PART 4SUPPLEMENTAL POWERS
Authority to survey and investigate the land
article 21 21.—(1) The undertaker may for the purposes of the construction, operation or maintenance of the authorised development enter on any land shown within the Order limits or which may be affected by the authorised development and—
article 21 1 a (a)survey or investigate the land (including any watercourses, groundwater, static water bodies or vegetation on the land);
article 21 1 b (b)without limitation on the scope of sub-paragraph (a), make any excavations, trial holes. boreholes, and other investigations in such positions on the land as the undertaker thinks fit to investigate the extent or the nature of the surface layer, subsoil, ground water, underground structures, foundations, and plant or apparatus and remove soil and water samples and discharge water from sampling operations on to the land;
article 21 1 c (c)without limitation on the scope of sub-paragraph (a), carry out ecological or archaeological investigations on such land, including making any excavations or trial holes on the land for such purposes; and
article 21 1 d (d)place on, leave on and remove from the land apparatus for use in connection with the survey and investigation of land and making of trial holes and boreholes.
(2) No land may be entered or equipment placed or left on or removed from the land under paragraph (1) unless at least 14 days’ notice has been served on every owner and occupier of the land and that notice must indicate the nature of the activity that the undertaker intends to carry out.
(3) Any person entering land under this article on behalf of the undertaker—
article 21 3 a (a)must, if so required, before or after entering the land, produce written evidence of their authority to do so; and
article 21 3 b (b)may take onto the land such vehicles and equipment as are necessary to carry out the survey or investigation or to make the trial holes or boreholes.
(4) No trial holes or boreholes are to be made under this article—
article 21 4 a (a)in land located within a highway boundary without the consent of the relevant local highway authority; or
article 21 4 b (b)in a private street without the consent of the street authority,
but such consent must not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.
(5) The undertaker must compensate the owners and occupiers of the land for any loss or damage arising by reason of the exercise of the powers conferred by this article, such compensation to be determined, in case of dispute, as if it were a dispute under Part 1 (determination of questions of disputed compensation) of the 1961 Act.
(6) If either a relevant local highway authority or street authority which receives an application for consent fails to notify the undertaker of its decision within 28 days of receiving the application for consent—
article 21 6 a (a)under paragraph (4)(a) in the case of a relevant local highway authority; or
article 21 6 b (b)under paragraph (4)(b) in the case of a street authority,
that authority will be deemed to have granted consent provided the application includes the statement required under paragraph (8).
(7) Section 13 (refusal to give possession to acquiring authority) of the 1965 Act applies to the entry onto land pursuant to this article to the same extent as it applies to the compulsory acquisition of land under this Order by virtue of section 125 (application of compulsory acquisition provisions) of the 2008 Act.
(8) Any application for consent under paragraph (4) must include a statement that the provisions of paragraph (6) apply to that application.