8 Provisions as to ways over fen-lands not in any internal drainage district.
1
Where work for the improvement of a way (not being a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large) over fen-land has been done under the authority of the Minister in the exercise of powers conferred by Defence Regulations, and no part of the way is within an internal drainage district, the following provisions of this section shall have effect.
2
The expenses reasonably incurred in connection with the work may be recoverable from the owners of land the value of which for agricultural purposes will be increased by the doing of the work, and the provisions of the Third Schedule to this Act shall apply for that purpose, and where any sum is recoverable under the said Schedule as applied by this section, subsection (2) of the last preceding section shall apply as if the sum were recoverable under section two of the M1Agriculture (Miscellaneous War Provisions) (No.2) Act, 1940.
3
If, either before or after the commencement of the work, the council of the county within which the way is situated notify the Minister in writing that they will undertake the maintenance of the work—
a
the council shall maintain the work accordingly, for the benefit of all persons from time to time interested in any of the lands which have been charged under the Third Schedule to this Act with the expenses incurred in connection with the work;
b
the Minister shall, as soon as may be after the completion of the work, deliver to the council a certificate in writing specifying the lands which have been charged as aforesaid and the proportion which, in the case of each parcel of land, the amount charged bore to the total amount charged under that Schedule in respect of the expenses incurred in connection with the work;
c
whenever the council incur any expense in maintaining the work, they shall be entitled to recover as a debt from the owner of each of the said parcels such amount as bears to that expense the proportion specified in relation to that parcel in the certificate given by the Minister under paragraph (b) of this subsection;
d
as from the delivery of the said certificate, the council shall be entitled to a charge on each of the said parcels for the said proportion of any expense incurred or to be incurred by them in the maintenance of the work.
4
Any sum recoverable by a council under paragraph (c) of the last preceding subsection shall, without prejudice to any other mode for the recovery thereof, be recoverable summarily as a civil debt; and any charge under paragraph (d) of that subsection shall be a local land charge F2and shall be registrable under section fifteen of the M2Land Charges Act, 1925, accordingly, and the council shall, for the purpose of enforcing the charge, have the same powers and remedies under the M3Law of Property Act, 1925, and otherwise as they would have if they were mortgages by deed having powers of sale and lease, of accepting surrenders of leases, and of appointing a receiver.
5
In determining for the purposes of this section, and of the Third Schedule to this Act as applied by this section, whether, and the amount by which, the value for agricultural purposes of any land will be increased by the doing of the work, due regard shall be had to the provisions of the two last preceding subsections.
6
In this section the expression “owner” has the meaning assigned to it by paragraphs 8 of the Third Schedule to this Act.