61(1)After section 36 of the [1974 c. 45.] Housing (Scotland) Act 1974, in Part II of that Act (substandard houses), there shall be inserted the following section: —
(1)Paragraph 23 of the telecommunications code (which provides a procedure for certain cases where works involve the alteration of telecommunication apparatus) shall apply to a local authority for the purposes of any works which they are authorised to execute under this Part of this Act.
(2)Where in pursuance of an order under section 33 of this Act a public right of way over land is extinguished or a street is closed or diverted, and, at the beginning of the day on which the order comes into operation, there is under, in, on, over, along or across the land or street any telecommunication apparatus kept installed for the purposes of a telecommunications code system, the operator of that system shall have the same powers in respect of that apparatus as if the order had not come into operation ; but any person entitled to land over which the right of way subsisted shall be entitled to require the alteration of the apparatus.
(3)The proviso to subsection (4) of the said section 33 shall have effect in relation to any right conferred by or in accordance with the telecommunications code on the operator of a telecommunications code system and to telecommunication apparatus kept installed for the purposes of any such system as it has effect in relation to rights vested in and apparatus belonging to statutory undertakers.
(4)Paragraph 1(2) of the telecommunications code (alteration of apparatus to include moving, removal or replacement of apparatus) shall apply for the purposes of the preceding provisions of this section as it applies for the purposes of that code.
(5)Paragraph 21 of the telecommunications code (restriction on removal of telecommunication apparatus) shall apply in relation to any entitlement conferred by this section to require the alteration, moving or replacement of any telecommunication apparatus as it applies in relation to an entitlement to require the removal of any such apparatus.”.
(2)In relation to an order under section 33 of the said Act of 1974 coming into force before the appointed day, paragraph 47 of Schedule 3 to the 1981 Act (which made provision corresponding to sub-paragraph (1) above in relation to British Telecommunications) shall have effect, notwithstanding any repeal made by this Act, as it has effect immediately before the coming into force of sub-paragraph (1) above.