Pests Act 1954

2Extension of power to require or assist in preventive measures

(1)At the end of section ninety-eight of the Agriculture Act, 1947, there shall be added a new subsection (7), as follows:—

“(7)Where it appears to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries expedient for the purpose of preventing damage by rabbits to crops, pasture, trees, hedges, banks or any works on land, he may by notice in writing served on the occupier of any land (or, in the case of unoccupied land, the person entitled to occupy it) require him to take on the land, within the time specified in the notice, such steps as may be so specified to destroy or reduce the breeding places or cover for rabbits or to exclude rabbits therefrom, or to prevent the rabbits living in any place on the land from spreading to or doing damage in any other place; but every such notice shall specify a time within which the occupier or any person interested in the land may submit to the Minister written objections to the notice, and shall be provisional only and of no effect, unless confirmed after the expiration of that time by a further notice in writing served on the occupier of the land ; and, where the occupier holds the land under a contract of tenancy, a, copy of any notice under this subsection shall be served on any person to whom the occupier pays rent under the tenancy.

A provisional notice under this subsection may be confirmed either without modifications or with such modifications as appear to the Minister desirable having regard to any objections submitted to him.”;

and at the end of section thirty-nine of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act, 1948, there shall be added a new subsection (5) in the same terms, except that for any reference to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries there shall be substituted a reference to the Secretary of State.

(2)The purposes for which the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries or the Secretary of State may exercise his powers under section one hundred and one of the Agriculture Act, 1947, or section forty-two of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act, 1948 (under which he may provide services, equipment, etc. for the purpose of assisting in the destruction of pests), shall include the rendering of assistance in destroying or reducing breeding places or cover for rabbits or in excluding rabbits therefrom, or in preventing the rabbits living in any place from spreading to or doing damage in any other place.