Protection of
Agricultural Land (Jersey) Law 1964[1]
A LAW for the protection of
agricultural land
Commencement
[see endnotes]
1 Interpretation
In this Law, unless the context otherwise requires –
“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed
growing, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock, the use of land
as grazing land, meadow land, market gardens and nursery grounds; and
references to “agricultural land” shall be construed accordingly;
“Minister” means the Minister for the Environment.[2]
2 Prohibition on the spoliation of agricultural land
(1) Subject to the
provisions of this Article, if any person –
(a) removes,
or causes or allows to be removed, surface soil from any agricultural land;
(b) does,
or causes or allows to be done, anything which has, or is likely to have, the
effect of rendering any land unsuitable for agriculture; or
(c) with
the intent of rendering any agricultural land unsuitable for agriculture, fails
to do anything which the person ought reasonably to do in the ordinary course
of good husbandry,
the person shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) Where an offence
against this Article has been committed by a person other than the occupier of
the land, the occupier shall also be guilty of an offence unless the occupier
proves that he or she could not reasonably be expected to have been able to
prevent the commission of the offence.
(3) It shall be a defence
for a person charged with an offence against this Article to prove that the
person acted in the course of the person’s employment as a servant or
agent of another person on the instructions of the person’s employer or
of some other specified person.
(4) It shall be a defence
for a person charged with an offence against paragraph (1)(a) to
prove –
(a) that
the soil was removed for the purpose of depositing it, and that it has been
deposited, on other agricultural land in the same occupation and that the
removal of the soil does not have the effect of rendering the agricultural land
from which it was removed unsuitable for agriculture; or
(b) that
the soil was removed for the purpose of using it, and that it has been used,
for raising seedlings on agricultural land in the same occupation.
(5) The provisions of
paragraph (1)(a) shall not apply to the removal of so much surface soil as
it is reasonably necessary to remove in the course of cutting turf so long as
the removal of the soil does not have the effect of rendering the agricultural
land from which it was removed unsuitable for agriculture.
(6) A person shall not be
convicted of an offence against paragraph (1)(b) unless the court is
satisfied that the person knew, or could reasonably be expected to know, that
the effect or the likely effect of the act constituting the offence would be to
render the land unsuitable for agriculture.
(7) It shall be a defence
for a person charged with an offence against paragraph (1)(b) to prove
that the land in respect of which the offence is alleged is land the only
agricultural use of which is the grazing of young stock and that the offence
alleged has not rendered the land, or any of it, unsuitable for that purpose.
(8) The provisions of this Article
shall not prohibit the doing of anything –
(a) in
exercise of any powers conferred by or under any other enactments;
(b) in
pursuance of, and in accordance with any conditions attaching to, any
authorization (by whatever name called) granted under any other enactment or as
a reasonable consequence of the grant of any such authorization; or
(c) in
pursuance of, and in accordance with any conditions attaching to, a permit in
writing by the Minister.
(9) The references in
paragraph (1) to agricultural land include references to land the use of
which for agriculture has been discontinued with a view to the evasion of the
provisions of that paragraph.
3 Power of entry
(1) Any person authorized
by the Minister in that behalf may, at all reasonable times and on production
if so required of evidence of the person’s authority, enter on any
agricultural land for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is, or has been
on or in connection with the land any contravention of the provisions of this
Law.
(2) Every person who
obstructs or impedes a person in the exercise of any of the powers conferred by
this Article, and where the person against whom the obstruction is alleged is
not the occupier of the land, the occupier also, shall be guilty of an offence:
Provided that, where a person is charged with an offence under this Article
by reason only that the person is the occupier, it shall be a defence to prove
that the offence took place without the person’s consent or connivance.
4 Protection of agricultural land from contamination etc.
(1) With a view to
preventing agricultural land from contamination by diseases, pests or weeds and
otherwise for preventing a deterioration of the quality of the soil, the
Minister may, by Order, make provision for controlling the addition to
agricultural land of soil taken from any land, whether agricultural land or
not, and any such Order may contain provision for ensuring the proper
administration and enforcement of the Order and, without prejudice to the
generality of the foregoing, for the inspection of any land, the sampling of
the soil and the carrying out of tests in connection therewith.
(2) [3]
(3) In this Article, the
expression “pests” includes any insect destructive to crops, any
fungus, bacterium or other vegetable or animal organism, and any virus or other
agent causative of a crop disease.
5 Power to obtain information
(1) The Minister, and any
person authorized in that behalf by the Minister, may require the occupier of
any agricultural land to furnish to such authority or person within such time and
in such manner as may be specified in the requirement such information in
relation to that agricultural land as may be so required.
(2) The occupier of any
agricultural land who refuses or neglects to furnish any information which
under this Article is required to be furnished, within the time within which it
is to be furnished, or knowingly furnishes any information required to be
furnished under this Article which is false in a material particular shall be
liable to a fine of level 3 on the standard scale.[4]
6 Penalties
(1) A person guilty of an
offence against this Law, other than an offence to which Article 5(2) of
this Law applies, or any Order made thereunder shall be liable to a fine:
Provided that, where a person is convicted of any offence as aforesaid
and it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that the offence was
substantially a repetition or continuation of an earlier offence by the person
after the person had been convicted of the earlier offence, the person shall be
liable to imprisonment for a term of 2 years and to a fine.[5]
(2) Where an offence
against this Law or any Order made thereunder committed by a body corporate is
proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be
attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or
other officer of that body corporate, or any person purporting to act in any
such capacity, he or she as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that
offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
7 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Protection of Agricultural Land
(Jersey) Law 1964.