CHAPTER
256
PRIVATE ROADS AND SUB-DIVISIONS |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
SECTION |
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Unlawful to lay out new road or sub-division
without approval of committee. |
Procedure for obtaining approval. |
Unlawful to lay out a new road or sub-division
without approval of Minister. |
Procedure for obtaining approval. |
Approval of Minister to construct as aforesaid
any new road. |
Owner to mark out lots on ground. |
No person to commence to build before markers
placed and new road formed and graded. |
Approval of Committee to alienate unnumbered
lots. |
Appeal from decision of Committee or Minister. |
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Appeal from stipendiary and circuit magistrate or
circuit justice. |
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Power of Minister in respect of roads in need of
repair. |
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CHAPTER 256 |
PRIVATE ROADS AND
SUB-DIVISIONS |
An Act to
make fresh provision for the laying out and construction of new private roads
and for the laying out and development of new sub-divisions and to confer
powers on the Town Planning Committee as well as the Minister for Works in
connection therewith; and to make provision for matters connected with the
matters aforesaid. | 41 of 1961
77 of 1963
58 of 1963
G.N. 7(38)/1964
43 of 1964
47 of 1964
14 of 1973
19 of 1975
2 of 1981
5 of 1987 |
[Commencement 31st
July, 1961] |
1. This Act may be cited as the Private Roads and
Sub-divisions Act. | Short title. |
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- | Interpretation. |
"Committee"
means the Town Planning Committee appointed under section 3 of the Town
Planning Act; |
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for Private Roads and Sub-divisions; |
"owner",
in relation to any land, means a person other than a mortgagee not in
possession, who, whether in his own right or as trustee or agent for any other
person, is entitled to receive the rack rent of the land or, where the land is
not let at a rack rent, would be so entitled if it were so let; |
"road"
means any alley, highway, lane, street or thoroughfare; |
"sub-division",
in relation to any land, means a plot of land divided into lots, in the
division of which plot, provision is made for the reservation of sites for the
construction of access roads. |
3. (1) No person shall without the approval of the
Committee lay out any new road or sub-division. | Unlawful to lay out new road or sub-division without
approval of Committee. |
(2) Every owner of
land desiring to lay out any new road or sub-division shall submit to the
Committee two copies of a survey plan of his plot of land showing the site of
every proposed road and, in the case of any new subdivision, also the number,
positions, shapes, boundaries and dimensions of the several lots into which it
is proposed to divide such plot of land. | Procedure for obtaining approval. |
(3) Every new road
shall be of such width and direction as the Committee shall approve. |
(4) Every lot in a
sub-division shall have such frontage on the road on which the same shall front
and such depth measured backward from such road as shall be approved by the
Committee. |
(5) Every lot in a
sub-division shall be distinguished on the survey plan of the sub-division by a
particular number. |
(6) The Committee
may require any changes which it deems necessary to be made in the survey plan
submitted by the owner of any land. |
(7) The Chairman
of the Committee shall sign two copies of any survey plan approved by the
Committee and the Committee shall retain one copy thereof and deliver the other
to the owner: |
Provided that the
Committee shall not approve any survey plan showing the lay out of any new road
or sub-division, as the case may be, until the Minister has approved with or
without modifications or additions the specifications required to be submitted
by the owner under the provisions of section 4 of this Act. |
(8) If at the
expiration of two years from the date on which any permission is granted under
this section, the owner of the land has not commenced any road construction or
development the permission so granted shall lapse. |
4. (1) No person shall without the approval of the
Minister lay out any new road or sub-division. | Unlawful to lay out a new road or sub-division without
approval of Minister. |
(2) Every owner of
land desiring to lay out any new road or sub-division shall submit to the
Minister specifications for the construction of any proposed road and, in the
case of any new sub-division, also specifications for the provision of any
electricity or water supply or any other utility required by the Minister to be
provided in such sub-division, the said Minister may approve the same with or
without modifications or additions as he shall think fit. | Procedure for obtaining approval. |
(3)
No owner shall sell, agree to sell, convey, agree to convey, demise or agree to
demise any land in a new sub-division unless- |
(a) he has
furnished the Minister with a bond executed by two or more sufficient sureties
approved by the Minister, in a sum fixed by the said Minister and has entered
into an agreement with such Minister for the proper construction of roads to
and in such sub-division according to the specifications approved by the
Minister and the supply of electricity, water or other utilities to and
throughout such sub-division, as may be required by the said Minister within
such period as may be fixed by the Minister, such bond to be conditioned to be
void upon the owner of the sub-division, within such period, so constructing
such roads to the satisfaction of the Minister and completing to his
satisfaction all works necessary to provide electricity, water or other utility
to and throughout such sub-division as may have been required by the Minister;
or |
(b) he has, to
the satisfaction of the Minister, constructed roads to and in such sub-division
according to the approved specifications and has completed to the satisfaction
of the Minister all such works as may be necessary for the supply of
electricity, water or other utility to and throughout such sub-division, as may
have been required by the Minister. |
5. (1) No person shall, without the approval of the
Minister, construct any new road. | Approval of Minister to construct as aforesaid any new
road. |
(2) Every proposed
road approved as aforesaid shall be formed, graded and paved with proper and
sufficient materials to the satisfaction of the Minister, and the work shall be
completed within such reasonable period of time as shall be directed. |
6. Every owner of any new sub-division shall within a
period to be prescribed mark out on the ground each lot with approved markers
and each lot so marked out on the ground shall have the dimensions and
alignment indicated on the survey plan of the sub-division approved by the
Committee. | Owner to mark out lots on ground. |
7. No person shall commence to erect any building or
other structure on any lot in any new sub-division approved by the Committee
until- | No person to commence to build before markers placed
and new road formed and graded. |
(a) the lot has
been marked out on the ground with markers approved by the Minister as provided
for in section 6 of this Act; and |
(b) the proposed
road which is to lead from the lot to a public road has been formed and graded
to the satisfaction of the Minister. |
8. No person shall, without the approval of the Committee,
sell, agree to sell, convey, agree to convey, demise or agree to demise any lot
in a sub-division not being a lot marked with a number on a
survey plan approved by the Committee or whereof the frontage, extent or depth
shall vary in any particular from the frontage, extent or depth of such lot as
shown on any such approved survey plan. | Approval of Committee to alienate unnumbered lots. |
9. (1) An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from
any decision of the Committee or the Minister under this Act. | Appeal from decision of Committee or Minister. |
(2) An appeal
against the decision of the Committee or the Minister shall be on motion. The
appellant within twenty-one days after the day on which the Committee or the
Minister, as the case may be, has given a decision shall serve a notice in
writing signed by the appellant or his counsel and attorney on the Committee or
the Minister, as the case may be, of his intention to appeal and of the general
grounds of his appeal: |
Provided that any
person aggrieved by the decision of the Committee or the Minister may upon
notice as aforesaid, apply to the Supreme Court for leave to extend the time
within which the notice of appeal prescribed by this section may be served, and
the Supreme Court upon the hearing of such application may extend the time
prescribed by this section as it deems fit. |
(3) The Committee
or the Minister, as the case may be, shall upon receiving the notice of appeal
transmit to the Registrar of the Supreme Court without delay a copy of the
decision and all papers relating to the appeal. |
(4) The Registrar
shall set the appeal down for argument on such day, and shall cause notice of
the same to be published in such manner, as the Supreme Court may direct. |
(5) At the hearing
of the appeal the appellant shall, before going into the case, state all the
grounds of appeal on which he intends to rely and shall not, unless by leave of
the Supreme Court, go into any matters not raised by such statement. |
(6) The Supreme
Court may adjourn the hearing of the appeal, and may upon hearing thereof
confirm, reverse, vary or modify the decision of the Committee or the Minister,
or remit the matter with the opinion of the Supreme Court thereon to the
Committee or the Minister, as the case may be, or may make such other order in
the matter as it may think just, and may by such order exercise any power which
the Committee or the Minister, as the case may be, might have exercised, and
such order shall have the same effect and may be enforced in the same manner as
if it had been made by the Committee or the Minister, as the case may be. |
10. (1) Any person contravening the provisions of
section 7 or 8 of this Act shall be guilty of an offence against this Act and
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not
exceeding two hundred dollars. | Offences and penalties. |
(2) Any person
contravening the provisions of section 3, 4, 5 or 6 of this Act shall be guilty
of an offence against this Act and shall be liable on summary conviction
to a fine not exceeding four thousand dollars. |
11. Any person committing an offence against the
provisions of section 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 of this Act shall be prosecuted
summarily by the Minister or by some person duly authorised in writing by the
Minister before a stipendiary and circuit magistrate in respect of any offence
in the Island of New Providence and before a circuit justice in respect of an
offence in an Out Island. | Prosecutions. |
12. (1) An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court
against any decision by the stipendiary and circuit magistrate or the circuit
justice under the provisions of this Act. | Appeal from stipendiary and circuit magistrate or
circuit justice. |
(2)
The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code Act relating to the procedure on
appeal shall apply mutatis mutandis to appeals under this section. |
13. The Minister may make rules for carrying into
effect the objects of this Act and in particular, but
without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, may make rules
prescribing the fees to be paid upon the approval by him of a new sub-division. | Rules. |
14. (1) Where any road, including any road in a
sub-division, is in such a state of disrepair as is likely to interfere with
the normal use thereof or occasion damage to vehicles making use thereof, the
Minister may issue to the owner of the road a notice requiring that owner by
such time as is specified therein to commence and to complete the carrying out
of such work of grading, gravel filling or paving or work of such other nature
as may be necessary to remedy the state of disrepair. | Power of Minister in respect of roads in need of
repair. |
(2) If the person
to whom any notice is issued under this section, fails to comply therewith
within the time specified in the notice, the Minister may have the necessary
work carried out in such manner and within such time as he thinks fit and may
recover, in accordance with section 16, the expenses incurred by him in so
doing and, without prejudice to the right of the Minister to exercise those
powers, such person shall in respect of his failure be guilty of an offence and
liable upon summary conviction to a fine of five thousand dollars. |
(3) Any notice
required to be issued to any person for the purpose of this section may be
issued- |
(a) by
delivering it to that person personally; or |
(b) by leaving
it at his usual or last known residence; or |
(c) by sending
it in a prepaid registered letter addressed to him at his usual or last known
postal address; or |
(d) in the case
of an incorporated body, by delivering it to its secretary or other employee at
its registered office or principal place of business or by sending it in a
prepaid registered letter addressed to that office or place of business; or |
(e) in the case
where it is impossible or not practicable to ascertain the postal address or
residence of the person to whom it should be issued, by causing the said notice
to be published in the Gazette on two occasions the second occasion not
being earlier than seven days after the first publication. |
(4) All expenses
incurred by the Minister in carrying out the provisions of this section shall
be paid out of the Consolidated Fund. |
15. A person who wilfully obstructs any person
carrying out work for the purpose of the exercise by the Minister of his powers
under section 14(2) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary
conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars and a further fine of fifty
dollars for each day on which the obstruction continues after conviction
therefor. | Penalty for obstruction. |
16. (1) Where the Minister has incurred expenses under
section 14 for the repayment of which an owner is liable, those expenses
together with interest at seven per centum per annum from the date of service
of a demand for the expenses may be recovered in a court of summary
jurisdiction irrespective of the amount by the Minister from the person who is
owner of the road when the works are completed or if he ceased to be the owner
of the road before the date when a demand for the expenses is served, either
from him or from the person who is the owner at the date when the demand is
served, and, as from the completion of the works, the expenses and interest
accrued due thereon shall until recovered be a first charge on all of his
property. | Recovery or expenses. |
(2) Sections 15(2),
(3) and (4) and section 16 of the Buildings Regulation Act shall,
as they apply to the recovery of expenses and the enforcement of a charge
mentioned in those sections, apply mutatis mutandis, to the expenses and
the charge mentioned in subsection (1) subject to the modification that
references in the said sections to premises shall be construed and have effect
for the purposes of this Act as references to property. |
17. This Act shall apply to the Island of New
Providence but the Governor-General may from time to time by Order extend its
provisions to any Out Island district or part of an Out Island district, to be
defined in such Order and may from time to time vary or revoke any such Order
so extending the provisions of this Act. | Application of Act. |