HC Deb 17 October 1950 vol 478 cc1968-9

(1) References in this Act to a street which crosses or is crossed by property held or used for the purposes of a transport undertaking extend to cases in which the street and the property in question are at different levels as well as to cases in which they are on the same level, but the transport authority shall not be treated as an authority concerned as regards undertakers' works in such a street, or be entitled to elect themselves to execute any of them, where the property in question consists only of—

  1. (a) subsoil of the street, or land under it, which is held by the transport authority but is not used, and has not been adapted for use, for the purposes of the undertaking, or
  2. (b) property underground at such a depth that there is no reasonable possibility of the works' affecting it;
and the Fourth Schedule to this Act (which requires notice and settling of specifications in connection with transport works which affect apparatus of undertakers) shall not apply where the property in which such works are to be executed is underground at such a depth that there is no reasonable possibility of their affecting the apparatus in question. (2) The provisions of this Act relating to a street which crosses or is crossed by property held or used for the purposes of a transport undertaking shall apply to a street which is or forms part of a towing-path or other way running along a canal or inland navigation, being a path or way which, or the subsoil of which, is held or used for the purposes of the canal or inland navigation undertaking. (3) References in this Act to a power conferred for purposes of a railway undertaking or a tramway undertaking include references to a power conferred primarily for those purposes but for other purposes also, and references therein to works, or to apparatus held or used, for purposes of a railway undertaking or a tramway undertaking, or for purposes of a railway undertaking, shall be construed in like manner.—[Mr. Barnes.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Mr. Barnes

I beg to move, "That the Clause be now read a Second time."

This new Clause has been put down in order to meet the position of transport authorities. Under Clause 2 (1, c), transport authorities are entitled to the protection of the Street Works Code where the proposed works cross or are crossed by any other property. It has been pointed out to me that, in the case of a canal, the road or the street works may not cross the canal, but may occur on the tow-path which is the property of the transport undertaking running alongside the canal. This new Clause meets a problem of that character.

With regard to the second difficulty, where a transport authority is concerned in such street work, it will, according to the established rule of law, own the subsoil under part of the street fronting its premises. In this case, it is not considered that the transport authority is in any way different from a householder, who may own the subsoil under the street in front of his house. Therefore, it is provided that the transport authority shall not be able to claim the protection of the Street Works Code in respect of undertakers' works done in any street running over subsoil owned by the transport authority.

The third part of the new Clause is designed to cure a defect in Clause 1. Some transport authorities, like the London Passenger Transport Executive have, in their general powers, express powers to lay pipes and cables in streets, and this part of the Clause accordingly provides for that situation.

Question put, and agreed to.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.