Byelaws
Please note that as a result of local government reorganisation in Buckinghamshire these Byelaws will be enforceable by Buckinghamshire Council as the successor council to Buckinghamshire County Council with effect from 1 April 2020
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
BYELAWS
Buckinghamshire County Council in exercise of the powers conferred upon it by Section 41 of the Countryside Act 1968 and in accordance with Section 236 of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) hereby make the following byelaws with respect to Black Park Country Park, Langley Park Country Park, Denham Country Park, and Thorney Country Park for the preservation of order and the prevention of damage to the land or anything therein or thereon.
Interpretation
Throughout these byelaws the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them:
“the Council” means Buckinghamshire County Council
“the land” means any of the Country Parks in Buckinghamshire listed in Schedule A to the byelaws
DAMAGE AND DISTURBANCE
Fires
(1) No person shall on the land intentionally light a fire, or place, throw or let fall a lighted match or any other thing so as to be likely to cause a fire
(2) This byelaw shall not apply to any event held or any activity carried out with the consent of the Council.
(3) This byelaw shall not prevent the lighting or use of properly constructed camping stove or cooker or barbecue in any area set aside for that specific purpose with the prior permission of the Council, in such a manner as not to cause danger of or damage by fire.
Noise
(1) No person on the land shall after being requested to desist by an officer of the Council, or by any person annoyed or disturbed, or by any person acting on his behalf:
(a) by shouting or singing;
(b) by playing on a musical instrument; or
(c) by operating or permitting to be operated any radio, gramophone, amplifier, tape recorder or similar instrument;
cause or permit to be made any noise, which is so loud or so continuous or repeated as to give reasonable cause for annoyance to other persons on the land.
(2) This byelaw shall not apply to any person holding or taking part in any entertainment held with the consent of the Council.
Protection of Flower Beds, Trees, Grass etc
(1) No person who brings or causes to be brought onto the land a vehicle (including a bicycle) shall, without the consent of the Council, wheel or park it over or upon:
(a) any flower bed, shrub or plant, or any ground in the course of preparation as a flower bed, or for the growth of any tree, shrub or plant; or
(b) any part of the land where the Council, by a notice placed in a conspicuous position in the ground, prohibits its being wheeled or parked.
(2) No person shall on the land tread upon:
(a) any flower bed, shrub or plant, or any ground in the course of preparation as a flower bed, or for the growth of any tree, shrub or plant; or
(b) any part of the land set aside for the renovation of grass or turf, where adequate notice to keep off such grass or turf is exhibited.
Protection of Wildlife
(1) No person shall on the land intentionally kill, injure, take or disturb any animal or fish, or engage in hunting, shooting or fishing, or the setting of traps or nets, or the laying of snares.
(2) This byelaw shall not prohibit any fishing which may be authorised by the Council.
Public Shows, Exhibitions and Structures
No person shall on the land, without the consent of the Council, place or take part in any show, performance or exhibition, or set up any swing, roundabout or other like thing.
No person shall on the land, should without the consent of the Council, erect any post, rail, fence, pole, tent, booth, stand, building or other structure.
Removal of Structures
No person shall without reasonable excuse or the consent of the Council, remove from or displace on the land any barrier, railing, post or seat, or any part of any structure or ornament, or any implement provided for use in the laying out or maintenance of the land.
Removal of Substances
No person shall without the consent of the Council remove from or displace on the land any stone, soil or turf, or the whole or any part of any plant, shrub or tree.
ANIMALS
Dogs
(1) For the purposes of this byelaw the keeper of the dog shall be deemed in charge thereof, unless the dog had been placed in or taken into the charge of some other person at the time when an offence under these byelaws had been committed.
(2) In paragraph 10(1) the “keeper” shall include the owner of the dog or any person who habitually has it in his possession.
(3) Every person in charge of a dog shall, as far as reasonably practicable, comply with a direction given by any officer of the Council or constable to keep the dog on a lead and restrained from behaviour likely to cause annoyance or disturbance to others on the land.
(4) A direction under paragraph 10(3) above is likely to be given if such restraint is reasonably necessary to prevent a nuisance or behaviour by the dog likely to cause annoyance or disturbance in any person on the land or the worrying or disturbance of any animal or bird.
(5) This byelaw does not apply in respect of any dogs to which section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 applies.
Grazing
No person shall, without the consent of the Council, turn out or permit any animal to graze on the land.
Horses
(1) No person shall, except in the exercise of any lawful right or privilege or with the consent of the Council, ride a horse on the land.
(2) Where the Council gives consent to a person under paragraph (1) above, such a person may only ride a horse on such parts of the land as may, by notices places in conspicuous positions on the land, be set apart by the Council as an area where horse-riding is permitted.
(3) No person shall anywhere on the land intentionally or negligently ride a horse or pony to the danger of any other person using the ground.
AREAS OF WATER
Angling
No person shall on the land cast any net or line used or intended for use in angling except upon any waters designated for such purpose by the Council and with the consent of the Council.
Bathing and Swimming
No person shall, without reasonable excuse or the consent of the Council, bathe or swim in any waterways comprised in the land.
Boats
No person shall, without the consent of the Council, launch, operate or sail on any lake or other waterway comprised in the land any boat, power craft, dinghy, canoe, sailboard, inflatable or any like craft, other than an unmanned model or toy operated within a designated area authorised by the Council.
Pollution of Waterways
No person shall intentionally, carelessly, or negligently foul or pollute any waterway comprised in the land.
Watercourses
No person shall, without the consent of the Council, knowingly cause or permit the flow of any drain or watercourse on the land to be obstructed or diverted, or open, shut or otherwise work or operate any sluice or similar apparatus on the land.
VEHICLES
Vehicles and Cycles
(1) No person shall, without reasonable excuse or the consent of the Council, ride or drive a motor cycle, motor vehicle, or any other mechanically propelled vehicle on the land, or bring or cause to be brought on to the land a motor cycle, motor vehicle, trailer or any other mechanically propelled vehicle, (other than a cycle), except in any part of the land where there is a right of way for that class of vehicle.
(2) If the Council has set apart a space on the land for use by vehicles of any class this byelaw shall not prevent the riding or driving of those vehicles in the space so set apart, or on a route, indicated by signs placed in conspicuous positions, between it and the entrance to the land.
(3) Where the Council indicates by a notice conspicuously exhibited on or alongside any route on which vehicles are permitted a maximum speed limit, no person may exceed that speed limit without reasonable excuse.
(4) This byelaw shall not extend to invalid carriages.
(5) In this byelaw:
“cycle” means a bicycle, tricycle, or a cycle having four or more wheels, not being in any case a motor cycle or motor vehicle;
“invalid carriage” means a vehicle, whether mechanically propelled or not, the unladen weight of which does no exceed 150 kilograms, the width of which does not exceed 0.85 metres and which has been constructed or adapted for use for the carriage of one person, being a person suffering from physical defect or disability and is used solely by such a person;
“motor cycle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle, not being an invalid carriage, with fewer than four wheels and the weight of which unladen does not exceed 410 kilograms;
“trailer” means a vehicle drawn by a motor vehicle, and includes a caravan.
Parking
No person shall, without the consent of the Council, leave any vehicle or cause or permit any vehicle to be left on the land except on any part of the land which has, by notices placed in conspicuous positions on the land, been set aside by the Council as an area where cars may be parked, and within the hours permitted for the parking of vehicles in those areas.
Repairing of Vehicles
No person shall clean, paint or carry out repairs to any vehicle parked on the land, except in the event of an accident, breakdown, or other emergency.
GENERAL PROHIBITIONS
Aircraft
No person shall, except in the case of emergency or with the consent of the Council, take off from or land upon the land in an aircraft, helicopter, hang-glider or hot-air balloon.
Camping
No person shall on the land, without the consent of the Council, erect a tent or use any vehicle, including a caravan, or any other structure for the purpose of camping except on any area which may be set apart and indicated by notice as a place where camping is permitted.
Climbing
No person shall, without reasonable excuse, climb any wall or fence on or enclosing the land, or any tree, or any barrier, railing, post or other structure.
Games
(1) No person shall on the land play any game or indulge in any other activity:
(a) so as to give reasonable grounds for annoyance to any other person on the land; or
(b) which is likely to cause damage to any tree, shrub or plant on the land.
(2) This byelaw shall not extend to any are set apart by the Council for the playing of any game.
Gates
Where the Council indicates by a notice conspicuously exhibited on or alongside any gate on the land that leaving that gate open is prohibited, no person having opened that gate, or caused it to be opened, shall leave it open.
Golf
No person shall on the land drive, chip or pitch a hard golf ball.
Kites
No person shall on the land fly or cause or permit to be flown any kite in such a manner as to cause a danger or annoyance to any other person on the land.
Model Aircraft
(1) In these byelaws:
“model aircraft” means an aircraft, which either weighs not more than 7 kilograms without its fuel or is for the time being exempted (as a model aircraft) from the provision of the Air Navigation Order:
“power-driven” means driven by the combustion of petrol vapour or other combustible vapour or other combustible substances or by one or more elctric motors or by compressed gas.
(1) Where any part of the land has, by a notice conspicuously exhibited on the land, been set apart by the Council for the flying of power-drive model aircraft, no person in any other part of the land shall release any such aircraft for flight, or control the flight of such as aircraft, and no person shall, in such other part of the land:
(a) cause such and aircraft to take off; or
(b) without reasonable excuse, cause such an aircraft to land.
(2) Where an area within a part of the land so set apart for the flying of power driven model aircraft is designated by the Council as an area from which aircraft may be launched and is described in a notice placed in a conspicuous position on the land, no person shall release such an aircraft for flight of cause such an aircraft to take off, in any part of the land other than that area.
Missiles
No person shall on the land, to the danger or annoyance of any other person on the land, throw or discharge any missile.
Skate boarding and Rollerskating
No person shall on the land skate on rollers, skateboards, wheels or other mechanical contrivances except in such designated area as may be fixed by the Council and indicated by signs placed in conspicuous positions on the land.
Trading
No person shall on the land, without the consent of the Council, sell, or offer or expose for sale, or let to hire, or offer or expose for letting to hire, any commodity or article.
INTERFERENCE WITH THE OPERATION OF THE PARK
Obstruction/ Disturbance
No person shall on the land:
(a) intentionally obstruct any officer of the Council in the proper execution of his duties;
(b) intentionally obstruct any person carrying out an act which is necessary to he proper execution of any contract with the Council; or
(c) intentionally obstruct any other person in the proper use of the land or behave so as to give reasonable grounds for annoyance to other persons on the land.
Interference with Life-saving Equipment
No person shall, except in the case of emergency, remove from or displace on the land or otherwise tamper with any life-saving appliance provided by the Council.
Savings
(1) An act necessary to the proper execution of his duty on the land by an officer of the Council, or any act which is necessary to the proper execution of any contract with the Council, shall not be an offence under these byelaws.
(2) Nothing in or done under any of the provision of these byelaws shall in any respect prejudice or injuriously affect any public right of way through the land, or the rights of any person acting legally by virtue of some estate, right or interest in , over or affecting the land or any apart thereof.
Removal of Offenders
Any person offending against any of these byelaws may be removed from the land by an officer of the Council or a constable.
Penalty
Any person offending against any of theses byelaws shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale (£500).
Revocation
The byelaws made by the Buckinghamshire County Council on the fifteenth day of December 1960 and confirmed by the Secretary of State on the fifteenth day of March 1961 are hereby revoked.
The byelaws made by the Buckinghamshire County Council on the tenth day of June 1968 and confirmed by the Secretary of State on the twenty-third day of August 1968 are hereby revoked.
The byelaw made by the Buckinghamshire County Council on the fifteenth day of November 1977 and confirmed by the Secretary of State on the twenty-seventh of April 1978 is hereby revoked.
SCHEDULE A
The Country Parks referred to in byelaw 1 are as follows:
(1) Black Park Country Park, Buckinghamshire;
(2) Denham Country Park, Buckinghamshire;
(3) Langley Park Country Park, Buckinghamshire;
(4) Thorney Country Park, Buckinghamshire;