Town and Country Planning Act of 1958 - Jamaica

In this Act- “Authority” means the Town and Country Planning

Authority appointed pursuant to section 3;“local planning authority” means-

(a) in relation to the parishes of Kingston and

St. Andrew, the Council of the Kingston

and St. Andrew Corporation;

(b) in relation to any other parish, the Parish

Council of that parish and

(c) in relation to any area situated within two or

more parishes the person or body that the

Minister may in writing appoint;"

The Authority may after consultation with any local authority concerned prepare so many or such provisional development orders as the Authority may consider necessary in relation to any land, in any urban or rural area, whether there are or are not buildings thereon, with the general object of controlling the development of the land comprised in the area to which the respective order applies, and with a view to securing proper sanitary conditions and conveniences and the coordination of roads and public services, protecting and extending the amenities, and conserving and developing the resources, of such area. 

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression “development” means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land : 

Provided that the following operations or uses of land shall not be deemed for the purposes of this Act to involve the development of the land, that is to say- 

a)        the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any building, being works which affect only the interior of the building or which do not materially affect the external appearance of the building; 

b)        the carrying out by a road authority of any works required for the maintenance or improvement of a road, being works carried out on land within the boundaries of the road; 

c)        the carrying out by any local authority or statutory undertakers of any works for the purpose of inspecting, repairing or renewing any sewers, mains, pipes, cables or other apparatus, including the breaking open of any street or other land for that purpose; 

d)        the use of any buildings or other land within the curtilage of a dwelling-house for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling-house as such; 

e)        the use of any land for the purposes of agriculture or forestry (including afforestation), and the use for any of those purposes of any building occupied together with land so used; 

f)        in the case of buildings or other land which are used for a purpose of any class specified in a development order under this section, the use thereof for any other purpose of the same class.

 

1) Subject to the provisions of this section and section 12, where application is made to a local planning local authority for permission to develop land, that authority may  grant permission either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as they think fit, or may refuse permission; and

in dealing with any such application the local planning authority shall have regard to the provisions of the development order so far as material thereto, and to any other material considerations. 

The Authority may give directions to any local planning authority or, to local planning authorities generally requiring that any application for permission to develop land, or all such applications of any class specified in the directions, shall be referred to the Authority instead of being dealt with by the local planning authority, and any such application shall be so referred accordingly.

For the purposes of this Act the Minister shall appoint a person or persons to be the Town and Country Planning Authority, and subject to the provisions of this Act, and from time to time by order published in the Gazette define the composition, powers and duties of such Authority.