Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1965 (repealed)

Control of certain discharges of effluent

River purification authority's consent for certain discharges of effluent

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• (1) Subject to this Act, it shall be unlawful on and after the date appointed under this section to make a discharge of trade or sewage effluent to a stream, being a discharge which is not controlled under section 28 of the principal Act, without the consent under this Act of the river purification authority.

• (2) An application to the river purification authority for their consent under this Act shall state—

• (a) the nature and composition of the effluent in respect of which the application is made,

• (b) the maximum temperature of the effluent at the time when it is to be discharged,

• (c) the maximum volume of the effluent which it is proposed to discharge on any one day, and

• (d) the highest rate at which it is proposed to discharge the effluent.

• (3) On an application for consent under subsection (1) of this section the river purification authority may grant their consent subject to such conditions as they may think fit, being conditions—

• (a) as to the nature and composition, temperature, volume or rate of discharge of effluent from the land or premises to which the application relates, and

• (b) as to the provision of facilities for taking samples of what is passing from the land or premises to the stream, and in particular as to the provision and maintenance of inspection chambers or manholes,

and any such conditions may be framed so as to have effect for a specified period, or for a period beginning or ending with a specified date.

• (4) Where a river purification authority refuse their consent to an application, or where they grant their consent subject to conditions, under this Act or section 28 of the principal Act, the authority shall communicate in writing their decision and the reasons therefor to the applicant.

• (5) Subject to this Act, where on or after the date appointed under this section a discharge of trade or sewage effluent, being a discharge which is not controlled under section 28 of the principal Act, is made to a stream without the consent under this Act of the river purification authority, the river purification authority may give to the person making the discharge a notice imposing for the reasons stated therein any such conditions as they might have imposed on an application for their consent for making the discharge.

• (6) No conditions imposed under this section shall take effect until the expiration of a period of three months beginning with the giving of the consent, or, as the case may be, the giving of the notice under subsection (5) of this section, and if before the expiration of the said period of three months an applicant for consent under this section or, as the case may be, a person on whom a notice has been served under this section has appealed under this Act to the Secretary of State, no conditions imposed under this section shall take effect until the appeal is withdrawn or disposed of.

• (7) No person shall cause or knowingly permit to enter a stream from land or premises, in relation to which conditions have been imposed under this Act and are for the time being in force, a trade or sewage effluent not complying with these conditions.

• (8) Section 23 of the principal Act shall apply in relation to the last foregoing subsection as it applies in relation to section 22(1) of that Act.

• (9) For the purposes of this section a discharge which is not controlled under section 28 of the principal Act means a discharge of effluent in relation to which a river purification authority have no power to impose conditions of the kinds described in subsection (2)(b) of that section, that is to say, conditions imposed as respects the making of a new discharge as denned in that section, with or without consent.

• (10) The date appointed under this section shall be such date as the Secretary of State may by order appoint, being a date not less than fourteen months after the passing of this Act, but applications for consent under this section may be made before that date and where consent is granted before that date subject to conditions, those conditions may, subject to subsection (6) of this section, take effect before that date.

Protection while applications made before appointed date are being dealt with

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• (1) If an application to the river purification authority for their consent under this Act is duly made before the date appointed under section 1 of this Act, and the application is not disposed of before that date, then, until the application is disposed of.—

• (a) it shall not be an offence under section 1(1) of this Act to make a discharge from the land or premises to which the application relates which is of the nature and composition specified in the application, and which does not, as respects temperature, volume and rate of discharge, exceed the amounts or limits specified in the application, and

• (b) no notice shall be given under section 1(5) of this Act imposing any conditions as respects the making of any such discharge.

• (2) If an application to the river purification authority for their consent under this Act is duly made before the date appointed under section 1 of this Act, then, until the application is disposed of, it shall not be an offence under, or a contravention of—

• (a) section 22(1)(a) of the principal Act, or

• (b) any order under section 23 of the principal Act, or

• (c) section 8 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1923, or

• (d) any byelaw under section 8 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act 1895 or of section 17 of that Act, or

• (e) paragraph 32 of Schedule 3 to the Gas Act 1948,

to make a discharge from the land or premises to which the application relates which is of the nature and composition specified in the application, and which does not, as respects temperature, volume and rate of discharge, exceed the amounts or limits specified in the application.

• (3) In the case of an application before the said date, if it appears to the river purification authority that the applicant has since the making of the application failed to make proper use of, or to repair or maintain, any purification plant through which the effluent was being passed at the time of the application, then, notwithstanding that any discharge made by him has complied with the requirements of the last foregoing subsection, that authority may apply by way of summary application to the sheriff having jurisdiction in the area where the purification plant is situated, and, if the sheriff is satisfied that there has been a failure to make proper use of, or to repair or maintain any purification plant as aforesaid, he may order that the exemption conferred by that subsection shall be withdrawn from the applicant.

• (4) For the purposes of this section an application for consent of the river purification authority shall not be regarded as disposed of—

• (a) until the river purification authority give their consent to the application, or give notice to the applicant that they refuse to give their consent, and

• (b) until a further period of three months beginning with the giving of the consent, or of a notice refusing the consent, has expired,

and if before the expiration of the said period of three months an appeal is made under this Act to the Secretary of State in respect of the withholding of consent, or of any terms of the consent, the application shall not be regarded as disposed of until the appeal to the Secretary of State is withdrawn or determined.

Furnishing of information

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• (1) The Secretary of State may, for the purpose of assisting river purification authorities to obtain the information required by them to deal with applications for their consent under this Act, by regulations contained in a statutory instrument prescribe the particulars which may, in accordance with the provisions of the next following subsection, be required of any applicant with regard to the effluents which have been or are being or are to be discharged from the land or premises to which the application relates.

• (2) Any particulars prescribed under the foregoing subsection may be included in directions given by a river purification authority under section 18(4) of the principal Act to an applicant for their consent under this Act, and the proviso to the said subsection (4) (under which a person to whom directions are given under that subsection may make representations to the Secretary of State on the ground that the directions are unreasonable or unduly onerous) shall not apply to any directions so far as they relate to the giving of particulars prescribed under the foregoing subsection.

• (3) If a person who has applied for the river purification authority's consent under this Act is convicted of a failure to comply with directions given under the said subsection (4) requiring him to give information as to the discharge of effluents from the land or premises to which his application relates (whether or not the information consists of particulars prescribed under this section) and, on summary application by the river purification authority to the sheriff (which may be an application on the occasion of the conviction), it is shown to his satisfaction that in consequence of that failure the authority has not the material on which to decide the application to them, the sheriff may, if he thinks fit, order that the exemption conferred by subsection (2) of the last foregoing section shall be withdrawn.

Exemption for discharges which comply with conditions

Protection for persons complying with conditions

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• (1) The discharge of trade or sewage effluent to a stream in accordance with a consent granted under this Act or section 28 of the principal Act shall not constitute an offence under, or a contravention of, any of the enactments, orders or byelaws specified in section 2(2) of this Act, and if conditions are imposed under this Act or section 28 of the principal Act, in relation to making a discharge or a new discharge for which the requisite consent has not been given, and are for the time being in force, the making of a discharge from the land or premises to which the conditions relate in compliance with the conditions shall not be an offence under, or a contravention of, any of those enactments.

• (2) Section 25(1)(a) of the principal Act (under which byelaws may prescribe standards for the purpose of determining whether an effluent is polluting) shall cease to have effect.

General provisions as to conditions and consents governing discharges and new outlets

Review and variation of conditions governing discharge and new outlets

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• (1) A river purification authority shall from time to time review any condition having effect under this Act or the principal Act (other than a condition to be satisfied before a discharge is made or an outlet is brought into use), and may give the person making the discharge or using the outlet, as the case may be, a notice varying or revoking any such condition; and the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit so to do, direct the authority to vary or revoke any such condition and, if the authority fail within such period as the Secretary of State may allow to give effect to any such direction, the Secretary of State may himself give a notice as aforesaid.

• (2) A statement in the form in Schedule 1 to this Act shall be included among the terms of—

• (a) any consent having effect under this Act or the principal Act, and

• (b) any notice given under section 1(5) of this Act or under section 28(4) of the principal Act, and

• (c) any notice given under this section, other than a notice given with the consent in writing of the person to whom it is given,

being a consent taking effect, or a notice given, after the commencement of this Act, and the period specified in the statement shall be a period of not less than two years from the date on which the consent takes effect or the notice is given.

• (3) No notice shall be given under subsection (1) of this section before the expiration of the period specified in the said statement except with the consent in writing of the person to whom the notice is given.

• (4) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to a consent or notice which, in consequence of the temporary nature of the discharge to which it relates or for any other reason, will be spent within two years from the date on which the consent takes effect or the notice is given; and no notice shall be given under subsection (1) of this section varying the conditions of any such consent or notice except with the consent in writing of the person making the discharge.

• (5) In this section references to reviewing a condition include references to reviewing any consent on which no condition has been imposed with a view to determining whether a condition should be imposed; and references to varying a condition include references to substituting for any condition or conditions any one or more other conditions, and to imposing any new conditions.

• (6) Section 28(5) of the principal Act shall cease to have effect, but any notice given under that subsection shall have effect as if given under subsection (1) of this section.

Appeals

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• (1) Where the applicant for consent under this Act or section 22, 24 or 28 of the principal Act, or, as the case may be, the person on whom notice has been served by a river purification authority under this Act, or under subsection (4) of the said section 28, is aggrieved—

• (a) by the refusal of a river purification authority to consent to such an application, or

• (b) by the terms of any such consent as aforesaid, or of such a notice,

he may within three months of his receipt of the decision on his application or, as the case may be, of his receipt of the notice, appeal in writing to the Secretary of State, and, if he so appeals, he shall at the same time serve a copy of his appeal on the river purification authority.

• (2) Where an appeal is made as aforesaid, the Secretary of State may allow or dismiss the appeal, or may vary or revoke any terms of any such consent or notice, or may impose such new terms as he may think fit, and in the case of an appeal in relation to an application may deal with it as if it were an application to him in the first instance.

• (3) At any stage of the proceedings on an appeal to the Secretary of State under this section he may, and if so directed by the Court of Session shall, state a case for the opinion of that Court on any question of law arising in those proceedings.

• (4) Before disposing of an appeal under this section the Secretary of State shall, if the appellant or the river purification authority so require, afford to the appellant and the authority an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by a person appointed in that behalf by the Secretary of State.

Other provisions relating to discharges and new outlets

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• (1) Every river purification authority shall include in the register maintained by them under subsection (7) of section 28 of the principal Act such particulars as the Secretary of State may by order prescribe of any conditions which have been imposed under this Act in relation to land or premises in their area, and of the other terms included in pursuance of this Act in any consent or notice; and paragraph (b) of the said subsection (7) shall apply in relation to a person charged with an offence under this Act as it applies in relation to a person charged with an offence under that section.

• (2) Any condition imposed under this Act or section 28 of the principal Act shall continue in force (subject to any variation under this Act or the said section 28) until revoked, and shall be binding on any person discharging effluent from the land or premises or, as the case may be, using the outlet to which the condition relates.

• (3) If the occupier of land or premises from which effluent passes or may pass to a stream by two or more ways meeting at the outlet, or a point short of the outlet, gives his consent for the purposes of this subsection, the power to impose conditions under this Act or section 28 of the principal Act as to effluent discharged from the land or premises shall thereafter (and notwithstanding any change of occupier) include power to impose conditions as to the nature and composition, temperature, volume or rate of discharge of effluent passing in each or any of those ways separately; and a consent given for the purposes of this subsection shall be recorded in the register under subsection (7) of the said section, but may be withdrawn by agreement with the river purification authority or on an appeal by agreement with the Secretary of State.

• (4) Any condition imposed under the said section 28 may be framed so as to have effect for a specified period or for a period beginning or ending with a specified date.

Tidal Waters

Application of Act to tidal waters

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• (1) Sections 1 to 3 of this Act shall apply to any tidal waters to which any of the provisions of the principal Act for the time being apply (with or without modifications) by virtue of section 29 of that Act (application of principal Act to tidal waters) or of an order made under that section as they apply to a stream, but as if, in relation to any tidal waters to which the provisions of the principal Act, or any of them, are first applied at a time after the commencement of this Act, for references to the date appointed under section 1 of this Act there were substituted references to a date twelve months after that time or such earlier or later date as may be specified in the order applying the said provisions.

• (2) The provisions of this Act (other than sections 1 to 3, unless these sections apply by virtue of the foregoing subsection) and of section 28 of the principal Act shall apply to any tidal waters within the seaward limits specified in Schedule 2 to this Act (in this section referred to as " controlled waters ") as they apply to a stream ; but the Secretary of State may by order direct that the provisions of the said sections 1 to 3 shall so apply to such controlled waters as may be specified in the order.

• (3) The Secretary of State may by order direct that the provisions of this Act and of section 28 of the principal Act shall apply to any tidal waters (not being controlled waters) specified in the order in the like manner as these provisions may be applied to controlled waters under the last foregoing subsection ; and thereupon those waters shall become controlled waters within the meaning of this section, and their seaward limits shall, as prescribed in the order, be added to the said Schedule 2.