TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1976

LAWS OF MALAYSIA ONLINE VERSION OF UPDATED TEXT OF REPRINT Act 172 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1976 As at 1 June 2021 2 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1976 … … … 18 March 1976 Date of publication in the Gazette … … 25 March 1976 Latest amendment made by Act A1522 which came into operation on … … … 1 November 2017 [Phg. P.U. 2/2018] 17 January 2018 [Pk. P.U. 44/2018] 16 January 2017 [M. P.U. 16/2021] Date of Royal Assent … PREVIOUS REPRINTS First Reprint … … … … … 1998 Second Reprint … … … … … 2001 Third Reprint … … … … … 2005 Fourth Reprint … … … … … 2006 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 172 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1976 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS PART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title, application and commencement 2. Interpretation PART II POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION 2A. National Physical Planning Council 2 B. Director General of Town and Country Planning 3. General planning policy 4. The State Planning Committee and its functions 5. Local planning authorities 6. Functions of local planning authorities PART IIA REGIONAL PLANNING COMMITTEE 6A. Regional planning committee 4 Laws of Malaysia PART IIB NATIONAL PHYSICAL PLAN Section 6 B. National physical plan PART III DEVELOPMENT PLANS 7. Survey of planning areas 8. Preparation of draft structure plans 9. Publicity in connection with preparation of draft structure plans 10. Approval or rejection of draft structure plans by Committee 11. Review or alteration of structure plans 11A. Procedure for review of structure plan 11B. Procedure for alteration of structure plan 12. Preparation of draft local plans 12A. Publicity in connection with preparation of draft local plan 13. Publicity in connection with draft local plans 14. Inquiries and hearings in respect of draft local plans 15. Approval or rejection of draft local plans 16. Alteration, revocation and replacement of local plans 16A. Preparation, etc., of local plan by State Director 16B. Special area plan 17. Power to make rules PART IV PLANNING CONTROL 18. Use of land and buildings 19. Prohibition of development without planning permission 20. Prohibition of development contrary to planning permission 20A. Duty to consult 20B. Duty to seek advice ACT 172 Town and Country Planning 5 Section 21. Application for planning permission 21A. Development proposal report 21B. Layout plans 21C. Preparation of plan, etc., by a qualified person 22. Treatment of applications 23. Appeal against decision of local planning authority 24. Lapse of planning permission 25. Revocation and modification of planning permission and approval of building plans 26. Offences relating to unauthorized development 27. Enforcement in the case of contravention of section 19 28. Enforcement in the case of contravention of section 20 29. Enforcement in the case of development that is inconsistent with modified planning permission or approval of building plan 30. Requisition notice 31. Execution by authorized person 31A. Inconsistency between building by-laws and development plan PART V DEVELOPMENT CHARGE 32. Development charge and liability thereto 33. Determination of development charge 34. Payment of development charge 35. Power to make rules PART VA TREE PRESERVATION ORDER 35A. Tree preservation order 35B. Tree preservation order not to be made if tree is already subjected to conditions 35C. Appeal against tree preservation order, etc. 6 Laws of Malaysia ACT 172 Section 35D. Compensation under a tree preservation order 35E. Replacement of trees 35F. Local planning authority to replace tree if the person whose duty it is to replace fails to do so 35G. Revocation of a tree preservation order 35H. Prohibition to fell, etc., tree with girth exceeding 0.8 metre PART VI THE APPEAL BOARD 36. The Appeal Board PART VII PURCHASE NOTICE AND ACQUISITION OF LAND 37. Notice requiring purchase of land in certain cases PART VIII DEVELOPMENT AREAS 38. Declaration of development areas 39. Effect of declaration 40. Special provisions for compensation 41. Local planning authority may employ agents, enter into arrangements and establish corporations 42. Power to borrow moneys 43. Power to dispose of land and property 44. Power to make rules PART IX MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 45. Power of entry Town and Country Planning Section 46. Service of documents 47. Authentication of documents 48. Documentary proof 49. Privilege from production of documents and appearing as witness 50. Prosecution 51. Jurisdiction of courts 52. Penalty for interference with marks 52A. Offences by body corporate 53. Public servants 54. Public Authorities Protection Act 55. Indemnity against claims in respect of damage or loss 56. Application of Act 119 to local inquiry or hearing 57. Exemption from fees and charges 58. Power to make rules 59. Repeal of existing planning laws 7 9 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 172 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1976 An Act for the proper control and regulation of town and country planning in Peninsular Malaysia and for purposes connected therewith or ancillary thereto. [See Appendix] WHEREAS it is expedient for the purpose of ensuring uniformity of law and policy to make a law for the proper control and regulation of town and country planning in Peninsular Malaysia: AND WHEREAS it is also expedient that provisions be made to confer executive authority on the Federation over certain matters in relation to the control and regulation of town and country planning: NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to Clause (1) of Article 74, Clause (4) of Article 76 and Clause (2) of Article 80 of the Constitution, BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PART I PRELIMINARY Short title, application and commencement 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 172 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 and shall apply in *Peninsular Malaysia. (2) Subject to subsection (3), this Act shall come into operation in a State on a date to be appointed by the State Authority, with the concurrence of the Minister, by notification in the **State Gazette. (3) The State Authority may bring this Act into operation in any manner the State Authority thinks most advantageous, convenient, expedient, or practicable, whether by appointing different dates for different provisions of this Act, by appointing different dates for different local authority areas or parts thereof, by bringing a provision into operation generally in the State and at the same time declaring that, for or until such time as may be specified, the provision shall or shall not apply to or in relation to a local planning authority or the area or any part of the area of a local planning authority to such extent only as may be specified, or in any other manner. Interpretation 2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “agriculture” includes horticulture, farming, the growing of crops, fruits, vegetables, or trees, the growing of plants for use as fodder, dairy farming, the breeding and keeping of livestock, fish, or bees, and the use of land for purposes ancillary to any of those activities or to any other agricultural activities; but does not include the use of land as a garden to be enjoyed together with a building attached to the land; and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly; “amenities” means such quality or condition of a place or area as contributes to its pleasantness, harmony and better enjoyment, and includes open spaces, parks, recreation grounds, and playgrounds; “Appeal Board” means the Appeal Board constituted under section 36; * NOTE—For application in Federal Territory of Labuan—see P.U.(A) 442/2010 w.e.f 1 January 2011. ** NOTE—See Appendix. Town and Country Planning 11 “authorized person”, in relation to any provision, means a person designated in writing by the local planning authority to be an authorized person for the purposes of that provision; “building” includes any house, hut, shed, or roofed enclosure, whether or not used as a human habitation, and any wall, fence, platform, staging, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage, or bridge, and any structure, support, or foundation connected to or with any of those structures; “building operation” means the demolition, erection, re-erection, or extension of a building or part thereof and includes— (a) any increasing of the height or floor area of a building; (b) the roofing or re-roofing of a building or part thereof; (c) any addition to or alteration of a building that affects or is likely to affect its drainage or sanitary arrangements or its soundness; (d) any addition to or alteration of a building, whether done before or after completion of the building, that departs in any manner from any plan or specification in respect of the building approved at any time by any authority empowered under any written law to approve the plan or specification; (e) any addition to or alteration of a building that materially affects or is likely to materially affect the building in any manner; and (f) any other operation normally undertaken by a person carrying on the business of building construction; “Committee” means the State Planning Committee established under section 4; “Council” means the National Physical Planning Council established under section 2A; 12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 172 “density” means the intensity of use of land reckoned or expressed in terms of the number of persons, dwelling units, or habitable rooms, or any combination of those factors, per unit area of land; and for the purpose of this definition, “habitable room” does not include a kitchen, storeroom, utility room, lavatory, bathroom, or garage; “development” means the carrying out of any building, engineering, mining, industrial, or other similar operation in, on, over, or under land, the making of any material change in the use of any land or building or any part thereof, or the subdivision or amalgamation of lands; and “develop” shall be construed accordingly; “development area” means a development area declared under subsection 38(1); “development charge” means the development charge referred to in section 32; “development plan”, in relation to an area, means— (a) the local plan for the area; or (b) if there is no local plan for the area, the structure plan for the area, and, in relation to any land or building, means the development plan, as so defined, for the area in which the land or building is situated; “development proposal report” means the report required to be submitted by an applicant for planning permission under subsection 21 A(1); “Director General of Town and Country Planning” means the Director General of Town and Country Planning whose functions are set out primarily in section 2B; “earthworks” includes any act of excavation, levelling, filling with any material, or felling of trees on any land, or any act of dealing with or disturbing any land; Town and Country Planning 13 “engineering operation” includes the formation or levelling of land, the formation or laying out of means of access to a road, and the laying out of cables, mains, or means of water supply or drainage; “felling a tree” includes cutting down, topping, lopping, uprooting, damaging or destroying a tree; “floor area” means the total area of floor space within a building, as measured between the external sides of walls or, in the case of party walls, between the centres of such walls; “land” includes— (a) the surface, and all substances forming the surface, of the earth; (b) all substances below the surface of the earth; (c) all vegetation and other natural products, whether or not requiring periodical ap