Regulation 2 InterpretationI1

Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in these Regulations which are used in Schedule 2 to the Telecommunications Act 1984^f1 have the same meanings as in that Schedule.

In these Regulations—

• “the Act” means the Communications Act 2003;

• “appropriate authority” means—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England and Wales, a relevant authority within the meaning of section 49(6) of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991^f2;

  2. (b)

     in relation to Scotland, a person to whom notice would be required to be given by section 108(6) of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991^f3; and

  3. (c)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, a relevant authority within the meaning of article 7(5) of the Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995^f4;

• F1“area of outstanding natural beauty” means an area designated under section 82 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000;

• “area of special scientific interest” means, in relation to F2England and Wales, any area in respect of which notice has been given under section 28(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981^f5 F3in relation to Scotland has the meaning given in Section 3(6) of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 and, in relation to Northern Ireland, any area in respect of which a declaration has been made under F4article 28(1) of the Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002;

• “authorised area” has, in relation to Great Britain, the meaning given by section 6(9) of the Electricity Act 1989^f6 and, in relation to Northern Ireland, the meaning given by article 3 of the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992^f7;

• “the Broads” means the area in which the Broads Authority established under section 1 of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988^f8 exercises powers of development control;

• “carriageway” has the meanings given—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England and Wales, by section 329 of the Highways Act 1980^f9;

  2. (b)

     in relation to Scotland, by section 151 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984^f10; and

  3. (c)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, by article 2(2) of the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993^f11;

  and additionally means, in relation to a street to which vehicles have access, that part of the street which is primarily intended to carry vehicles;

• “code operator” means a person in whose case the electronic communications code is applied by a direction under section 106(3)(a) of the Act;

• “conservation area” means—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England F5..., any area designated as a conservation area under sections 69 and 70 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990^f12;

  2. (aa)

     F6in relation to Wales, any area designated as a conservation area under section 158 of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023;

  3. (b)

     in relation to Scotland, any area designated as a conservation area under section 61 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997^f13; and

  4. (c)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, any area designated as a conservation area under F7section 104 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011;

• F8“development order” means a development order made under section 59 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 30 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 or section 32 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011;

• F9...

• “electricity supplier” means, in relation to an area in which a code operator has installed or proposes to install any electronic communications apparatus, the person who is the holder of a licence granted (in Great Britain) under section 6(1) of the Electricity Act 1989 or (in Northern Ireland) under article 10(1) of the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992;

• “emergency organisation” means any of the police, fire, ambulance and coastguard services and any other organisation which, in the normal course of its activities, may be called upon in an emergency to undertake tasks necessary for—

  1. (a)

     the preservation of life,

  2. (b)

     the prevention or treatment of injury or disease,

  3. (c)

     the protection of public health, or

  4. (d)

     national defence or the protection of national security;

• F10“fixed-line broadband” means a service or connection (commonly referred to as being “always on”), via a fixed-line network, providing a bandwidth greater than narrowband;

• “fixed-line broadband cabinet” means a cabinet located near a connection point in an electronic communications network that is used to house electronic communications apparatus to facilitate a fixed-line broadband connection to a customer’s premises for the provision of broadband services;

• “fixed-line broadband pole” means a pole that is used to attach lines for the purpose of facilitating or delivering a fixed-line broadband service;

• F11...

• “footway” has the meanings given—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England and Wales, by section 329 of the Highways Act 1980;

  2. (b)

     in relation to Scotland, by section 151 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984; and

  3. (c)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, by article 2 of the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993;

  and additionally means, in relation to a street to which vehicles have access, that part of the street which is not primarily intended to carry vehicles;

• “a high load grid route” is a route included in the records of routes suitable for the transport of high abnormal loads maintained by the Secretary of State;

• “highway authority” means, in relation to England and Wales, the highway authority as defined in section 1 of the Highways Act 1980 and, in relation to Northern Ireland, the Department for Regional Development;

• “limestone pavement area” means an area designated as such by an order made under section 34(2) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981;

• “local nature reserve” means an area designated as such under section 21(1) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949^f14;

• “marine nature reserve” means, in relation to Great Britain, an area designated as such under section 36(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981^f15 F12(including any marine nature reserve designated a marine conservation zone by operation of paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to the Marine and Costal Access Act 2009) and, in relation to Northern Ireland, an area designated as such under article 20(1) of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985;

• F13“narrowband” means a service or connection providing data speeds up to 128kbit/second;

• “national nature reserve” means any land declared to be a national nature reserve under section 35(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981^f16 by—

  1. (a)

     English Nature, in England;

  2. (b)

     Scottish Natural Heritage, in Scotland; or

  3. (c)

     F14the Natural Resources Body for Wales, in Wales;

  and in Northern Ireland means any land declared to be a national nature reserve under article 18(1) of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985;

• “F15National Park” means—

  1. (a)

     any area in England and Wales designated and confirmed as such under section 5(3) of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949^f17;

  2. (b)

     any area in Scotland designated as such by an order made under section 6(2) of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000^f18; or

  3. (c)

     any area in Northern Ireland designated as such under article 12(1) of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985;

• F16“national scenic area” means an area designated by a direction made by the Scottish Ministers under section 263A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997;

• F17“Natural England” means the body known as Natural England and established by section 1 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006;

• F18...

• F19“Natural Resources Body for Wales” means the Natural Resources Body for Wales as established by article 3(1) of the Natural Resources Body for Wales (Establishment) Order 2012;

• F20...

• “OFCOM” means the Office of Communications as established by section 1 of the Office of Communications Act 2002^f19;

• F21“overhead fixed-line broadband line” means a fixed-line broadband line other than an underground fixed-line broadband line;

• F22“Planning Acts” means the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1997 and the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011;

• “planning authority” means—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England, a local planning authority within the meaning of section 1(1) or (2) F23, section 4A and section 5 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990^f20;

  2. (b)

     in relation to Wales, a local planning authority within the meaning of section 1(1B) or (2) F24and section 4A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990^f21;

  3. (c)

     in relation to Scotland, a planning authority within the meaning of section 1 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997^f22 or F25a National Park authority designated as a planning authority by an order made under section 10(1) of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000; and

  4. (d)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, the F26Department for Infrastructure or a district council.

• F27“prior approval process” means the prior approval process under Schedule 2, Part 16, paragraph A3 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015;

• “relevant undertaker” has the meaning given by paragraph 23(10) of Schedule 2 to the Telecommunications Act 1984 and additionally includes any undertaker engaged in the supply of gas, electricity, water, heat or the disposal of sewage;

• “responsible authority”—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England and Wales, has the meaning given by section 90(4) of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991;

  2. (b)

     in relation to Scotland, has the meaning given by section 194(4) of that Act^f23; and

  3. (c)

     in Northern Ireland, has the meaning given by article 49(4) of the Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

• “roads authority” has the meaning given by section 151(1) of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984^f24;

• “road works authority” has the meaning given by section 108(1) of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991;

• “Scottish Natural Heritage” means the body known as Scottish Natural Heritage and established by section 1 of the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991;

• “service line” means any line placed or intended to be placed for the purposes of providing any electronic communications service to the occupier from time to time of any land, as distinct from a line placed or intended to be placed for the general purposes of any electronic communications network;

• “service line distribution point” means the point at which any line placed or intended to be placed for the general purposes of any electronic communications network is connected to any service line;

• “site of special scientific interest” F28—

  1. (a)

     in England and Wales means an area in respect of which a notification has been given under section 28(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; and

  2. (b)

     in Scotland has the meaning given in Section 3(6) of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004;

• “statutory list of buildings” means—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England F29..., the list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest compiled or approved under section 1(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990;

  2. (aa)

     F30in relation to Wales, the list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest maintained under section 76(1) of the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023;

  3. (b)

     in relation to Scotland, the list compiled under section 1(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997; or

  4. (c)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, the list compiled under F31section 80 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011;

• “street authority” has, in relation to England and Wales, the meaning given by section 49 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and, in relation to Northern Ireland, the meaning given by article 7(1) of the Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

• “traffic authority” has, in relation to England and Wales, the meaning given by section 121A of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984^f25 and, in relation to Northern Ireland, means the Department for Regional Development.