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Before reading this piece of legislation it is recommended that you read the
explanation and analysis. The page on this link explains the most important part of the act
Weeds Act 1959 .
1 Power to require occupier to
prevent spreading of injurious weeds
(1)Where the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (in this Act
referred to as “the Minister”) is satisfied that there are
injurious weeds to which this Act applies growing upon any land he
may serve upon the occupier of the land a notice in writing requiring
him, within the time specified in the notice, to take such action as
may be necessary to prevent the weeds from spreading.
(2)This Act applies
to the following injurious weeds, that is to say—
spear thistle (cirsium vulgare (Savi)
Ten.),
creeping or field thistle (cirsium
arvense(L.) Scop.),
curled dock (rumex crispusL.),
broad-leaved dock (rumex obtusifoliusL.),
and
ragwort (senecio jacobaeaL.);
and to such additional injurious weeds as may be
prescribed by the Minister by regulations.
2 Penalty for failure to
comply with requirement
(1)Where a notice has been served under section one of this Act on
the occupier of any land and that person unreasonably fails to comply
with the requirements of the notice, he shall be guilty of an offence
and shall, on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding
level
3 on the standard scale or, in the case of a second or subsequent
offence, to a fine not exceeding level
3 on the standard scale.]
(2)If a failure in
respect of which a person is convicted under the preceding subsection
is not remedied within fourteen days after the conviction he shall be
guilty of a further offence under that subsection and may be punished
accordingly.
(3)Proceedings for an
offence under subsection (1) of this section shall not be instituted
except by the Minister.
3 Default powers of Minister
(1)Where a notice has been served under section one of this Act on
the occupier of any land and the occupier has not taken the action
required by the notice within the time specified therein, the
Minister may take that action and recover a sum equal to the
reasonable cost of so doing from the occupier or, if it is not
practicable after reasonable enquiry to ascertain his name or address
and he is not the owner of the land, from the owner.
(2)Where the Minister is entitled to recover a sum under the
preceding subsection from the owner of land (whether or not he is
also the occupier) and is unable after reasonable enquiry to
ascertain the name or address of the owner he may apply to the High
Court or, if the said sum does not exceed the amount by which the
jurisdiction of the county court is limited by section forty-one of
the County Courts Act, 1934, or any enactment re-enacting that
section, to the county court, for an order imposing on the land a
charge for securing the payment of that sum.
(3)A charge imposed under the last preceding subsection shall be a
local land charge . . . ; and the Minister shall, for the purpose of
enforcing the charge, have the same powers and remedies under the Law
of Property Act, 1925, and otherwise as he would have if he were a
mortgagee by deed having powers of sale and lease, of accepting
surrenders of leases, and of appointing a receiver.
(4)Where, by reason
of the default of the occupier, the owner of any land has been
required to pay any sum to the Minister under subsection (1) of this
section or has, by reason of a charge imposed on the land under
subsection (2) thereof, otherwise suffered loss he shall be entitled
to recover the amount of his loss from the occupier.
4 Powers of entry
(1)Any person authorised by the Minister in that behalf may, for the
purpose of carrying this Act into effect, on the production, if so
required, of his authority, enter on and inspect any land, so however
that the occupier shall, in all such cases, be served with a notice
of the date on which the inspection is to take place.
(2)If any person
prevents or obstructs the entry for the purpose of this Act upon any
land of any person authorised thereunder, he shall be liable on
summary conviction to a fine not exceeding .
5 Exercise of Minister’s
powers by local authority
The Minister may authorise
the council of any county to exercise on his behalf any of the
powers (other than the power to make regulations) conferred on him by
this Act; and where a council is so authorised subsection (1) of
section four of this Act shall have effect in relation to land in the
county in question as if the reference therein to a person
authorised by the Minister included a reference to a person
authorised by the council.
6 Service of notices
(1)Any notice required or authorised by this Act to be served on any
person shall be duly served if it is delivered to him, or left at his
proper address, or sent to him by post in a registered letter.
(2)Any such notice
required or authorised to be served on an incorporated company or
body shall be duly served if served on the secretary or clerk of the
company or body.
(3)For the purposes
of this section and of section twenty-six of the Interpretation Act,
1889, the proper address of any person on whom any such notice is to
be served shall, in the case of the secretary or clerk of any
incorporated company or body, be that of the registered or principal
office of the company or body, and in any other case be the last
known address of the person in question.
(4)Where any such
notice is to be served on a person as being the person having any
interest in land, and it is not practicable after reasonable enquiry
to ascertain his name or address, the notice may be served by
addressing it to him by the description of the person having that
interest in the land (naming it), and delivering the notice to some
responsible person on the land or by affixing it, or a copy of it, to
some conspicuous object on the land.
(5)Where any such
notice is to be served on a tenant a copy thereof shall be served on
the landlord.
(6)Where any such
notice is to be served on any person as being the owner of land and
the land belongs to an ecclesiastical benefice, a copy thereof shall
be served on the Church Commissioners.
7 Regulations under s. 1
(1)Regulations under section one of this Act may make different
provisions in different cases specified in the regulations.
(2)The power to make
regulations conferred by the said section one shall be exercisable by
statutory instrument, and any such instrument shall be subject to
annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
8 Expenses
Any expenses incurred by
the Minister under this Act up to an amount approved by the Treasury
shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.
9 Application to Scotland
In the application of this
Act to Scotland—
(a)for references to
the Minister there shall be substituted references to the Secretary
of State; and
(b)subsection (3) of
section two, subsections (2) and (3) of section three, section five,
subsection (6) of section six, and subsection (1) of section seven
shall be omitted.
10 Repeal and savings
(1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(2)Any document
referring to an enactment repealed by this Act shall be construed as
referring to the corresponding enactment of this Act.
(3)For the purpose of determining the punishment which may be imposed
on a person in respect of an offence under subsection (1) of section
two of this Act, an offence committed by him under paragraph (3) of
the Schedule to the Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Act, 1921, shall be
deemed to have been committed under the said subsection (1).
(4)This Act shall not apply in a case where a notice was served under
paragraph (1) of the Schedule to the said Act of 1921 before the
first day of August, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight (being the date
of the Passing of the Agriculture Act, 1958), and the provisions of
that Schedule shall continue to apply in relation to that case as
they applied immediately before the said first day of August.
(5)The mention of
particular matters in this section shall be without prejudice to the
general application of subsection (2) of section thirty-eight of the
Interpretation Act, 1889, with regard to the effect of repeals.
11 Short title,
interpretation and extent
(1)This Act may be cited as the Weeds Act, 1959.
(2)In this Act—
“occupier” means in
the case of any public road the roads authority (“public road”
and “roads authority” having the same meanings as in the Roads
(Scotland) Act 1984)] and in the case of unoccupied land the person
entitled to the occupation thereof; and
“owner” includes a person entitled for a
term of years certain or other limited estate
(3)This Act shall
not extend to Northern Ireland.
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