Water Act 1989

Part I — Preliminary

The National Rivers Authority and the advisory committees

Functions of the Authority in relation to fisheries.

1

• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (6) The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Authority and its finances.

Regional rivers advisory committees

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Advisory Committee for Wales

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• (1) The Secretary of State shall establish and maintain a committee for advising him with respect to matters affecting or otherwise connected with the carrying out in Wales of the Authority’s functions by virtue of this Act.

• (2) The committee established and maintained under this section—

• (a) shall consist of such persons as may be appointed by the Secretary of State; and

• (b) shall meet at least once a year.

• (3) The Secretary of State shall, out of money provided by Parliament, pay to the members of the committee established and maintained under this section such sums reimbursing them for loss of remuneration, for travelling expenses and for other out-of-pocket expenses as he may with the consent of the Treasury determine.

The transfer of the water authorities’ functions etc.

Transfer of the water authorities' functions etc

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• (1) Subject to the following provisions of this Act, on such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint as the transfer date—

• (a) the functions of the water authorities shall, in accordance with those provisions, become functions of the Authority, of water undertakers or of sewerage undertakers; and

• (b) schemes under Schedule 2 to this Act for the division of the property, rights and liabilities of those authorities between their successor companies and the Authority shall come into force.

• (2) The Secretary of State shall, by order made before the transfer date, nominate a company in relation to each water authority as that authority’s successor company; but a company shall not be so nominated unless it is a limited company and, at the time when the order is made, is wholly owned by the Crown.

• (3) Subject to subsection (4) below, each water authority shall continue in existence after the transfer date until such time as they may be dissolved by order made by the Secretary of State.

• (4) On the transfer date the chairman and members of each water authority shall cease to hold office; and on and after that date each such authority—

• (a) shall consist only of a chairman appointed by the Secretary of State and, if the Secretary of State thinks fit, such one or more other persons as the Secretary of State may appoint as members of that authority; and

• (b) shall have only the functions which fall to be carried out by that authority under any scheme under Schedule 2 to this Act with respect to that authority.

• (5) The Secretary of State shall not make an order under subsection (3) above in relation to any water authority unless he is satisfied, after consultation with the water authority and with the Authority and the water authority’s successor company, that nothing further remains to be done by the water authority under any scheme under Schedule 2 to this Act.

• (6) The power to make an order under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument and such an order shall not be amended or revoked—

• (a) in the case of an order under subsection (2) above, on or after the transfer date; or

• (b) in the case of an order under subsection (3) above, after the dissolution of the water authority to which the order relates.

The Director General of Water Services and the customer service committees

The Director General of Water Services

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• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) The provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Director.

Customer service committees

6

• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (8) The provisions of Schedule 4 to this Act shall have effect with respect to customer service committees.

General duties

General duties with respect to water supply and sewerage services

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General environmental and recreational duties

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• (1) It shall be the duty of each of the following, that is to say, the Secretary of State, the Minister, the Director and every relevant body, in formulating or considering any proposals relating to the functions of any relevant body or, as the case may be, that body—

• (a) so far as may be consistent with the purposes of any enactment relating to the functions of that body and, in the case of the Secretary of State and the Director, with their duties under section 7 above, so to exercise any power conferred on him or it with respect to the proposals as to further the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty and the conservation of flora, fauna and geological or physiographical features of special interest;

• (b) to have regard to the desirability of protecting and conserving buildings, sites and objects of archaeological, architectural or historic interest; and

• (c) to take into account any effect which the proposals would have on the beauty or amenity of any rural or urban area or on any such flora, fauna, features, buildings, sites or objects.

• (2) Subject to subsection (1) above, it shall be the duty of each of the following, that is to say, the Secretary of State, the Minister, the Director and every relevant body, in formulating or considering any proposals relating to the functions of a relevant body or, as the case may be, that body—

• (a) to have regard to the desirability of preserving for the public any freedom of access to areas of woodland, mountains, moor, heath, down, cliff or foreshore and other places of natural beauty;

• (b) to have regard to the desirability of maintaining the availability to the public of any facility for visiting or inspecting any building, site or object of archaeological, architectural or historic interest; and

• (c) to take into account any effect which the proposals would have on any such freedom of access or on the availability of any such facility.

• (3) Subject to obtaining the consent of any navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority before doing anything which causes navigation which is subject to the control of that authority to be obstructed or otherwise interfered with, it shall be the duty of every relevant body to take such steps as are—

• (a) reasonably practicable; and

• (b) consistent with the purposes of the enactments relating to the functions of that body,

for securing, so long as that body has rights to the use of water or land associated with water, that those rights are exercised so as to ensure that the water or land is made available for recreational purposes and is so made available in the best manner.

• (4) Without prejudice to its other duties under this section, it shall be the duty of the Authority, to such extent as it considers desirable, generally to promote—

• (a) the conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty and amenity of inland and coastal waters and of land associated with such waters;

• (b) the conservation of flora and fauna which are dependent on an aquatic environment; and

• (c) the use of such waters and land for recreational purposes.

• (5) It shall be the duty of a relevant body, in determining what steps to take in performance of any duty imposed by virtue of subsection (3) or (4)(c) above, to take into account the needs of persons who are chronically sick or disabled.

• (6) Nothing in this section or the following provisions of this Act shall require recreational facilities made available by a relevant body to be made available free of charge.

• (7) In this section—

• “building” includes structure; and

• “relevant body” means the Authority, a water undertaker, a sewerage undertaker or an internal drainage board;

and references in this section to a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker or to the functions of such an undertaker shall be construed as if those functions included the management, by the company holding an appointment as such an undertaker, of any land for the time being held by that company for any purpose whatever (whether connected with the carrying out of the functions of a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker or not).

Environmental duties with respect to sites of special interest

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• (1) Where the Nature Conservancy Council are of the opinion that any area of land—

• (a) is of special interest by reason of its flora, fauna or geological or physiographical features; and

• (b) may at any time be affected by schemes, works, operations or activities of a relevant body or by an authorisation given by the Authority,

the Council shall notify the fact that the land is of special interest for that reason to every relevant body whose works, operations or activities may affect the land or, as the case may be, to the Authority.

• (2) Where a National Park authority or the Broads Authority is of the opinion that any area of land in a National Park or in the Broads—

• (a) is land in relation to which the matters for the purposes of which section 8 above has effect are of particular importance; and

• (b) may at any time be affected by schemes, works, operations or activities of a relevant body or by an authorisation given by the Authority,

the National Park authority or Broads Authority shall notify the fact that the land is such land, and the reasons why those matters are of particular importance in relation to the land, to every relevant body whose works, operations or activities may affect the land or, as the case may be, to the Authority.

• (3) Where a relevant body has received a notification under subsection (1) or (2) above with respect to any land, that body shall consult the notifying body before carrying out, or (in the case of the Authority) carrying out or authorising, any works, operations or activities which appear to that relevant body to be likely—

• (a) to destroy or damage any of the flora, fauna, or geological or physiographical features by reason of which the land is of special interest; or

• (b) significantly to prejudice anything the importance of which is one of the reasons why the matters mentioned in subsection (2) above are of particular importance in relation to that land.

• (4) Subsection (3) above shall not apply in relation to anything done in an emergency where particulars of what is done and of the emergency are notified to the Nature Conservancy Council, the National Park authority in question or, as the case may be, the Broads Authority as soon as practicable after that thing is done.

• (5) In this section—

• “the Broads” has the same meaning as in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988;

• “National Park authority” means a National Park Committee or a joint or special planning board for a National Park; and

• “relevant body” has the same meaning as in section 8 above.

Codes of practice with respect to environmental and recreational duties

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• (1) The relevant Minister may by order approve any code of practice issued (whether by the relevant Minister or another person) for the purpose of—

• (a) giving practical guidance to the Authority or to water undertakers and sewerage undertakers with respect to any of the matters for the purposes of which sections 8 and 9 above have effect; and

• (b) promoting what appear to him to be desirable practices by the Authority or such undertakers with respect to those matters,

and may at any time by such an order approve a modification of such a code or withdraw his approval of such a code or modification.

• (2) A contravention of a code of practice as for the time being approved under this section shall not of itself constitute a contravention of any requirement imposed by section 8 or 9 above or give rise to any criminal or civil liability, but the Secretary of State and the Minister shall each be under a duty to take into account whether there has been or is likely to be any such contravention in determining when and how he should exercise his powers by virtue of this Act in relation to the Authority or any water undertaker or sewerage undertaker.

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

• (4) Except in the case of an order made before the transfer date, the relevant Minister shall not make an order under this section unless he has first consulted the Authority, the Countryside Commission, the Nature Conservancy Council, the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, the Sports Council, the Sports Council for Wales and such water undertakers, sewerage undertakers and other persons as he considers it appropriate to consult.

• (5) In this section “the relevant Minister” means—

• (a) in relation to the Authority, the Secretary of State or the Minister; and

• (b) in relation to a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker, the Secretary of State.

Part II — Water Supply and Sewerage Services

Chapter I — Appointment and Regulation of Water and Sewerage Undertakers

Making and conditions of appointments

Appointment of undertakers

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• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (9) In the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, in Part III of Schedule 1 (other disqualifying offices), there shall be inserted (at the appropriate place) the following entry—

Director of a company for the time being holding an appointment under Chapter I of Part II of the Water Act 1989 or of such a company’s holding company, being a director nominated or appointed by a Minister of the Crown or by a person acting on behalf of the Crown.

;

and the like insertion shall be made in Part III of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975.

Restrictions on making replacement appointments

12

Procedure for replacement appointments

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• (1) An application for an appointment or variation to which section 12 above applies shall be made in such manner as may be prescribed; and, within fourteen days after making any such application, the applicant shall—

• (a) serve notice of the application on the existing appointee and on every local authority whose area includes the whole or any part of the area to which the application relates; and

• (b) publish a copy of the notice in such manner as may be prescribed.

• (2) Before making an appointment or variation to which section 12 above applies, the Secretary of State or the Director shall give notice—

• (a) stating that he proposes to make the appointment or variation;

• (b) stating the reasons why he proposes to make the appointment or variation; and

• (c) specifying the period (not being less than twenty-eight days from the date of publication of the notice) within which representations or objections with respect to the proposed appointment or variation may be made,

and shall consider any representations or objections which are duly made and not withdrawn.

• (3) A notice under subsection (2) above shall be given—

• (a) by publishing the notice in such manner as the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, the Director considers appropriate for bringing it to the attention of persons likely to be affected by the making of the proposed appointment or variation; and

• (b) by serving a copy of the notice on the existing appointee and on every local authority whose area includes the whole or any part of the area to which the proposed appointment or variation relates.

• (4) Before making an appointment or variation to which section 12 above applies, the Secretary of State shall consult the Director.

• (5) As soon as practicable after making an appointment or variation to which section 12 above applies, the Secretary of State or the Director shall—

• (a) serve a copy of the appointment or variation on the existing appointee; and

• (b) serve notice of the making of the appointment or variation on every local authority whose area includes the whole or any part of the area to which the appointment or variation relates.

• (6) Schedule 5 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the making of transitional provision for the purposes of, or in connection with, the making of an appointment or variation to which section 12 above applies.

• (7) In this section “the existing appointee”, in relation to an appointment or variation to which section 12 above applies, means the company which is the existing appointee for the purposes of that section in relation to any area to the whole or any part of which the appointment or variation relates or, where there is more than one such company, each of them.

Conditions of appointment

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Modification of appointment conditions

Modification by agreement

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• (1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the Director may modify the conditions of a company’s appointment under this Chapter if the company consents to the modifications.

• (2) Before making modifications under this section, the Director shall give notice—

• (a) stating that he proposes to make the modifications and setting out their effect;

• (b) stating the reasons why he proposes to make the modifications; and

• (c) specifying the period (not being less than twenty-eight days from the date of publication of the notice) within which representations or objections with respect to the proposed modifications may be made,

and shall consider any representations or objections which are duly made and not withdrawn.

• (3) A notice under subsection (2) above shall be given—

• (a) by publishing the notice in such manner as the Director considers appropriate for the purpose of bringing the notice to the attention of persons likely to be affected by the making of the modifications; and

• (b) by serving a copy of the notice on the company and on the Secretary of State.