Mines And Quarries (Tips) Act 1969

Part I — Security of Tips Associated with Mines and Quarries

Security of certain tips and application of Mines and Quarries Act 1954

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Tips to which Part I applies

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Duties of owners and managers and powers of inspectors

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Notification of beginning and ending of tipping operations

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Tipping rules

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Plans and sections of tips

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Transmission and preservation of plans, etc. relating to tips at abandoned mines and quarries

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Geological map to be kept of district in which certain tips are situated

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• (1) Regulations may require that the person having responsibility for a tip of a prescribed class or description, being a tip to which this Part of this Act applies, shall keep at the office at the mine or quarry with which the tip is associated or at such other place as may be approved by an inspector a geological map of the district in which the tip is situated, being a map conforming to such requirements (if any) as may be prescribed.

• (2) Subsection (4) of section 6 above shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that section.

Penalty for offences relating to tips to which Part I applies

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• (1) Where any person is convicted of an offence under the principal Act by virtue of—

• (a) a contravention of any provision of this Part of this Act, or

• (b) an act or omission which, by virtue only of a provision of this Part of this Act, constitutes a contravention of any provision of the principal Act or of regulations,

and the act or omission which constituted the contravention was of such a nature that it impaired, or might in the opinion of the court have been expected to impair, the security of the tip, the court by which that person is convicted may impose upon him either in addition to, or in substitution for, any fine authorised by section 155(1) of the principal Act, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.

• (2) In relation to any contravention falling within subsection (1) above, that subsection shall have effect in place of subsection (2) of section 155 of the principal Act (which restricts the penalty of imprisonment to offences where there was a risk of death, serious injury or danger to a person employed at a mine or quarry).

Interpretation of Part I

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Part II — Prevention of Public Danger from Disused Tips

Local authorities having functions under Part II

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• (1) For the purpose of ensuring that disused tips do not, by reason of instability, constitute a danger to members of the public, local authorities shall have the functions conferred on them by this Part of this Act.

• (2) For the purposes of this Part of this Act a disused tip is a tip other than one to which the Quarries Regulations 1999 or the Mines Regulations 2014 apply.

• (3) In this Part of this Act “local authority”, . . . means—

• (a) in England . . ., the council of a county, . . . metropolitan districtor London borough, the Common Council of the City of London or the Council of the Isles of Scilly,

• (aa) in Wales, the council of a county or county borough, and

• (b) in Scotland, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.

• (3A) In this Part of this Act, “tip” means an accumulation or deposit of refuse from a mine or quarry (whether in a solid state or in solution or suspension) other than an accumulation or deposit situated underground, and where any wall or other structure retains or confines a tip then, whether or not that wall or structure is itself composed of refuse, it is deemed to form part of the tip for the purposes of this Part.

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Information relating to disused tips

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• (1) For the purpose of enabling a local authority to assess whether a disused tip which is situated wholly or partly within its area is stable and whether any instability of the tip is or is likely to constitute a danger to members of the public, the local authority may, by notice served on the owner of the tip or on any other person who the authority has reason to believe may be able to assist it, require him, within such time, not being less than fourteen days, as may be specified in the notice, to produce to the authority such documents in his possession or control (whether in the form of maps, surveys, plans, records of work or otherwise and whether relating to the tip itself or the land on which it is situated) as may be so specified.

• (2) Any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with a notice under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale, and any person who, in pursuance of such a notice—

• (a) with intent to deceive, produces any document or gives any information which is false in a material particular, or,

• (b) knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular,

shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400, or, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both.

Right of entry to carry out exploratory tests, etc.

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• (1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a person duly authorised in writing by a local authority may at any reasonable time enter upon the land on which a disused tip is situated or upon any neighbouring land—

• (a) for the purpose of investigating whether any instability of the tip might constitute a danger to members of the public;

• (b) for the purpose of carrying out any operations (in this Part of this Act referred to as “exploratory tests”) which, in the opinion of the local authority, are necessary to determine whether the tip is unstable; and

• (c) for the purpose of inspecting any operations which are being carried out on that land where those operations may affect the stability of the tip;

but, subject to the following provisions of this section, a person so authorised shall not demand admission as of right to any land which is occupied unless at least forty-eight hours’ notice in writing of the intended entry has been given to the occupier.

• (2) If it is shown to the satisfaction of a justice of the peace on sworn information in writing—

• (a) that admission to any land which any person is entitled to enter under this section has been refused to that person, or that a refusal is apprehended, or that the occupier is temporarily absent, and

• (b) that there is reasonable ground for entry on to the land for the purpose for which entry is required.

the justice may by warrant under his hand authorise that person to enter the land, if need be by force; but such a warrant shall not be issued on the ground that entry has been refused or that a refusal of entry is apprehended unless the justice is satisfied that notice in writing of the intention to apply for a warrant has been given to the occupier.

• (3) Every warrant granted under this section shall continue in force until the purpose for which the entry is required has been satisfied.

• (4) If a local authority has reasonable ground for believing that a disused tip is unstable and that possible danger to members of the public requires an immediate entry on to any such land as is referred to in subsection (1) for one or more of the purposes specified in that subsection, a person duly authorised in writing by the local authority may, at any time and without giving notice or obtaining a warrant under this section, enter upon the land for that purpose (or those purposes).

• (5) A person duly authorised to enter on any land by virtue of this section shall, if so required, produce evidence of his authority before so entering and may take with him on to the land such other persons and such equipment as may be necessary.

• (6) Any person who wilfully obstructs a person entitled to enter land by virtue of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50level 3 on the standard scale or, on a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding £100level 3 on the standard scale.

• (7) In the application of this section to Scotland—

• (a) for any reference to a justice of the peace there shall be substituted a reference to the sheriff, or a magistrate or justice of the peace, having jurisdiction in the place where the land is situated;

• (b) for the reference to sworn information in writing there shall be substituted a reference to evidence on oath.

Notice requiring owner of disused tip to carry out remedial operations

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• (1) If it appears to a local authority that a disused tip situated wholly or partly within its area is unstable and, by reason of that instability, constitutes or is likely to constitute a danger to members of the public, the authority may by notice in the prescribed form served on the owner thereof require him to carry out, within such period as may be specified in the notice, being a period beginning not earlier than twenty-one days after the date of service of the notice, such remedial operations as may be so specified.

• (2) In this Part of this Act “remedial operations”, in relation to a disused tip, means operations which, in the opinion of the local authority concerned, are necessary to ensure the stability of the tip.

• (3) A notice under this section may require the carrying out of remedial operations on the tip itself, on the land on which it is situated or on any neighbouring land which is in the occupation of the owner of the tip or in which he has, otherwise than as a mortgagee, an estate or interest superior to that of the occupier.

• (4) Where a local authority serves a notice under this section on the owner of a disused tip, then, within the period of seven days beginning with the day on which the notice was served, the authority shall serve a copy of the notice on—

• (a) any other person who is in occupation of the whole or part of the land on which any remedial operations specified in the notice are required to be carried out and any other person who, to the knowledge of the local authority, has an estate or interest, otherwise than as a mortgagee, in that land; and

• (b) any other person who, to the knowledge of the local authority, either has an estate or interest, otherwise than as a mortgagee, in the land on which the tip is situated, or had such an estate or interest at any time within the period of twelve years immediately preceding the date of the service of the notice on the owner of the tip; and

• (c) any other person who, to the knowledge of the local authority, has an interest in (including a right to acquire) all or any of the material comprised in the tip; and

• (d) any other person who, to the knowledge of the local authority, has at any time within the period referred to in paragraph (b) above used the tip for the purpose of the deposit of refuse from a mine or quarry; and

• (e) any other person who the local authority has reason to believe has, at any time within that period, caused or contributed to the instability of the tip by the carrying out of any operations on the tip, on the land on which it is situated or on neighbouring land or by failing to take any steps which he might reasonably have taken to prevent the tip from becoming unstable.

• (5) Where a local authority serves a notice under this section on the owner of a disused tip, then, within the period of twenty-one days beginning with the day on which the notice was served, the owner may serve a counter-notice under this subsection in the prescribed form requiring the local authority to exercise its powers under section 17; and where such a counter-notice is served—

• (a) the local authority shall serve a copy of the counter-notice on every person on whom, under subsection (4), it served a copy of the notice under this section;

• (b) the notice under this section and any copy thereof served under subsection (4) shall be deemed for the purposes of the following provisions of this Part of this Act never to have been served; and

• (c) the local authority shall, as soon as reasonably practicable, exercise its powers under section 17 in relation to the disused tip in question.

• (6) Where the owner of a disused tip is required by a notice under this section to carry out remedial operations on any land which is not in his occupation but in which he has an estate or interest superior to that of the occupier, then, as against the occupier and any other person having an estate or interest in the land in question, the owner of the disused tip shall have the right to enter on to the land in order to carry out the remedial operations and any consequential works of reinstatement and to take with him on to the land such other persons and such equipment as may be necessary.

• (7) Where, in the course of carrying out remedial operations specified in a notice under this section, material which is not the property of the owner of the disused tip is removed from the tip, the owner may sell the material but shall account to the owner thereof for the proceeds of sale; but nothing in this subsection shall prevent the owner of a disused tip from setting off the proceeds of sale or any part thereof against any sum which he is entitled to recover from the owner of the material under the following provisions of this Part of this Act.

• (8) If, without reasonable excuse, the owner of a disused tip on whom a notice is served under this section fails to carry out the remedial operations specified in the notice within the period specified therein or, if that period is extended on an application under subsection (3) or subsection (4) of section 15, within that period as so extended, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

Appeals against notices under s. 14

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• (1) A person on whom is served a notice or a copy of a notice under section 14 may, within the period of twenty-one days beginning with the date of service of the notice on the owner, apply to the court for an order varying or cancelling the notice on any one or more of the following grounds, namely,—

• (a) that there is no reasonable ground for believing that the tip is unstable or that, by reason of instability, the tip constitutes or is likely to constitute a danger to members of the public;

• (b) that the remedial operations specified in the notice are more extensive than is necessary to secure the safety of members of the public;

• (c) that the stability of the tip could be ensured by the carrying out of operations different, in whole or in part, from the remedial operations specified in the notice and that the owner is prepared to undertake those alternative operations;

• (d) that the owner or some other person has already begun, or has entered into a contract with a third party to begin, operations different, in whole or in part, from the remedial operations specified in the notice and those alternative operations will ensure the stability of the tip;

• (e) that the time within which the remedial operations are to be carried out is not reasonably sufficient for the purpose;

• (f) that there is some defect or error in, or in connection with the notice.

• (2) If and so far as an application under this section is based on the ground of some defect or error in or in connection with the notice, the court shall dismiss the application if it is satisfied that the defect or error was not material.

• (3) Subject to subsection (2), if the court is satisfied on an application under this section that the ground, or any of the grounds, of the application is made out, the court may make an order varying or, if the court thinks fit, cancelling the notice; and where a notice is varied under this section the notice and any copy thereof which has been served under section 14(4) shall be deemed always to have had effect as so varied.

• (4) Where an application is made under this section and is not withdrawn, the period specified in the notice in question as the period within which the remedial operations are to be carried out shall not expire before the application is finally determined; and where on an application under this section the court is not satisfied that the ground, or any of the grounds, of the application is made out, the court may nevertheless by order extend the period specified in the notice as the period within which the remedial operations are to be carried out.

Cancellation by local authority of notice under s. 14

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• (1) Where a local authority has served on the owner of a disused tip a notice under section 14 requiring the carrying out of remedial operations then, notwithstanding that an application may have been made under section 15 in respect of the notice or that the owner may have begun to carry out the operations (and whether or not the period specified for the carrying out of the operations has expired) the local authority may at any time before the completion of the remedial operations cancel the notice under section 14 by a notice under this section in the prescribed form served on the owner.

• (2) Where a notice is served under this section in respect of a notice under section 14, the local authority shall serve a copy of the notice so served on every person on whom it served a copy of the notice under section 14.

• (3) Where a notice under section 14 is cancelled under this section then, without prejudice to any penalty already incurred by the owner of the tip under section 14(8), the owner shall no longer be required to carry out the remedial operations specified in the notice which is cancelled; but the service of a notice under this section shall not affect the right of the local authority to serve a further notice under section 14 in relation to the disused tip in question.