| Short Title |
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Planning
Act, 1997.
(2) This Act or parts thereof shall come into operation on such date or dates as
the Governor may appoint by Proclamation published in the Gazette.
|
| Interpretation |
2. (1) In this Act, unless the context
otherwise requires -
|
|
"adjoining
land" means that portion of land extending a distance of |
|
|
one hundred feet
landward from the spring high water mark, or where the land to that distance includes a
cliff, to a distance of fifty feet landward from the seaward edge of the cliff top; and
wherever land is extended into the sea, by or as a result of filling, dredging or other
man-made alteration, the landward boundary of the adjoining land shall remain at the line
established;
|
|
"advertisement"
means any word, letter, model, sign, placard, board, |
|
|
notice, awning, blind,
balloon, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of, and
employed wholly or partly for the purposes of, advertisement, announcement or direction,
or calling attention to any person, matter, object or event, and (without prejudice to the
preceding provisions of this definition) includes any hoarding, billboard, wall, fence, or
similar structure used, adapted, designed, or intended for use, for display of
advertisement and references to the display of advertisements shall be construed
accordingly;
|
|
"agriculture"
includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy |
|
|
farming, the breeding
and keeping of livestock (including any creature kept for the production of food, wool,
skins or fur or for the purpose of its use in farming the land), the use of land as
grazing land, meadow land, for the cultivation of crops, as market gardens and nursery
grounds, but does not include the use of land for fish-farming, and
"agricultural" shall have a corresponding meaning;
|
|
"amenity
order" means an order made under section 55;
|
|
"Appeals
Tribunal" means the Appeals Tribunal established under |
|
|
section 67;
|
|
"Authority"
means the Planning Authority established under section 6;
|
|
"beach"
means that area of the coastal zone from the seaward limit |
|
|
of the foreshore
running inland to the vegetation line or other natural barrier whichever is closer to the
landward limit of the foreshore; and a beach may consist of sand, stones, gravel, shingle,
coral fragments or boulders;
|
|
"builder"
means a person engaged as a contractor or otherwise in the |
|
|
erection,
construction, alteration, improvement, maintenance, repair or demolition of buildings or
works incidental to any of the foregoing;
|
|
"building"
includes any erection, structure, chattel or movable |
|
|
structure in, on, over
or under any land and any part of a building so defined (but does not include plant or
machinery comprised in a building), an erection or structure permanently attached to the
sea-bed or temporarily so attached for the purpose only of the exploitation of minerals
in, on or under the sea-bed;
|
|
"building
operations" includes the demolition of buildings or parts |
|
|
thereof, rebuilding
operations, structural alterations of or additions to buildings and other operations
normally undertaken by a person carrying on business as a builder;
|
|
"building
or work" includes waste materials, refuse and other matters |
|
|
deposited on land, and
references to the construction of buildings or works shall be construed accordingly;
|
|
"preservation
order" means an order made under section 53;
|
|
"Chief
Planner" means the person appointed under section 7;
|
|
"clearing"
in relation to land, means the removal of buildings or parts |
|
|
thereof from the land,
the removal of materials from the land, the levelling or grading of the surface of the
land, the removal of vegetation and the carrying out of such other operations in relation
thereto as may be prescribed;
|
|
"coastal
waters" means the sea, and those waters adjacent to the |
|
|
landward limit of the
adjoining land or connected permanently or intermittently with the sea which contain a
measurable quantity of sea water, including sounds, bays, lagoons, ponds and estuaries,
and the land below and along the banks of the waters;
|
|
"coastal
zone" means all lands and waters of the Territory contained |
|
|
within the area
bounded by the outer limit of the territorial sea and by the landward limit of the
adjoining land, and includes coastal waters;
|
|
"compliance
notice" means a notice issued under section 39;
|
|
"Court"
means the High Court of Justice;
|
|
"Crown
land" means land which belongs to and is vested in the Crown;
|
|
"development"
means the carrying out of building, engineering, |
|
|
mining or other
operations in, on, over or under land; the making of a material change in the use of a
building or other land; the sub-division of land; or the use of land or of the external
part of a building or structure for the purposes of the display of advertisement which is
not ordinarily used for that purpose, provided that the following shall not be deemed to
constitute development -
|
|
|
(a) the carrying out
of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of a building, if the works
affect only the interior thereof and do not materially affect the external appearance of
the building;
|
|
|
(b) the carrying out
by the Government of works for the maintenance or improvement of a road if the works are
carried out on land within the boundaries of the road;
|
|
|
(c) the carrying out
by the Government or by a statutory agency of works for the purpose of inspecting,
repairing or renewing sewers, water mains, electric mains, pipes, cables or other
apparatus, including the excavation of any road or other land for that purpose;
|
|
|
(d) the use of a
building or other land within the curtilage of a dwelling house for purposes incidental to
the enjoyment of that dwelling house as such;
|
|
|
(e) the use of land
for the purposes of agriculture or forestry, but not including -
|
|
|
(i) any building or engineering
operation thereon; or
|
|
|
(ii) the operation of a saw-mill
thereon; or
|
|
|
(iii) the carrying out of any works
or excavation thereon for the purposes of accommodation of livestock ( not being livestock
kept for the domestic needs or personal enjoyment of the occupants of the land), or for
the storage of slurry or sewage sludge, within 100 m of the curtilage of a residential
building, not being a residential building within an agricultural unit;
|
|
|
(f) the erection of
gates, fences, walls or other means of enclosure, not exceeding three feet six inches in
height where adjacent to a road or the sea, or six feet in any other case, and not
constructed of asbestos, fibre glass or sheet metal;
|
|
|
(g) the enlargement,
improvement or other alteration of a dwelling house, provided that-
|
|
|
(i) the square footage of the
enlargement does not exceed one tenth of the square footage of the ground floor of the
house at the date of the development or of the house at the commencement of this Act,
whichever is the larger;
|
|
|
(ii) the enlargement is an integral
part of the existing house;
|
|
|
(iii) the enlargement complies with
the requirements of any planning regulations for the time being in force; and
|
|
|
(iv) written notice of intention to
carry out such work is given to the Authority through the Chief Planner;
|
|
|
(h) in the case of
buildings or other land that are used for a purpose of a class specified in an order made
by the Minister under this section, the use thereof for any other purpose of the same
class;
|
|
"development
permission" means permission for development given |
|
|
under the provisions
of Part IV;
|
|
"development
plan" means any development plan prepared under |
|
|
Part III and includes
any modification or amendment thereof, and "plan" shall mean a development plan
where the context so admits;
|
|
"dwelling
house" means a set of premises constructed for use for the |
|
|
purpose of human
habitation but does not include a building containing one or more flats, apartments,
condominiums or townhouses, or a flat, apartment, condominium or townhouse contained in
such a building;
|
|
"engineering
operations" include the laying out, building and |
|
|
maintenance of roads,
drains, runways and bridges, the preparation of land for carrying out of development, the
clearing of land, the excavation of land, the dredging of watercourses or channels, the
filling in of any cavity or excavation on land, the reclamation of land and the placing or
assembly of a pen, cage, tank, pond or other structure in any part of inland or coastal
waters or in, on, over or under any land for the purpose of fish-farming;
|
|
"environment"
means all or any of -
|
|
|
(a) the media of land,
water, and air, including all layers of the atmosphere;
|
|
|
(b) organic and
inorganic matter and living organisms including human beings;
|
|
|
(c) the interacting
systems that include components referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b);
|
|
within the
territorial jurisdiction and control of the Territory;
|
|
"environmental
impact assessment" means the process of collection, |
|
|
analysis, evaluation
and review of information on the likely effects of a proposed development on the
environment and the means to overcome adverse effects;
|
|
"environmental
impact statement" means a document or series of |
|
|
documents which
contains the information on the likely effects of the proposed development on the
environment and the means to overcome adverse effects required by section 26;
|
|
"environmental
protection area" means an area so designated in a |
|
|
development plan under
section 12, or declared an environmental protection area by order made under section 58;
|
|
"environmental
protection area order" means an order made under |
|
|
section 58;
|
|
"fish-farming"
means the breeding, rearing or keeping of fish or |
|
|
shellfish which
involves the placing or assembly of a pen, cage, tank, pond or other structure in any part
of inland or coastal waters or in, on, over or under any land for the purpose of
fish-farming;
|
|
"foreshore"
means that portion of the land of the Territory which lies |
|
|
between the mean low
watermark and the mean high watermark of the sea;
|
|
"industrial
development" means the development of land for the |
|
|
manufacture or partial
manufacture of goods, articles or substances of any kind, or the assembly of manufactured
goods or the turning into manufactured goods of articles which are partially manufactured
or of substances in their natural state, or the repairing, finishing, cleaning, washing,
packing or canning, adapting for sale or breaking up of any article;
|
|
"interim
preservation order" means an order made under section 52;
|
|
"land"
means any corporeal hereditament including a building as |
|
|
defined in this
section and other things permanently affixed to land and includes the foreshore, sea-bed
and land covered by water within the boundaries of the territorial waters of the
Territory;
|
|
"lawful
use" does not include use of any building or other land which |
|
|
was commenced in
contravention of the provisions of this Act or of earlier planning control;
|
|
"list"
means a list of buildings or sites of special architectural, cultural, |
|
|
historic or
archaeological interest provided for under Part VI ;
|
|
"listed
building" means a building, or part thereof which is included in |
|
|
a list made in
accordance with section 50;
|
|
"listed
site" means a site which is included in a list made in |
|
|
accordance with
section 50;
|
|
"means
of access" includes any means of access whether private or |
|
|
public, for vehicles
or for pedestrians, and includes a street or road;
|
|
"mineral"
means any substance in liquid, solid or gaseous form |
|
|
occurring naturally
in, on or under land or on, in or under the sea-bed and formed by or subject to a
geological process, including natural gas, petroleum and related substances such as
asphalt, and including coal, salt, sand, gravel, quarry and pit material, gold, silver and
rare and precious metals, but does not include water;
|
|
"mining
operation" means -
|
|
|
(a) the carrying out
in relation to any mineral, of any activity with a view to working, carrying away,
treating or converting that mineral;
|
|
|
(b) the search or
exploration for any mineral with a view to carrying out any activity mentioned in
paragraph (a) of this definition and the carrying out of any work necessary for such
search or exploration;
|
|
|
(c) the deposit of
waste or refuse materials in consequence of or incidental to any activity mentioned in
paragraph (a) or (b) of this definition;
|
|
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for the administration of this Act;
|
|
"mortgage"
includes any charge or lien on any property for securing |
|
|
money or money's
worth;
|
|
"owner"
in relation to land means a person who is for the time being -
|
|
|
(a) the estate owner
in respect of the freehold interest in the land; or
|
|
|
(b) entitled to a
tenancy of the land granted for a term of years certain of which not less than 10 years
remain unexpired;
|
|
"permitted
development" means development which is authorised by |
|
|
order made by the
Minister under subsection (2) of section 20;
|
|
"plant"
includes any flower, shrub, tree and any herb, grass, lichen, |
|
|
moss or other
vegetation;
|
|
"plant
preservation order" means a plant preservation order made |
|
|
under section 54;
|
|
"prescribed"
except in relation to matters expressly required or |
|
|
authorised by this Act
to be prescribed in some other way, means prescribed by regulations made under this Act;
|
|
"regulations"
means regulations made under any provision of this Act;
|
|
"resources"
means any social, cultural, historical, technological, |
|
|
biological, physical
or chemical elements and processes, renewable or non-renewable, tangible or intangible, of
economic or aesthetic importance which compose the surroundings of mankind;
|
|
"road"
means any road whether public or private and includes a |
|
|
street, square, court,
alley, lane, bridge, footpath, trace, passage or highway, whether thoroughfare or not, and
a reference in this Act to a "road" shall be construed as a reference not only
to the carriageway or that part of a road which is usually reserved for use by wheeled
vehicles, but also to the total road reserve;
|
|
"road
reserve" means all lands reserved for use for the purposes of |
|
|
bridges, sidewalks,
footways, kerbs, verges, culverts, drainage or other roadworks and the adjoining reserves
accessory to a road in addition to the carriageway or that part of a road which is usually
reserved for use by wheeled vehicles;
|
|
"sea"
means the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and all areas |
|
|
subject to tidal
action through any connection with the Caribbean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean;
|
|
"sea-bed"
means the floor and subsoil of the sea between mean low |
|
|
watermark and the
seaward limits of the territorial waters of the Territory;
|
|
"slurry"
means animal faeces and urine whether or not water has |
|
|
been added for
handling;
|
|
"stop
order" means an order made under section 44;
|
|
"sub-division"
means the division of a parcel of land other than |
|
|
buildings held under
one ownership into two or more parts whether such division is by conveyance, transfer,
assignment, vesting order, plan of survey, plan of sub-division, or any other instrument
for the purpose of sale, gift, partition, succession, lease, mortgage or for any other
purpose and such sub-division constitutes development whether or not the use for which the
sub-divided land is intended constitutes development and "sub-divide" shall be
construed accordingly;
|
|
"unauthorised
development" means any development for which a |
|
|
grant of development
permission has not been obtained and which is not permitted development authorised by
order made by the Minister under subsection (2) of section 20, or development which is not
in accordance with the conditions or limitations subject to which development permission
was granted;
|
|
"use"
in relation to land, does not include the use of land by the |
|
|
carrying out of
building or other operations thereon;
|
|
"waste
material" includes garbage, refuse, spoil, mineral tailings, |
|
|
sludge, effluent and
anything of whatever kind which has the appearance of being material abandoned, discarded
or intended to be abandoned or discarded by the owner or former owner thereof, or the only
value of which appears to be as scrap or for the utilisation of parts thereof or the
extraction of the residue of the substance of which it formerly formed part.
|
|
(2) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that -
|
|
|
(a) the use as two or
more separate premises, for the purpose of dwelling, of any building previously used as
one dwelling house involves a material change in the use of that building and of each part
thereof so used;
|
|
|
(b) the use for the
display of an advertisement, of any land or of the external part of a building, which is
not ordinarily used for that purpose, shall be deemed to involve a material change in the
use of that land or part of the building;
|
|
|
(c) the deposit of any
waste material on land involves a material change in the use of the land, notwithstanding
that the deposit is on a site which has been previously so used, if either the superficial
area thereof or the height of the deposit is thereby extended or exceeds the level of any
similar deposit on adjacent land.
|
Act binds
the Crown |
3. This Act binds
the Crown.
|
|
4. (1) The objects and purposes of
this Act are -
|
Objects and
Purposes of
Act |
|
(a) to foster the
awareness that all persons and organisations owning, occupying and developing land have a
duty to use that land with due regard for the wider interests of both present and future
society as a whole;
|
|
|
(b) to maintain
and improve the quality of the physical environment within which patterns of human
settlement are situated in the Territory;
|
|
|
(c) to achieve
orderly, economical and beneficial development and use of land and patterns of human
settlement;
|
|
|
(d) to assist
in the orderly, efficient and equitable planning, allocation and development of the
resources of the Territory taking account of all relevant social, economic and
environmental factors so as to ensure that the most efficient, equitable and
environmentally sustainable use is made of land in the interests of all the people of the
Territory;
|
|
|
(e) to provide
for the orderly sub-division of land and the provision of services in relation thereto;
|
|
|
(f) to protect
and conserve the cultural heritage of the Territory as it finds expression in the natural
and the built environment;
|
|
|
(g) to
facilitate a continuous improvement in the quality of life of all the people in the
Territory.
|
|
(2) In implementing, applying and interpreting this Act, all persons
shall have regard to, use their best efforts to further and give a broad and purposive
interpretation to the matters set out in subsection (1). |
The