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Land Drainage Act 1991

Type Public General Act

Publication 1991-07-25

Last updated 2026-03-11

State In force

Department Statute Law Database

Source legislation.gov.uk

articles Not indexed

Reform history JSON API

(2) Subject to subsection (1) above, it shall be the duty of an internal drainage board, of each of the Ministers and of the appropriate supervisory body, in formulating or considering any proposals relating to any functions of such a board—

(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) Subsections (1) and (2) above shall apply so as to impose duties on an internal drainage board in relation to—

(a) any proposals relating to the functions of the appropriate supervisory body or of a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker;

(b) any proposals relating to 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 or not connected with the carrying out of the functions of a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker); and

(c) any proposal which by virtue of section 156(7) of the Water Industry Act 1991 (disposals of protected land) falls to be treated for the purposes of section 3 of that Act as a proposal relating to the functions of a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker,

as they apply in relation to proposals relating to the functions of an internal drainage board but as if, for that purpose, the reference in subsection (1)(a) above to enactments relating to the functions of such a board were a reference to enactments relating to that to which the proposal relates.

(4) 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 an internal drainage board to take such steps as are—

(a) reasonably practicable; and

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

for securing, so long as that board have 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.

(5) It shall be the duty of every internal drainage board, in determining what steps to take in performance of any duty imposed by virtue of subsection (4) above, to take into account the needs of persons who are chronically sick or disabled.

(6) Nothing in this section (or any other provision of this Act) shall require recreational facilities made available by an internal drainage board to be made available free of charge.

(7) In this section—

“building” includes structure; and

“harbour authority” means a harbour authority within the meaning of the Prevention of Oil Pollution Act 1971.

61B

(1) It shall be the duty of a local authority, of each of the Ministers and of the appropriate agency, in formulating or considering any proposals relating to any functions of a local authority under this Act—

(a) so far as may be consistent—

(i) with the purposes of this Act; and

(ii) in the case of the Secretary of State, with his duties under section 2 of the Water Industry Act 1991,

so to exercise any power conferred with respect to the proposals on the local authority, that Minister or, as the case may be, the appropriate agency 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 a local authority, of each of the Ministers and of the appropriate agency, in formulating or considering any proposals relating to any functions of a local authority under this Act—

(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) In this section “ building ” includes structure.

61C

(1) Where Natural England or the Natural Resources Body for Wales are of the opinion that any area of land in England or, as the case may be, in Wales—

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

(b) may at any time be affected—

(i) by works, operations or activities of an internal drainage board, or

(ii) by works, operations or activities of a local authority under this Act,

Natural England or the Natural Resources Body for Wales shall notify the fact that the land is of special interest for that reason to every internal drainage board and local authority whose works, operations or activities may affect the land.

(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 61A or 61B above has effect are of particular importance; and

(b) may at any time be affected—

(i) by works, operations or activities of an internal drainage board, or

(ii) by works, operations or activities of a local authority under this Act,

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 internal drainage board and local authority whose works, operations or activities may affect the land.

(3) Where an internal drainage board or local authority have received a notification under subsection (1) or (2) above with respect to any land, the board or authority shall consult the notifying body before carrying out any works, operations or activities, or in the case of the authority any works operations or activities under this Act, which appear to the board or authority 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 Natural England , the Natural Resources Body for Wales, 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;. . .

. . .

61D

(1) Where the relevant Minister, considers that any works, operations or activities which are being, or are about to be, carried out by an internal drainage board are likely to destroy or seriously damage—

(a) any flora or fauna or any geological or physiographical feature of special interest; or

(b) any building, structure, site or object of archaeological, architectural or historic interest,

which in his opinion is of national or international importance, the relevant Minister may give such directions as he considers appropriate to the internal drainage board with respect to the exercise and performance of their functions.

(2) Except in an emergency, the relevant Minister shall not give directions to an internal drainage board under this section unless he has first consulted the board.

(3) It shall be the duty of an internal drainage board to comply with any direction which they are given under this section.

61E

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

(a) giving practical guidance—

(i) to internal drainage boards with respect to any of the matters for the purposes of which sections 61A and 61C above have effect; and

(ii) to local authorities with respect to any of the matters for the purposes of which sections 61B and 61C above have effect; and

(b) promoting what appear to the Ministers to be desirable practices by internal drainage boards or, as the case may be, local authorities with respect to those matters,

and may at any time by order approve a modification of such a code or withdraw their 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—

(a) constitute a contravention of any requirement imposed by section 61A, 61B or 61C above; or

(b) give rise to any criminal or civil liability;

but each of the Ministers shall 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 in relation to an internal drainage board or local authority under this Act.

(3) The power of the Ministers 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) The Ministers shall not make an order under this section unless they have first consulted—

(a) the NRA ;

(aa) the Natural Resources Body for Wales;

(b) Natural England ...;

(d) such other persons or bodies as the Ministers consider it appropriate to consult.

(5) Subsection (4) does not apply to an order which applies only in relation to England.

61F

(1) Any internal drainage board or local authority may, with the consent of the appropriate agency, operate any drainage works under the control of the board or authority so as to manage the level of water in a watercourse for the purpose of facilitating spray irrigation.

(2) Subsection (1) above is without prejudice to—

(a) the powers of an internal drainage board or local authority in relation to drainage; or

(b) any requirement—

(i) for any other consent of the appropriate agency or any other person; or

(ii) for any licence, approval, authorisation or other permission or registration.

1

(1) The following are the undertakings protected by this Schedule, that is to say—

(a) the undertakings of the Agency,the Natural Resources Body for Wales, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Coal Authority and a universal service provider (so far as it is his undertaking in relation to the provision of a universal postal service);

(b) the undertaking of any water undertaker or sewerage undertaker;

(d) any airport to which Part V of the Airports Act 1986 applies;

(e) the undertaking of any public gas supplier within the meaning of Part I of the Gas Act 1986;

(f) the undertaking of any person who holds a licence under Part 1 of the Electricity Act 1989;

(g) the undertaking of any navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority;

(h) any public utility undertaking carried on by a local authority under any Act or under any order having the force of an Act.

(j) the undertaking of any licensed operator, within the meaning of the Coal Industry Act 1994.

(k) the undertaking of a person who holds a licence under Chapter I of Part I of the Transport Act 2000 (air traffic services) to the extent that it is the person’s undertaking as licence holder.

(1A) In sub-paragraph (1)(a) above “universal service provider” has the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Postal Services Act 2011 ; and the reference to the provision of a universal postal service shall be construed in accordance with that Part .

(2) For the purposes of this Schedule any reference in this Schedule, in relation to any such airport as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(d) above, to the persons carrying on the undertaking is a reference to the airport operator.

2

Without prejudice to any power under this Act to transfer the functions of any authority or to vary navigation rights, nothing in this Act shall confer power to do anything which prejudices the exercise of any statutory power, authority or jurisdiction from time to time vested in or exercisable by any persons carrying on an undertaking protected by this Schedule.

3

Nothing in this Act or in any order under this Act shall authorise any person, except with the consent of the persons carrying on an undertaking protected by this Schedule, to do any work which, whether directly or indirectly, interferes or will interfere—

(a) with the works or any property which is vested in, or under the control of, the persons carrying on that undertaking, in their capacity as such; or

(b) with the use of any such works or property,

in such a manner as to affect injuriously those works or that property or the carrying on of that undertaking.

SCHEDULE

Notes:

1

The following abbreviations are used in this Table:—

2

Transfer of functions orders (“TFOs”), where applicable in relation to a provision re-enacted in the consolidation Bills, are specified at the appropriate place in column 2 of the Table.

3

General provisions contained in section 32 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (c. 43) and section 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48) provide, respectively, for the maximum fine on summary conviction of an either way offence to be the statutory maximum and for a reference to the amount of the maximum fine to which a person is liable in respect of a summary offence to become a reference to a level on the standard scale. Where the effect of one of these enactments is consolidated it is not referred to separately in column 2 of this Table.

Editorial notes

[A table showing the derivation of the provisions of this Consolidation Act will be found at the end of the Act. The table has no official status.]

Act restricted(01.12.91)by Water Resources Act 1991 (c. 57, SIF 130), ss. 15(2)(a), 225(2).

Act restricted(01.12.91)by Water Resources Act 1991 (c. 57, SIF 130), ss. 18(2), 225(2).

Act modified(01.12.91)by Water Resources Act 1991 (c. 57, SIF 130), ss. 137(4), 225(2).

Act excluded(01.12.91)by Water Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (c. 60, SIF 130), ss. 2(2), 4(2), Sch. 2 Pt. II para. 15(1).

Act modified(01.12.91)by Water Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (c. 60, SIF 130), ss. 2(2), 4(2), Sch. 2 Pt. II para. 15(2).

Act: definition applied(01.12.91)by Water Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (c. 60, SIF 130), ss. 2(2), 4(2), Sch. 2 Pt. II para. 16(5).

Act definition of "watercourse" applied by London Docklands Railway Act 1991 (c. xxiii), s. 14(1)

Act: certain functions transferred (1.4.1996) by 1995 c. 25, s. 2(1)(a)(iii) (with ss. 115, 117); S.I. 1996/186, art. 3

Act: certain functions transferred (1.7.1999) by S.I. 1999/672, art. 2 Sch. 1

Act wholly in force at 1.12.1991 see s. 76(2).