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Public Works Act 1981

Acquisition of land for public works - Miscellaneous provisions

34: Owner may require severed land to be taken

You could also call this:

“You can ask for more of your land to be taken if part of it is used for a public project”

If someone takes part of your land for a public project, you can ask them to take more of your land if what’s left becomes much harder or more expensive to keep up, or if it’s not as useful to you anymore. This applies when the government or a local council takes your land.

If you and the government or council don’t agree about whether this applies to your land, you can ask the Environment Court to decide. The Environment Court’s decision is final, and both you and the government or council have to follow it.

The government or council can do different things with the extra land they take. They can split it up, improve it, make roads to it, use it for something else, or sell it.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM46036.

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Part 2 Acquisition of land for public works
Miscellaneous provisions

34Owner may require severed land to be taken

  1. Where part of the landholding of any person is taken compulsorily under this Act, that person may require the Minister or local authority, as the case may be, to take as a public work for the purposes of this section any other part of the holding where by reason of the taking that other part would become significantly—

  2. more costly to retain at the same standard as previously; or
    1. less useful to that person.

      1. Should any dispute arise as to whether or not any of the circumstances set out in this section apply to the land, the owner of the land may apply to the Environment Court for a determination of the matter. The decision of the Environment Court shall be final and binding on both parties.

      2. The Minister or local authority may subdivide, develop, provide access to, set apart, or dispose of any land taken under this section.

      Notes
      • Section 34(1): amended, on , by section 2(7) of the Public Works Amendment Act (No 2) 1987 (1987 No 67).
      • Section 34(2): amended, on , pursuant to section 6(2)(a) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 160).