Coal Industry Act 1975

Grants to National Coal Board to meet expenditure under pneumoconiosis compensation scheme

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New right of Board to withdraw support to enable coal to be worked

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Right of Board to work coal in former copyhold land

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Compulsory acquisition of rights over land for opencast operations

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• (1) For subsections (1) to (4) of section 4 of the Opencast Coal Act 1958 (which provided for the making, within the period of ten years beginning with the commencement of that Act, of compulsory rights orders known as “opencast site orders” and “storage site orders”) there shall be substituted the following subsections:—

(1) For the purpose of facilitating the working of coal by opencast operations, the Corporation may, by means of an order (in this Act referred to as a “compulsory rights order”) made by the Corporation and confirmed by the Secretary of State, compulsorily acquire, in accordance with the following provisions of this Act, temporary rights of occupation and use of the whole or part of the land comprised in an authorisation under section 1 of this Act. (2) Subject to the provisions of Part III of this Act as to the variation of orders, the period for which a compulsory rights order has effect shall be a period— (a) beginning with the date on which the order becomes operative (in this Act referred to as “the operative date”), and (b) of such duration, not exceeding twenty years, as may be specified in the order.

• (2) In consequence of the provisions of subsection (1) above, the Opencast Coal Act 1958 shall have effect subject to the amendments in Schedule 3 to this Act.

New procedure for suspending public rights of way affected by opencast operations

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Additional compensation on re-occupation after opencast working

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• (1) After section 23 of the Opencast Coal Act 1958 there shall be inserted the following section:—

(23A) (1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, with a view to furthering the resumption of agriculture on land formerly comprised in a compulsory rights order, a person shall be entitled to compensation by virtue of this section in respect of a holding to which section 21 of this Act applies if he is in occupation of the holding at the end of the period of occupation or if he enters into occupation of the holding at or after the end of that period, provided that he is occupying the holding or (as the case may be) he enters into occupation of the holding wholly or mainly for the purposes of agriculture carried on by way of a trade or business. (2) No compensation shall be payable to a person by virtue of this section unless he is either the person who, immediately before the operative date of the compulsory rights order, was entitled to occupy the holding (in this subsection referred to as “the original occupier”) or a person who, before the end of the period of occupation, became entitled to the relevant interest in the holding in accordance with the disposition of, the original occupier’s estate effected by his will, or the law relating to intestacy, or the combination of his will and that law. (3) In subsection (2) above— “the relevant interest”, in relation to any person, means the interest by virtue of which he became entitled to occupy the holding (or would have become so entitled if the compulsory rights order had not been made); and “will” includes a codicil. (4) The compensation payable in respect of a holding by virtue of this section shall be payable by the Corporation and, subject to the following provisions of this section, shall be an amount equal to the compensation payable in respect of that holding under sections 18 and 19 of this Act for the last twelve months of the period of occupation. (5) Subject to the following provisions of this section, in any case where the compensation last payable in respect of a holding under sections 18 and 19 was in fact payable by reference to a period of less than twelve months, the compensation payable in respect of that holding by virtue of this section shall be an amount equal to the compensation which was so payable under sections 18 and 19, multiplied by the fraction of which the numerator is 365 and the denominator is the number of days in the period by reference to which the compensation was so payable under those sections. (6) Where the person entitled, immediately after the end of the period of occupation, to occupy the holding concerned ceases, before he enters into occupation, to be entitled to occupy some part of it then, subject to subsection (7) below,— (a) his entry into occupation of the part which he remains entitled to occupy shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1) above as entry into occupation of the holding ; but (b) the compensation payable to him by virtue of this section shall be such proportion of the compensation which would have been so payable had he remained entitled to enter into occupation of the whole of the holding as is properly attributable to the part of the holding which he remains entitled to occupy. (7) If, immediately before the end of the period of occupation, only part of the holding concerned (in this subsection referred to as “the compensatable portion”) was comprised in the compulsory rights order and (after the end of the period of occupation) subsection (6) above applies, then— (a) if the part of the holding which the person concerned ceased to be entitled to occupy comprises the whole of the compensatable portion, no compensation shall be payable to him by virtue of this section ; (b) if the person concerned remains entitled to occupy the whole of the compensatable portion, the compensation so payable to him shall not be reduced under paragraph (b) of subsection (6) above ; and (c) in any other case, for the purpose of determining the proportion of the compensation properly attributable to any part of the holding under paragraph (b) of subsection (6) above, the holding shall be treated as consisting of the compensatable portion only.

• (2) In section 35 of the Opencast Coal Act 1958 (time when compensation accrues due) after subsection (4) there shall be inserted the following subsection:—

(4A) Any compensation payable under section 23A of this Act shall accrue due on the date when the person entitled to compensation enters into occupation, if after the end of the period of occupation, and at the end of the period of occupation in any other case.

• (3) In Schedule 6 to that Act (application of compensation provisions to special cases), after paragraph 4 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

(4A) Where a compulsory rights order comprises the whole or part of a holding to which section 21 of this Act applies, and at the end of the period of occupation one person is entitled to occupy part of that holding and another person is entitled to occupy another part of that holding, each of those parts of the holding shall be treated for the purposes of section 23A of this Act as if it were a separate holding, and were a holding to which section 21 of this Act applied.

Savings, transitional provisions and repeals

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• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) Nothing in this Act shall affect the operation of section 3 of—

• (a) the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act 1946, or

• (b) the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947,

in any case where an order under that section was made, or notice of such an order was published, before the commencement of this Act.

• (4) The enactments specified in Schedule 5 to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

Short title, commencement and extent

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• (1) This Act may be cited as the Coal Industry Act 1975.

• (2) This Act shall come into operation at the expiry of the period of one month beginning with the day on which it is passed.

• (3) Section 3 of this Act does not extend to Scotland.

• (4) This Act does not extend to Northern Ireland.

SCHEDULE 1

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SCHEDULE 2

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The provisions of this Schedule apply where a person (in this Schedule referred to as “the claimant”) gives to the Corporation notice of a retained interest as mentioned in section 3(3)(b) of this Act (in this Schedule referred to as a “retained interest notice”).

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• (1) Together with a retained interest notice given by him to the Corporation the claimant shall furnish to the Corporation adequate proof of his title to the interest at the time the notice is given.

• (2) Within the period of three months beginning on the date on which the Corporation receive a retained interest notice or within such longer period as may be agreed between the Corporation and the claimant the Corporation shall serve on the claimant either—

• (a) a notice in the prescribed form accepting his title to the retained interest and acknowledging the obligation of the Corporation to pay compensation in respect of it under section 3 of this Act; or

• (b) a notice rejecting the claimant’s retained interest notice;

and in this Schedule a notice under paragraph (a) above is referred to as an “acceptance notice” and a notice under paragraph (b) above is referred to as a “rejection notice”.

• (3) A rejection notice shall specify the ground or grounds on which the Corporation reject the claimant’s retained interest notice.

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Subject to paragraph 5 below, as soon as practicable after the Corporation have served an acceptance notice on a claimant, the Corporation shall pay to the claimant any reasonable legal expenses incurred by him for the purposes of—

• (a) establishing his ownership of the retained interest to which the acceptance notice relates; and

• (b) giving the retained interest notice by virtue of which the acceptance notice came to be served.

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Subject to paragraph 5 below, where, after the receipt of a retained interest notice, the Corporation have served an acceptance notice in respect of the retained interest concerned, the service of that acceptance notice shall be a valid ground for the service of a rejection notice in respect of any other retained interest notice received by the Corporation after the first-mentioned notice and relating to any of the land in which subsists the retained interest in respect of which the acceptance notice was served.

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• (1) A claimant who—

• (a) has served a retained interest notice relating to any land (in this paragraph referred to as “the relevant land”); and

• (b) is aggrieved by the service on him of a rejection notice relating to his retained interest notice, other than a rejection notice served pursuant to an order under this paragraph,

may, within the period of 3 months beginning on the date of service of the rejection notice make an application to the county court for an order directing the Corporation to withdraw the rejection notice and to serve an acceptance notice in respect of the retained interest which he claims.

• (2) On an application under this paragraph, the court may direct that, in addition to the applicant and the Corporation, any other person who has given a retained interest notice relating to the whole or part of any of the relevant land shall be made a party to the application unless—

• (a) the Corporation have already served a rejection notice in respect of that person’s retained interest notice; and

• (b) the time within which he might have made an application under this paragraph in respect of that rejection notice has expired without such an application having been made.

• (3) On an application under this paragraph the court shall determine whether—

• (a) the applicant, or

• (b) any other party to the application who contests the applicant’s claim, or

• (c) any other person (whether a party to the application or not) on whom the Corporation have served an acceptance notice relating to the whole or any part of the relevant land,

was at the time he gave his retained interest notice entitled to a retained interest in the whole or any part of the relevant land and shall order the Corporation (so far as they have not already done so) to serve an acceptance notice on that person or, if more than one of them were so entitled to a retained interest in the same piece of land, on that one of them whose retained interest notice was given first.

• (4) An order under sub-paragraph (3) above may contain such provisions as the court considers appropriate to secure—

• (a) that a rejection notice is or has been served on every party to the application (other than the Corporation) on whom an acceptance notice is not ordered to be or has not been served; and

• (b) that, where it appears to the court that an acceptance notice has been served which should not have been served, that notice is cancelled and that the Corporation bring the cancellation to the notice of the person who, if the notice had not been cancelled, would for the time being have been entitled to receive compensation under section 3(4) of this Act in respect of the interest to which the acceptance notice related.

• (5) If, in accordance with sub-paragraph (4) above, the court orders the cancellation of an acceptance notice, it shall be conclusively presumed for the purposes of section 3 of this Act and of the provisions of this Schedule other than this paragraph—

• (a) that the person on whom the acceptance notice was served did not have a retained interest in the relevant land at the time he served his retained interest notice; and

• (b) that the Corporation served a rejection notice in respect of that retained interest notice.

• (6) Nothing in paragraph 3 above shall affect the power of the court on an application under this paragraph (or in any subsequent proceedings) to make such order as to costs as it thinks fit; and any such order may make such modifications, if any, of the Corporation’s obligation under paragraph 3 above as appear to the court to be just in the light of the other provisions as to costs contained in the order.

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The person having the right to receive compensation under section 3(4) of this Act in respect of a retained interest to which an acceptance notice relates shall be the person on whom that notice was served, notwithstanding that he may not own the retained interest at the time when the compensation becomes payable and, accordingly, that right shall devolve on his death and may be assigned in like manner as the right of a creditor under an unsecured debt.

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Notwithstanding anything in paragraph 6 above if, at the time at which compensation becomes payable in respect of a retained interest, the Corporation pay compensation in good faith to the person who produces the acceptance notice relating to that interest, the surrender of that notice to the Corporation by way of receipt for the compensation shall constitute an adequate discharge to the Corporation of their liability to pay that compensation, without any further proof that the person producing the acceptance notice is entitled in accordance with paragraph 6 above to receive the compensation.

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If at any time—

• (a) after the Corporation have served an acceptance notice in respect of a retained interest, and

• (b) before the date on which compensation becomes payable in respect of that interest,

the Corporation enter into an agreement in that behalf with the person who for the time being has the right to receive any such compensation, then, on payment to that person of such consideration as may be agreed, the Corporation shall be relieved of any contingent liability under subsection (4) or subsection (6) of section 3 of this Act in respect of that retained interest; and where any such agreement is entered into, paragraph 7 above shall apply in relation to the payment of the consideration agreed as it applies in relation to a payment of compensation at the time referred to in that paragraph.

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Without prejudice to paragraph 8 above, at any time after the Corporation have served an acceptance notice in respect of a retained interest, they shall cease to be entitled to acquire by agreement that interest or any other retained interest in coal or a mine of coal comprised in or lying under any of the land in which subsists the retained interest to which the acceptance notice relates.

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• (1) The Corporation shall keep, at such places as may be prescribed, a record of—

• (a) all retained interest notices given to the Corporation and all acceptance notices and rejection notices served by them, and

• (b) all sums paid by way of compensation under section 3(4) of this Act,

and that record shall contain a description of the land in which subsists the retained interest (or in the case of a rejection notice, the claimed retained interest) to which each such notice or payment relates sufficient to enable the land to be identified.

• (2) The record kept under this paragraph shall be open to public inspection at all reasonable hours, and different places may be prescribed for the keeping of the record relating to retained interests in different areas.

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Section 55 of the Coal Act 1938 (service of notices, etc.) shall have effect as if the provisions of this Schedule were included in that Act.

SCHEDULE 3

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In section 4(6) the words “being an opencast site order” shall be omitted.

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