Crown Estate Act 1961

5 Special provisions as to particular properties.U.K.

(1)Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Act, it shall be the duty of the Commissioners in exercising their powers of management in relation to the Windsor Estate to aim at maintaining its present character as a Royal park and forest, and except as provided by subsection (3) below the Commissioners shall not sell or give in exchange any land forming part of the Windsor Estate.

(2)Subsection (1) above shall not prevent the Commissioners, so far as is consistent with their duty to maintain the character of the Windsor Estate, from using any part of the Windsor Estate, or permitting it to be used, for purposes of forestry or agriculture or other purposes not prejudicial to that duty, or for the purpose of providing dwellings for persons employed in or in connection with the Windsor Estate and for purposes connected with their convenience and welfare, or from granting any lease of, or any right or privilege over or in relation to, any part of the Windsor Estate for any such purpose, or (subject to such restrictions and conditions as the Commissioners see fit to impose) from allowing the public to have access to any part of the Windsor Estate for purposes of recreation, or in connection with any agricultural or other show or exhibition or in such other cases as the Commissioners may determine.

(3)Where the Commissioners are satisfied by a certificate of the [F1Secretary of State] that land in Windsor Forest which forms part of the Windsor Estate is in the public interest required by any public or local authority for development, and are also satisfied that the land so required can be suitably replaced in the Windsor Estate by other land (not less in area) which is adjacent to the Windsor Estate and forms part of or can be acquired for the Crown Estate, the Commissioners may, with the consent of Her Majesty signified under the Royal Sign Manual,—

(a)sell or exchange the land so required; and

(b)by order direct that the other land shall from the date of the order (or from the date of its acquisition, if that is later) be added to the Windsor Estate;

and land sold or exchanged under this subsection shall cease to be part of Windsor Forest, and land added to the Windsor Estate under this subsection shall become part of Windsor Forest.

(4)Subject to subsection (3) above, “the Windsor Estate” means for the purposes of this section the land which at the commencement of this Act forms part of the Crown Estate and is within the area of Windsor Park and Windsor Forest; and if Her Majesty is pleased by Order in Council to declare the boundaries of the Windsor Estate as defined by this subsection, or to declare the boundary within the Windsor Estate as so defined between Windsor Park and Windsor Forest, the declaration shall be conclusive for the purposes of this Act.

(5)The foregoing provisions of this Act shall not authorise the Commissioners to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any house which is for the time being at the disposal of Her Majesty, or any right or privilege over or in relation to any such house; and, with the consent of Her Majesty signified under the Royal Sign Manual, arrangements (by way of exchange or otherwise) may be made on such terms as the Treasury may approve for any house forming part of the Crown Estate to be, or to cease to be, at the disposal of Her Majesty.

This subsection shall apply to any garden or other ground attached to and usually occupied with a house or otherwise required for its amenity or convenience as it applies to the house.