date, have effect for the remainder of the period for which it was made as an appointment as a local authority member of the National Park authority made in accordance with paragraph 2 of that Schedule; and

(d)any other requirement, whether statutory or otherwise, which must be complied with in connection with the establishment of a National Park authority shall be deemed to have been complied with by virtue of the establishment of the National Park planning board;

and, except as provided by paragraphs (b) and (c) above, no person who is a member of the National Park planning board immediately before the designated date shall, by virtue of the order, become a member of the National Park authority.

(4)The functions of a National Park planning board shall include the duty to take such steps as it considers necessary to enable it (that is to say, the body corporate constituted as that board) on being constituted the National Park authority in relation to the National Park in question by an order made by virtue of subsection (1) above, to perform its functions as a National Park authority on and after the designated date; and the functions conferred on such a board by this subsection—

(a)shall be exercisable before (as well as on or after) 1st April 1996; and

(b)are in addition to any other functions which are exercisable by such a board before that date by virtue of paragraph 13 of Schedule 17 to the M2Local Government (Wales) Act 1994.

(5)The functions of a principal council for an area which includes the whole or any part of the area of a National Park planning board shall include the duty to take such steps as it considers necessary to enable the body corporate constituted as that board, on being constituted the National Park authority in relation to the National Park in question by an order made by virtue of subsection (1) above, to perform those functions which would, apart from the order, be exercisable by a principal council but which will become functions of that body, as the National Park authority, on the designated date.

(6)Where the Secretary of State—

(a)has taken any steps with a view to, or otherwise in connection with, the establishment of a National Park planning board for the area of an existing National Park in Wales (“the proposed board”), but

(b)decides not to proceed with the establishment of the proposed board and to establish instead a National Park authority in relation to that National Park (“the proposed authority”), and

(c)the proposed authority is, or is to be, established before 31st March 1997,

the doing of anything by or in relation to the Secretary of State (other than the making by the Secretary of State of an instrument of a legislative character) with a view to, or otherwise in connection with, establishing the proposed board shall be treated, as respects the proposed authority, as the doing of any corresponding or reasonably similar thing falling to be done for the purposes of, or otherwise in connection with, the establishment of that authority.

(7)Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (6) above, in any case falling within paragraphs (a) to (c) of that subsection—

(a)any consultation with a principal council after 15th December 1994 by the Secretary of State as respects the proposed board (whether or not required by or under any enactment) shall be deemed, as respects the proposed authority, to have been carried out for the purposes of the consultation with councils for principal areas required by paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 7 to this Act;

(b)anything done by or in relation to the Secretary of State for the purposes of the consultation required by paragraph 11 of Schedule 17 to the 1972 Act (appointment of members by Secretary of State) preparatory to the appointment of a person as a member of the proposed board shall be deemed, as respects the proposed authority, to have been done for the purposes of the consultation required by paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 7 to this Act preparatory to the appointment of that person as a member of that authority;

(c)anything done by or in relation to the Secretary of State (other than the making by the Secretary of State of an instrument of a legislative character) for the purposes of, or otherwise in connection with, any other requirement, whether statutory or otherwise, of a consultative or procedural nature—

(i)which relates to a National Park planning board, and

(ii)for which there is a corresponding or reasonably similar requirement which relates to a National Park authority,

shall be treated, as respects the proposed authority, as done for the purposes of, or otherwise in connection with, that other corresponding or reasonably similar requirement.

(8)Section 54 of the M3Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (powers to make incidental, consequential, transitional or supplemental provision) shall have effect as if this Part were contained in that Act, except that subsection (2)(e) of that section shall have effect as if this Part were contained in an Act passed in the same Session as that Act.

(9)In this section—

• “the designated date”, in the case of any body corporate constituted as a National Park planning board which becomes, or is to become, a National Park authority by virtue of this section, means the date designated by virtue of subsection (1) above in the order relating to that body;

• “existing National Park” means a National Park in respect of which there was in force on 15th December 1994 an order under section 5 of the National Parks and Access to the M4Countryside Act 1949 (designation of areas as National Parks);

• “National Park planning board” means—

  (a)

  a special planning board constituted by order under paragraph 3A of Schedule 17 to the 1972 Act to discharge, as respects the area of a National Park in Wales, the functions to which Part I of that Schedule applies, or

  (b)

  a joint planning board constituted by order under subsection (1B) of section 2 of the M5Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for a united district comprising the area of a National Park in Wales.