Channel Tunnel Act 1987

Part I — Preliminary

Construction and operation of a tunnel rail link between the United Kingdom and France

1

• (1) The primary purpose of this Act is to provide for the construction and operation of a tunnel rail link (together with associated works, facilities and installations) under the English Channel between the United Kingdom and France, in accordance with—

• (a) the Treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the French Republic concerning the Construction and Operation by Private Concessionaires of a Channel Fixed Link, signed at Canterbury on 12th February 1986, together with its supplementary protocols and arrangements; and

• (b) the Concession between Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of the French Republic on the one hand and private Concessionaires on the other hand which, in accordance with Article 1 of that Treaty, regulates, together with that Treaty, the construction and operation of the Channel fixed link referred to in that Article.

• (2) In connection with the primary purpose mentioned in subsection (1) above, Part II of this Act also makes provision for enabling—

• (a) the road network in the vicinity of Ashford, in Kent; and

• (b) the rail network in South Eastern England;

to be improved with a view to accommodating traffic using the tunnel rail link when it comes into operation.

• (3) Subject to section 3 of this Act, the expressions defined below in this section have the meanings there given for the purposes of this Act.

• (4) “The Treaty” means the Treaty mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) above, including its supplementary protocols and arrangements, and “the Concession” means the Concession mentioned in paragraph (b) of that subsection.

• (5) “Concession agreement” means any agreement or arrangement which for the time being constitutes, or is included among the agreements or arrangements which together for the time being constitute, the Concession.

• (6) “Concession lease” means any lease granted by the Secretary of State to the Concessionaires in pursuance of the Concession, and references to a Concession lease include any provisions of a Concession agreement providing for the grant of a lease of any land by the Secretary of State to the Concessionaires.

• (7) “The tunnel system” means the tunnel rail link, together with its associated works, facilities and installations, to be constructed in pursuance of the Treaty, and incorporating—

• (a) tunnels under the English Channel between Cheriton, Folkestone, in Kent and Fréthun in the Pas de Calais, comprising two main tunnels capable of carrying both road traffic on shuttle trains and rail traffic, and an associated service tunnel;

• (b) two terminal areas, for controlling access to and egress from the tunnels, located at the portals of the tunnels in the vicinity of Cheriton, Folkestone and Fréthun respectively;

• (c) a service and maintenance area at the Old Dover Colliery site;

• (d) an inland clearance depot at Ashford, in Kent, for the accommodation, in connection with the application to them of customs and other controls, of freight vehicles which have been or are to be conveyed through the tunnels on shuttle services;

• (e) necessary links with the road and rail networks of each country; and

• (f) the fixed and movable equipment needed for the operation of the tunnels and the associated works, facilities and installations mentioned in paragraphs (b) to (e) above or for the operation of shuttle services using the tunnels.

• (8) “The Concessionaires” means the person or persons who, under the Concession, have for the time being the function of constructing and operating or (as the case may be) of operating the tunnel system.

• (9) “Shuttle train” means a train designed for the purpose of carrying road traffic between Cheriton, Folkestone and Fréthun by way of the tunnels and “shuttle service” means a service operated by means of a shuttle train.

• (10) Where the Concessionaires for the time being are two or more persons, any provision of this Act conferring or imposing upon them any right, power, liability or duty shall have effect (except where the context otherwise requires) so as to confer or impose it upon them jointly; but anything done by or in relation to any one of them which purports to be done by or in relation to both or all of them shall have effect for the purposes of this Act as if done by or in relation to them jointly.

No government funds or guarantees for the tunnel system

2

• (1) Subject to subsection (2) below, no Minister of the Crown or Government department shall provide funds to the Concessionaires, or guarantees of a financial or commercial nature relating to the performance of any obligations of the Concessionaires, in respect of the construction or operation of the tunnel system or any part of it.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3) below, subsection (1) above shall not preclude the provision of funds to the Concessionaires, or the provision of guarantees relating to the performance of any of their obligations, if they are provided under any enactment conferring a power or imposing a duty on any such Minister or department to provide such funds or guarantees—

• (a) to or for the benefit of persons of any class or description which includes the Concessionaires; or

• (b) in respect of expenditure of any class or description which includes expenditure on the construction or operation of the tunnel system or any part of it.

• (3) Subsection (1) above shall preclude the making by the Secretary of State under section 56(1) of the Transport Act 1968 (grants towards capital expenditure on public passenger transport facilities) of grants towards expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the Concessionaires for the purpose of the provision, improvement or development of the tunnel system or any part of it.

• (4) Where anything in contravention of subsection (1) above is done or proposed by or on behalf of a Minister of the Crown or Government department, any person who has suffered, or may suffer, loss in consequence of it may bring an action against the Minister or department concerned.

• (5) In such an action the court may—

• (a) grant a declaration that the thing done or proposed is or would be in contravention of that subsection; or

• (b) subject to subsection (6) below, make an award of damages.

• (6) The court may only make an award of damages if the person bringing the action has suffered loss in consequence of something done and if, at the time when it was done, the Minister or Government department concerned knew—

• (a) that it was in contravention of subsection (1) above; and

• (b) that it would cause loss of the description suffered either to the person bringing the action or to persons of a class to which he belongs.

• (7) The Crown Proceedings Act 1947 shall have effect as if anything done in contravention of subsection (1) above were a tort committed by the Minister, or by the Minister in charge of the department, by whom or on whose behalf the thing was done.

• (8) Where in any proceedings a question arises as to the construction of subsection (1) above, the court shall have regard in determining the question to any construction of the corresponding provision in Article 1(1) of the Treaty for the time being adopted by the arbitral tribunal which appears to the court to be relevant.

• (9) The reference in subsection (8) above to the corresponding provision in Article 1(1) of the Treaty is a reference to the provision of Article 1(1) which requires the Channel fixed link referred to in that Article to be financed without recourse to government funds or to government guarantees of a financial or commercial nature.

• (10) In this Act “the arbitral tribunal” means the arbitral tribunal constituted under the Treaty.

Provision for further definition of the tunnel system and for applying this Act to a new Concession

3

• (1) The Secretary of State may, from time to time, by order define (by reference to its boundaries or situation, the area it occupies or any other characteristics of any kind whatsoever) any element of the tunnel system.

• (2) The reference in subsection (1) above to an element of the tunnel system is a reference to any area, facility or work, and any description of equipment, incorporated in the tunnel system by virtue of section 1(7) of this Act.

• (3) Where on or following the expiry or termination of the original Concession, as defined by section 1(4) above, there is agreement on a new Concession, references in this Act (other than section 1(1)(b) and (4)) to the Concession shall be read, in relation to any matter occurring after the new Concession comes into operation, as references to the new Concession.

• (4) Subsection (3) above shall apply in relation to the expiry or termination of any such new Concession as it applies in relation to the expiry or termination of the original Concession.

• (5) In this Act—

• (a) references to agreement on a new Concession are references to the conclusion of any agreements or arrangements between Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of the French Republic on the one hand and any other persons on the other hand for the operation (and, where it has not yet been completed, the construction) by those persons of the tunnel system; and

• (b) references to a new Concession are references to any such agreements or arrangements.

• (6) The power to make an order under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

Notice with respect to operation, expiry or termination of the Concession

4

• (1) The Secretary of State shall as soon as practicable after the coming into operation or (as the case may be) the expiry or termination of the Concession publish notice of that fact and of the date on which it came into operation or (as the case may be) expired or terminated; and any such notice shall specify in such manner as the Secretary of State thinks fit any Concession agreements.

• (2) A notice required by this section shall be published—

• (a) in the London Gazette; and

• (b) in such newspapers circulating in the City of Canterbury, the borough of Ashford and the districts of Dover, Shepway and Thanet, in the county of Kent, as the Secretary of State thinks fit.

• (3) For the purposes of this Act, the Concession shall be taken to have come into operation or (as the case may be) to have expired or terminated on the relevant date specified in any notice published under this section in relation to the Concession.

Part II — Works and Land for the Tunnel System and Connected Road and Rail Works

Construction of the scheduled works

5

• (1) The Concessionaires may, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, construct and maintain in the borough of Ashford and in the districts of Dover and Shepway in the county of Kent and under the English Channel the works specified in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act.

• (2) The Kent County Council may, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, construct and maintain in the borough of Ashford the works specified in Part II of that Schedule.

• (3) The British Railways Board (referred to below in this Act as the Railways Board) may, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act, construct and (in so far as they do not have power to do so apart from this Act) maintain and operate the works specified in Part III of that Schedule.

• (4) The works specified in Parts I, II and III of that Schedule are referred to below in this Act, where no distinction is drawn between them, as the scheduled works, and otherwise as the Concessionaires’ scheduled works, the County Council’s scheduled works or the Railways Board’s scheduled works, as the case may require.

• (5) Subject to Part IV of that Schedule (which gives the limits of deviation for the works and also permits deviation from the levels shown on the deposited sections), the scheduled works shall be constructed in the lines or situations shown on the deposited plans and in accordance with the levels shown on the deposited sections.

Supplementary provisions as to the scheduled works and other authorised works

6

• (1) Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect—

• (a) for applying Part II of the Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950 to works for the construction or maintenance of certain of the Concessionaires’ scheduled works; and

• (b) for incorporating with this Act the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 and Part I of the Railways Clauses Act 1863, subject to modifications there specified.

• (2) Part II of that Schedule shall have effect—

• (a) for regulating the manner in which the scheduled works and any installations connected with the scheduled works are to be constructed and maintained;

• (b) for authorising or regulating the carrying out of subsidiary works; and

• (c) for conferring or imposing, in connection with the construction or maintenance of those works and installations, certain supplementary powers and certain incidental duties.

• (3) Part III of that Schedule shall have effect—

• (a) for making in connection with the scheduled works and other works authorised by this Act provision in relation to highways and roads; and

• (b) for making provision as to compensation for, and mitigation of, adverse effects of such works.

• (4) Any activities carried on by the Concessionaires for or in connection with the construction or maintenance of their scheduled works or any other works of theirs authorised by this Act shall be treated (if they would not be so treated apart from this subsection) as the carrying on by the Concessionaires of the railway undertaking they are authorised by virtue of section 19 of this Act to carry on.

Vesting of seaward section of tunnel system in Secretary of State, subject to Concession lease

7

• (1) The land comprising the seaward section of the tunnel system shall, as it becomes occupied by or on behalf of the Concessionaires working from England, vest in the Secretary of State, together with so much of the surrounding subsoil as is necessary for the security of the part of the system so occupied.

• (2) Where the land agreed to be granted under a Concession lease consists of or includes the land and subsoil mentioned in subsection (1) above, the interest in that land and subsoil shall vest in the Concessionaires under the lease as that land becomes so occupied, as if granted by the Secretary of State immediately on the vesting in him of that land and subsoil by virtue of subsection (1) above.

• (3) The Secretary of State shall, at such time or times as may be agreed by him and the Crown Estate Commissioners, pay to those Commissioners, in respect of the vesting in him by virtue of subsection (1) above of any land of the Crown Estate, such an amount as those Commissioners would have obtained for it on a sale in accordance with section 3(1) of the Crown Estate Act 1961 (duty as to consideration).

• (4) In subsection (3) above “land of the Crown Estate” means land which, immediately before the vesting of that land in the Secretary of State by virtue of subsection (1) above, was vested in Her Majesty in right of the Crown.

• (5) References in this section to the seaward section of the tunnel system are references to that system, so far as lying under the foreshore and the bed of the sea as far as the frontier.

Acquisition of land for the scheduled works and other authorised works

8

• (1) The Secretary of State is authorised by this section to acquire compulsorily—

• (a) so much of the land shown on the deposited plans within the limits of deviation for the Concessionaires’ scheduled works as may be required for the construction and maintenance of those works and other works in connection with those works, or otherwise for any purposes of the construction or operation by the Concessionaires of the tunnel system; and

• (b) so much of the land so shown within the limits of land to be acquired as may be so required;

being in neither case land which falls to be vested in the Secretary of State by virtue of section 7 of this Act.

• (2) The Secretary of State is authorised by this section to acquire by agreement any land which he is not otherwise authorised to acquire and which is required for the construction and maintenance of the Concessionaires’ scheduled works and other works in connection with those works, or otherwise for any purposes of the construction or operation by the Concessionaires of the tunnel system.

• (3) The Kent County Council are authorised by this section to acquire compulsorily—

• (a) so much of the land shown on the deposited plans within the limits of deviation for their scheduled works as may be required for the construction of those works and other works in connection with those works; and

• (b) so much of the land so shown within the limits of land to be acquired as may be so required.

• (4) The Railways Board are authorised by this section to acquire compulsorily—

• (a) so much of the land shown on the deposited plans within the limits of deviation for their scheduled works as may be required for the construction and maintenance of those works and other works in connection with those works, or otherwise for the purposes of their undertaking; and

• (b) so much of the land so shown within the limits of land to be acquired as may be so required.

• (5) The preceding provisions of this section are subject to section 37 of this Act.

Planning permission, etc.

9

• (1) Planning permission shall be deemed to have been granted under Part III of the Act of 1971 for the carrying out by the Concessionaires of such development as may be necessary or expedient for—

• (a) the construction of their scheduled works within the limits of deviation for those works; and

• (b) the construction of the works, the provision of the facilities and the carrying out of the operations mentioned in section A of Part I of Schedule 5 to this Act within the limits of the land to be acquired for those purposes;