Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

Miscellaneous and supplemental

145Application to the Crown

(1)This Chapter is binding on the Crown and applies in relation to any Crown land as it applies in relation to any other land.

This is subject to subsection (2).

(2)No contravention by the Crown of any provision of this Chapter is to make the Crown criminally liable; but the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session may, on the application of the appropriate authority or any other authority charged with enforcing that provision, declare unlawful any act or omission of the Crown which constitutes such a contravention.

(3)Despite subsection (2), the provisions of this Chapter apply to persons in the public service of the Crown as they apply to other persons.

(4)For the purposes of this section “Crown land” means land an interest in which—

(a)belongs to Her Majesty in right of the Crown or in right of Her private estates,

(b)belongs to Her Majesty in right of the Duchy of Lancaster,

(c)belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall, or

(d)belongs to a government department or is held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of a government department.

(5)In this section references to Her Majesty’s private estates are to be construed in accordance with section 1 of the Crown Private Estates Act 1862 (c. 37).

146Consequential and transitional provision

(1)Schedule 11 (which makes consequential amendments) has effect.

(2)Schedule 12 (which makes transitional provision) has effect.

147Interpretation of this Chapter

(1)In this Chapter—

• “animal” includes any egg, larva, pupa, or other immature stage of an animal;

• “appropriate authority” has the meaning given by section 116(5);

• “the appropriate statutory conservation body” means—

  (a)

  in respect of an area in England, Natural England,

  (b)

  in respect of an area in Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales,

  (c)

  in respect of an area outside the seaward limits of the territorial sea, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee;

• “emergency byelaw” has the meaning given by section 131;

• “enforcement authority” means, in relation to any area, any authority which has a function (whether or not statutory) of taking any action with a view to or in connection with the imposition of any sanction, criminal or otherwise, in a case where an offence under this Chapter is committed in that area;

• “England” includes the English inshore region;

• “interim byelaw” means a byelaw made under section 132(1);

• “interim order” means an order made under section 136(1);

• “marine installation” means any artificial island, installation or structure;

• “MCZ” means a marine conservation zone designated by an order under section 116;

• “protected feature”, in relation to an MCZ or proposed MCZ, means any flora, fauna, habitat or feature which is sought to be conserved by the making of the order designating the zone;

• “sea” has the meaning given by section 322(1), except that it does not include any waters upstream of the fresh-water limit of estuarial waters;

• “seashore” means—

  (a)

  the foreshore, that is to say, land which is covered and uncovered by the ordinary movement of the tide, and

  (b)

  any land, whether or not covered intermittently by water, which is in apparent continuity (determined by reference to the physical characteristics of that land) with the foreshore, as far landward as any natural or artificial break in that continuity;

• “vehicles” includes—

  (a)

  bicycles and other non-motorised forms of transport, and

  (b)

  hovercraft;

• “vessels” includes—

  (a)

  hovercraft,

  (b)

  aircraft capable of landing on water, and

  (c)

  any other craft capable of travelling on, in or under water, whether or not capable of carrying any person;

• “Wales” includes the Welsh inshore region.

(2)In the definition of “sea” in subsection (1) “estuarial waters” means any waters within the limits of transitional waters, within the meaning of the Water Framework Directive (that is to say, Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy).