Section 2: Interpretation

2. Interpretation (1) In this Act— “Board” means the Town and Country Planning Board established under section 3; T13 – 1 [Issue 2] Town and Country Planning Act “building”— (a) means a building, erection or other structure erected or made on, in or under any land; and (b) includes the land on, in or under which the building is situate; “building operations” includes any building or erectional operations, and the making of access roads, railways, water works, electrical installations, and any roadworks preliminary or incidental to the erection of buildings; “committee” means a planning committee appointed under section 10; “detailed scheme” means a scheme prepared under section 16; “development” in relation to any land— (a) includes building, engineering or other operations in, on, over and under the land, the making of a material change in the use of a building or land within the curtilage of the building, and the division of any land; but (b) does not include— (i) works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of a building, where the works affect only the interior of the building or do not materially affect the external appearance of the building; (ii) works required for the maintenance or improvement of a road where the works are carried out on land within the boundaries of the road; (iii) works carried out for the purpose of inspecting, repairing or renewing any sewers, mains, pipes, underground or overhead cables or other apparatus; (iv) the use of a building or land within the curtilage of a dwelling house for a purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling house; or (v) the use of any land for the purposes of agriculture and forestry; “division”, in relation to any land, means the division of the land into 2 or more parts, whether the division is by partition or otherwise; "EIA licence" has the meaning assigned to it in the Environment Protection Act; “existing building” means a building erected or constructed before the date of an Order declaring a planning area under section 6; “fence” includes a hoarding or paling used as such, and a bank or wall; “hedge” includes any tree, stump or shrub forming part of a hedge; [Issue 2] T13 – 2 Revised Laws of Mauritius “land” includes land covered with water, rights to or over land, any interest in land, and any undivided share of land; “local authority” means a Municipal City Council, a Municipal Town Council, a district council, and a body which the President may, by Order, declare to be a local authority for the purposes of this Act within the rural area specified in the Order, and where an area lies partly within the jurisdiction of one local authority and partly in that of another, includes the local authorities concerned acting jointly; “outline scheme” means a scheme prepared under section 11; “owner” includes joint owner, lessee, tenant for life, and any other person in actual possession of any land or building, or entitled to receive the rents of premises of any tenure or description and the agent or attorney of those persons or any of them, and any other person who has an interest in, or draws, the rents; “preliminary environment report“ means a preliminary environment report referred to in the Environment Protection Act; “road”— (a) means a road whether public or private; and (b) includes a street, square, Court, alley, lane, bridge, footway, trace, track, path, passage or highway, whether a thoroughfare or not; “rural area” means an area not within the jurisd description and the agent or attorney of those persons or any of them, and any other person who has an interest in, or draws, the rents; “preliminary environment report“ means a preliminary environment report referred to in the Environment Protection Act; “road”— (a) means a road whether public or private; and (b) includes a street, square, Court, alley, lane, bridge, footway, trace, track, path, passage or highway, whether a thoroughfare or not; “rural area” means an area not within the jurisdiction of a Municipal City Council or Municipal Town Council; “scheme” means a scheme made under this Act; “site”, in relation to a building, includes offices, outbuildings, yards, Courts or gardens occupied or intended to be occupied with the building; “Tribunal” has the same meaning as in the Environment and Land Use Appeal Tribunal Act; “undertaking“ has the meaning assigned to it in the Environment Protection Act. (2) For the purposes of this Act, the placing or keeping on any land of any shed, tent, caravan, or other object, whether fixed or movable or collapsable, which is not a building shall be a use of that land. (3) Reference in this Act or any other enactment to a development permit shall be construed as reference to a Building and Land Use Permit under the Local Government Act 2011. [S. 2 amended by Act 48 of 1991; s. 99 (12) (a) of Act 19 of 2002 w.e.f. 1 December 2003; s. 12 (a) of Act 21 of 2006 w.e.f. 1 October 2006; ss. 165 (23) (a) and (b) of Act 36 of 2011 w.e.f. 15 December 2011; s. 8 (5) (a) of Act 5 of 2012 w.e.f. 1 October 2012.]