2.—(1) The Parliamentary corporation shall be treated as a Crown body for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997(1) (in this article referred to as “the Planning Act”) and accordingly–
(a)the interest of the Parliamentary corporation in any land shall be treated as a Crown interest, within the meaning of Part XII of that Act (application of Act to Crown land); and
(b)any development carried out by or on behalf of the Parliamentary corporation shall be treated as development carried out by or on behalf of the Crown (and, accordingly, the use of the land for the purposes of the Scottish Parliament shall be treated as use by or on behalf of the Crown);
and in relation to land which is Crown land, within the meaning of Part XII of the Planning Act, by virtue only of sub-paragraph (a) above, “the appropriate authority” for the purposes of that Part shall be the Parliamentary corporation.
(2) If the Parliamentary corporation is entitled to occupy Crown land, within the meaning of Part XII of the Planning Act, by virtue of a contract in writing, that contract shall be treated as a Crown interest, rather than a private interest, for the purposes of that Part.
(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) above apply in relation to the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997(2) as they apply in relation to the Planning Act but as if–
(a)references in those paragraphs to the Planning Act or Part XII of that Act were references to the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 or, as the case may be, Part III of that Act; and
(b)the references in paragraph (1)(b) above to development included references to works affecting a listed building and the demolition of a building in a conservation area.
(4) To the extent that the Parliamentary corporation has responsibility for the management of any land in which it has no interests, the Parliamentary corporation shall be treated as a government department for the purposes of the following enactments, which define “the appropriate authority” in relation to certain land belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Crown,–
(a)section 242(2)(b) of the Planning Act; and
(b)section 74(7)(b) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.
(5) In this article “development” and “land” have the same meaning as in the Planning Act.