UK Offence Report

Liability to fine for contravention of the regulations

regulation 7(1) of The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1984

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 A person who displays an advertisement in contravention of these regulations shall be liable on summary conviction of an offence under section 101(2) of the Act to

a fine not exceeding £200 and, in the case of

a continuing offence, £20 for each day during which the offence continues after conviction.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 7(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a person displays an advertisement in contravention of these regulations.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1984, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£200
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
29 March 1984
In force from
2 May 1984
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This Note is not part of the Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These regulations re-enact the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1961 with amendments. The regulations provide for the control by planning authorities of the display of advertisements. They specify certain classes of advertisements which may be displayed without express consent (subject to certain limitations and conditions and subject to the power of the planning authority to serve a notice requiring the display to be discontinued); make provision for the making of an application to the planning authority for express consent for the display of an advertisement and the granting of such consent; give power to the planning authority to revoke or modify an express consent; give power to the planning authority to enforce control of advertisements; provide for the definition by the planning authority of areas of special control; and impose limitations on the display of certain classes of advertisements in areas of special control and in conservation areas. The following changes of substance have been made:— a in regulation 2(1) the definition of “advertisement” is enlarged to include tethered balloons and similar objects which are used or adapted for use for the display of advertisements; and a new paragraph (3) is added to regulation 2 providing that references in the regulations to the land, the building, the site or the premises on which an advertisement is displayed shall be construed in relation to an advertisement displayed on, or consisting of, a tethered balloon as a reference to the land, building, site or premises to which the balloon is attached; b regulation 3 (which specifies the categories of advertisement to which the regulations do not apply) contains new provisions relating to advertisements displayed on, or consisting of, balloons; paragraph (1)(e) exempts from the regulations advertisements displayed on, or consisting of, a tethered balloon flown at a height of more than 60 m above ground level; paragraph (3) exempts the display of one such advertisement (flown at any height) on any site for not more than 10 days in any calendar year; and paragraph (4) defines “site” for the purposes of paragraph (3). Regulation 3 also contains a new paragraph (1)(f) exempting certain small advertisements on petrol pumps and similar objects; c the following new classes have been added to the specified classes of advertisements which may be displayed without the grant of express consent:— i certain advertisements displayed on hoardings around construction sites while construction is in progress (class III (6) of Schedule 4); ii certain advertisements within buildings (class V of Schedule 4); iii illuminated advertisements consisting of internally illuminated individual characters (class VI of Schedule 4); d regulation 14 introduces for the first time discontinuance procedures under which a planning authority may issue a notice requiring the discontinuance of any advertisement displayed with deemed consent or the discontinuance of the use of a site for the display of such an advertisement. Such action may be taken if the planning authority consider it expedient in order to remedy a substantial injury to the amenity of the locality or a danger to members of the public; e the requirement that planning authorities should obtain the approval of the Secretary of State for the grant of express consent for more than 5 years has been removed (regulation 18); f the period within which an appeal against the refusal of express consent or any condition imposed on the grant of such consent can be submitted has been extended to 6 months (regulation 21); g appeals against enforcement notices are to be made to the Secretary of State rather than to the sheriff (regulation 25); h the powers of the Secretary of State to issue directions to planning authorities (regulation 28) have been reduced; he no longer has power to issue directions requiring authorities (i) to refer to him for decision particular applications for consent or any class or description of such applications; (ii) to consult in the exercise of their functions under the regulations with particular persons or classes of persons, bodies or authorities.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction
Confidence
0.72 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source