Local Authorities (Works) Act, 1949

Power of entry on land.

4.—(1) A local authority executing works pursuant to this Act or an order or agreement made thereunder, or any officer, servant or agent of such authority, may, subject to the provisions of this section, enter on any land for the purposes of the execution of the works.

(2) Before entering on land under this section for a purpose other than the execution of urgent works, a local authority executing works pursuant to this Act or an order or agreement made thereunder, shall either obtain the consent (in the case of occupied land) of the occupier, or (in the case of unoccupied land) of the owner or shall give not less than fourteen days' notice in writing of the intention, to make such entry.

(3) The notice referred to in subsection (2) of this section may be given to a person in any of the following ways:—

(a) by delivering it to such person,

(b) by leaving it at the address where such person ordinarily resides,

(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to such person at the address where he ordinarily resides, or

(d) by posting it at or near the land concerned.

(4) Any person to whom a notice of intention to enter on land has been given under this section may, not later than fourteen days after the giving of such notice, apply to the justice of the District Court having jurisdiction in the district in which such land is situate, on notice to the local authority by whom or on whose behalf such notice was given, for an order prohibiting the said entry on such land, and, upon the hearing of such application, such justice may, if he so thinks proper, either wholly prohibit such entry on such land or specify conditions to be observed by the person making such entry.

(5) Where a justice of the District Court prohibits under the next preceding subsection of this section a proposed entry on land, it shall not be lawful for any person to enter on such land under this section, and where a justice of the District Court specifies under the said next preceding subsection of this section conditions to be observed by persons entering on land under this section, every person who so enters on such land shall observe the conditions so specified.

(6) In this section the expression “urgent works” means works the immediate execution of which is, in the opinion of the local authority executing the works, necessary to prevent serious injury to any person, land or permanent construction.

(7) A person who obstructs or interferes with the exercise of the power conferred by subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.