CONSENTS FOR DISCHARGES (Hansard, 4 April 1989)

HC Deb 04 April 1989 vol 150 cc50-61 50

§ Consents for discharges of trade and sewage effluent etc.

§ 34.—(1) An application to a river purification authority for consent in pursuance of this section for discharges of any effluent or other matter shall be accompanied or supplemented by all such information as the authority may reasonably require; and the authority may if it thinks fit treat an application for consent for discharges at two or more places as separate applications for consent for discharges at each of those places.

§ (2) Subject to the following section, it shall be the duty of a river purification authority to which an application for consent is made in pursuance of this section—

(a) to give the consent either unconditionally or subject to conditions or to refuse it; and
(b) not to withhold the consent unreasonably;

and if within the period of three months beginning with the date when an application for consent is received by the authority, or within such longer period as may at any time be agreed upon in writing between the authority and the applicant, the authority has neither given nor refused the consent nor informed the applicant that the application has been transmitted to the Secretary of State in pursuance of the following section, the authority shall be deemed to have refused the consent.

§ (3) If it appears to the authority that a person has, without the authority's consent, caused or permitted matter to be discharged in its area in contravention of section 32(1) of this Act and that a similar contravention by that person is likely, the authority may if it thinks fit serve on him an instrument in writing giving its consent, subject to conditions specified in the instrument, for discharges of a kind so specified; but 51 consent given in pursuance of this subsection shall not relate to any discharge which occurred before the instrument giving the consent was served on the recipient of the instrument.

§ (4) The conditions subject to which the authority may give its consent in pursuance of this section shall be such reasonable conditions as the authority thinks fit; and without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this subsection those conditions my include reasonable conditions—

(a) as to the places at which the discharges to which the consent relates may be made and as to the design and construction of any outlets for the discharges;
(b) as to the nature, origin, composition, temperature, volume and rate of the discharges and as to the period during which the discharges may be made;
(c) as to the provision of facilities for taking samples of the matter discharged and in particular as to the provision, maintenance and use of manholes, inspection chambers, observation wells and bore-holes in connection with the discharges;
(d) as to the provision, maintenance and testing of meters for measuring the volume and rate of the discharges and apparatus for determining the nature, composition and temperature of the discharges;
(e) as to the keeping of records of the nature, origin, composition, temperature, volume and rate of the discharges and in particular of records of readings of meters and other recording apparatus provided in accordance with any other condition attached to the consent;
(f) as to the making of returns and the giving of other information to the authority about the nature, origin, composition, temperature, volume and rate of the discharges; and
(g) as to the steps to be taken, in relation to the discharges or by way of subjecting any substance likely to affect the description of matter discharged to treatment or any other process, for minimising the polluting effects of the discharges on any controlled waters;

and it is hereby declared that consent may be given in pursuance of this section subject to different conditions in respect of different periods.

§ (5) A person who, in an application for consent in pursuance of this section, makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or on conviction on indictment to a fine.

§ Reference to Secretary of State of certain applications for

consent

§ 35.—(1) The Secretary of State may, either in consequence of representations made to him or otherwise, direct a river purification authority to transmit to him for determination applications for consent in pursuance of the preceding section which are specified in the direction or are of a kind so specified, and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the direction and to inform each relevant applicant that his application has been transmitted to the Secretary of State.

§ (2) Before determining an application transmitted to him by a river purification authority in pursuance of this section the Secretary of State may if he thinks fit, and shall if a request to be heard with respect to the application is made to him in accordance with regulations by the applicant or the authority, cause a local inquiry to be held in pursuance of section 96 of this Act into the application or afford to the applicant and the authority an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by a person appointed by the Secretary of State for the purpose.

§ (3) Where in pursuance of the preceding subsection the Secretary of State affords to an applicant and a river purification authority an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by a person with respect to the application in question, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to afford an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by that person to any person who, in pursuance of subsection (1)(c) or (5) of the following section, has made representations relating to the application.

§ (4) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to determine an application transmitted to him by a river purification authority in pursuance of this section by directing the authority to refuse its consent in pursuance of the preceding section in consequence of the application or to give the consent either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as are specified in the direction, and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the direction.

§ Provisions supplementary to ss. 34 and 35

§ 36.—(1) Where a river purification authority receives an application for consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act or serves an instrument in pursuance of subsection (3) of that section, it shall be the duty of the authority, before deciding whether to give or refuse consent in pursuance of the application or, as the case may be, after serving the instrument—

(a) to publish in the prescribed form notice of the application or instrument in two successive weeks in a newspaper or newspapers circulating in—
1. (i) the area or areas in which the places are situated at which it is proposed in the application that the discharges should be made or, as the case may be, at which discharges are the subject of consent given by the instrument, and
2. (ii) the area or areas appearing to the authority to be in the vicinity of any controlled waters which the authority considers likely to be affected by the discharges,
and, not earlier than the day following that on which the first publication of the notice is completed in all relevant areas in pursuance of the preceding provisions of this paragraph, to publish such a notice in the Edinburgh Gazette;
(b) to send copies of the application or instrument to each local authority in whose area it is proposed in application that a discharge should be made or in whose area a discharge is the subject of consent given by the instrument and, in the case of an application or instrument relating to coastal waters, relevant territorial waters or an application relating to waters outside the seaward limits of relevant territorial waters, to the Secretary of State; and
(c) to consider any written representations relating to the application or instrument which are made to the authority by any person within the period of six weeks beginning with the date on which the notice of the application or instrument is published in the Edinburgh Gazette.

§ (2) For the purposes of subsection (1) above, "local authority" means a regional or district council, and any place at sea at which it is proposed in an application that a discharge should be made shall be treated as situated at the point on land nearest to that place.

§ (3) Where notice of an application is published by a river purification authority in pursuance of subsection (1)(a) of this section, the authority shall be entitled to recover the cost of publication from the applicant.

§ (4) A river purification authority shall be entitled to disregard the provisions of subsection (1) of this section in relation to an application (except so much of paragraph (b) of that subsection as requires copies of the application to be sent to the Secretary of State) if the authority proposes to give consent in pursuance of the application and considers that the discharges in question will have no appreciable effect on the water into which they are proposed to be made.

§ (5) The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect with prescribed modifications in relation to an application which is the subject of a direction in pursuance of subsection (1) of the preceding section.

§ (6) Where a river purification authority proposes to give consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act in consequence of an application in respect of which representations have been made in pursuance of subsection (1)(c) of this section then—

(a) it shall be the duty of the authority to serve notice of the proposal on the person who made the representations and to include in the notice a statement of the effect of the following paragraph; and
(b) that person may, within the period of twenty-one days beginning with the day on which the notice of the proposal is served on him, request the Secretary of State in accordance with regulations to give a direction in pursuance of subsection (1) of the preceding section in respect of the application; and
(c) it shall be the duty of the authority not to give consent in consequence of the application before the expiration of that period and, if within that period the said person makes a request in pursuance of the preceding paragraph and serves notice of the request on the authority, not to give consent in pursuance of the application unless the Secretary of State has given notice to the authority that he declines to comply with the request;

and in calculating in the case of any application the period of three months mentioned in section 34(2) of this Act or a longer period there mentioned there shall be disregarded any period during which the authority to which the application was made is prohibited by virtue of paragraph (c) of this subsection from giving consent in consequence of the application.

§ (7) A consent for any discharges which is given in pursuance of section 34 of this Act is not limited to discharges by a particular person and accordingly extends to the discharges in question which are made by any person.

§ Revocation of consents and alteration and imposition of

conditions.

§ 37.—(1) It shall be the duty of a river purification authority by which a consent is given in pursuance of section 34 of this Act to review from time to time the consent and the conditions, if any, to which the consent is subject; and subject to the following section the authority may, by a notice served on the person making a discharge in pursuence of the consent, revoke the consent if it is reasonable to do so or make reasonable modifications of the said conditions or, in the case of an unconditional consent, provide that it shall be subject to reasonable conditions specified in the notice.

§ (2) Subject to the following section, the Secretary of State may—

(a) for the purpose of enabling Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to give effect to any Community obligation or to any international agreement to which the United Kingdom is for the time being a party;
(b) for the protection of public health or of flora and fauna dependent on an aquatic environment; or
(c) in consequence of any representations made to him or otherwise,

direct a river purification authority to serve a notice in pursuance of the preceding subsection containing such provisions as are specified in the direction and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the direction; and if the authority fails to serve the notice within such period as the Secretary of State may allow he may serve the notice on behalf of the authority, and it is hereby declared that for the purposes of this Part of the Act a notice served on behalf of an authority by virtue of this subsection is served by the authority.

§ Restriction on variation and revocation of

consent and of previous variation

§ 38.—(1) Each instrument signifying the consent of a river purification authority in pursuance of section 34 of this Act shall specify a period during which no notice in pursuance of subsection (1) or (2)(c) of the preceding section is to be served in respect of the consent without the written agreement of a person making a discharge in pursuance of the consent; and the said period shall be a reasonable period of not less than two years beginning with the day on which the consent takes effect.

§ (2) Each notice served by a river purification authority in pursuance of subsection (1) or (2)(c) of the preceding section (except a notice which only revokes a consent or conditions) shall specify a period during which a subsequent notice in pursuance of that subsection which alters the effect of the first-mentioned notice is not to be served without the written agreement of a person making a discharge in pursuance of the consent to which the first-mentioned notice relates; and the 54 said period shall be a reasonable period of not less than two years beginning with the day on which the first-mentioned notice is served.

§ (3) The authority shall be liable to pay compensation to any person in respect of any loss or damage sustained by that person as a result of the authority's compliance with a direction given in relation to any consent by virtue of section 37(2)(b) of this Act if—

(a) in complying with that direction the authority does anything which, apart from that direction, it would be precluded from doing by a restriction imposed under subsection (1) or (2) above; and
(b) the direction is not shown to have been in consequence of—
1. (i) a change of circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen at t he beginning of the period to which the restriction relates; or
2. (ii) consideration by the Secretary of State of material information which was not reasonably available to the authority at the beginning of that period;
and in this paragraph information is material, in relation to a consent, if it relates to any discharge made or to be made by virtue of the consent, to the interaction of any such discharge with any other discharge or to the combined effect of the matter discharged and any other matter.

§ (4) A restriction imposed under subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall not prevent the service by the authority of a notice by virtue of section 37(1) or (2)(c) of this Act in respect of a consent given under section 34(3) of this Act if—

(a) the notice is served not more than three months after the beginning of the period specified in section 36(1)(c) of this Act for the making of representations with respect to the consent; and
(b) the authority or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State considers, in consequence of any representations received by it or him within that period, that it is appropriate for the notice to be served.

§ 39.—(1) Any questions as to whether—

(a) a river purification authority has unreasonably withheld its consent in pursuance of section 31(3) or 34 of this Act or regulations made by virtue of section 31(4) of this Act or has given its consent in pursuance of the said section 34 or such regulations subject to conditions which are unreasonable; or
(b) a notice served in pursuance of section 37(1) of this Act contains terms (other than a term required by subsection (2) of the preceding section) which are unreasonable; or
(c) the period specified in any instrument or notice in pursuance of subsection (1) or (2) of the preceding section is unreasonable,

shall be determined for the purposes of this Part of this Act by the Secretary of State: but no question relating to a determination of the Secretary of State in pursuance of section 35(4) of this Act shall be referred to him in pursuance of this subsection and any such determination shall be final.

§ (2) Provision may be made by regulations as to the manner in which and the time within which a question may be referred or a request may be made in pursuance of the preceding provisions of this section and as to the procedure for dealing with such a reference or request.

§ (3) In any case where—

(a) a question as to whether a river purification authority has unreasonably withheld its consent in pursance of section 34 of this Act, or has given its consent in pursuance of that section subject to conditions which are unreasonable, is referred to the Secretary of State in pursuance of this section; and
(b) representations relating to the application for the consent in question were made to the authority in pursuance of section 36(1)(c) of this Act,

it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, before he determines the question, to secure that the authority has served notice of the reference on the persons who made the representations and to take account of any further written representations relating to the application which are received by him from those persons within a prescribed period.

§ (4) Where a question is referred to the Secretary of State in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section and he determines that the consent in question was unreasonably withheld or that the conditions or terms or period in question are or is unreasonable, he shall give to the relevant river purification authority such a direction as he thinks fit with regard to the consent, conditions, terms or period and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the direction.

§ (5) the withholding by a river purification authority of such a consent as it is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, the conditions subject to which such a consent is given and such terms and period as are so mentioned shall be treated as reasonable for the purposes of this Part of this Act until the contrary is determined in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section except that where a question as to the reasonableness of the conditions of a consent given in pursuance of regulations made by virtue of section 31(4) of this Act is referred to the Secretary of State in pursuance of this section the consent shall be treated for those purposes as unconditional while the reference is pending.

§ (6) At any stage of the proceedings on a reference to the Secretary of State in pursuance of this section he may, and shall if so directed by the Court of Session, state in the form of a special case for the decision of the court any question of law arising in those proceedings.

§ Transitional provisions relating to consents

§ 40.—(1) Regulations may provide—

(a) for any consent for discharges which was given in pursuance of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Acts 1951 and 1965 to have effect for any of the purposes of this Part of this Act as if given in pursuance of prescribed provisions of section 34 of this Act; and
(b) for any conditions to which such a consent was subject in pursuance of any of those enactments to have effect for any of those purposes as if attached to the consent in pursuance of prescribed provisions of this Part of this Act.

§ (2) Regulations may provide for the terms of a consent for an outlet which was given in pursuance of the rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951 and for conditions to which such a consent was subject in pursuance of that Act or which were imposed with respect to the outlet in pursuance of section 28(4) of that Act—

(a) to have effect, with or without modifications, for any of the purposes of this Part of this Act as if the terms or conditions were conditions attached to a consent given in pursuance of section 34 of this Act for discharges from the outlet; or
(b) to be treated, with or without modifications, for any of those purposes in such other manner as may be prescribed.

§ (3) An application for such a consent as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section which is pending immediately before the relevant day shall be treated on and after that day as an application for consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act which was made on the day on which it was actually made.

§ (4) Where an application for consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act in respect of any discharge is duly made to a river purification authority before the relevant day and the discharge in question is not such as is mentioned in section 32(3)(a) of this Act and is substantially a continuation of a previous discharge which during the year ending with the 30th April 1974 was lawfully made without such consent as is so mentioned (any reduction of the temperature, volume or rate of the discharge as compared with that of the previous discharge being disregarded), the authority shall be deemed to have given unconditionally the consent applied for—

(a) until the authority actually gives the consent unconditionally; or
(b) if the authority decides to refuse consent or to give it subject to conditions, until the expiration of the period of three months beginning with the date when the authority serves on the applicant notice of the decision; or
(c) if during that period the applicant appeals to the Secretary of State against the decision in pursuance of the preceding section, until the determination of the appeal.

§ (5) Regulations may provide for any appeal which immediately before the relevant day is pending in pursuance of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Acts 1951 and 1965 to be treated on and after that day as an appeal in pursuance of prescribed provisions of this Part of the Act.

§ (6) In this section "the relevant day" means the day when section 32(1) of this Act comes into force.

§ Ancillary provisions relating to control of discharges

Registers

§ 41.—(1) It shall be the duty of river purification authorities to maintain in accordance with regulations, registers containing prescribed particulars of—

(a) any notices of water quality objectives or other notices served under section 30C above;
(b) applications for consents—
1. (i) made to the authorities in pursuance of this part of this Act;
2. (ii) sent to the Secretary of State in pursuance of section 34 of this Act (as modified by regulations made under section 55 of this Act);
(c) consents given in pursuance of any provision of this Part of this Act (except section 40(4)) and the conditions to which the consents are subject;
(d) samples—
1. (i) of effluent taken by the authorities in pursuance of section 19 of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951;
2. (ii) of effluent taken by islands councils from discharges made by them in their own areas for the purposes of their functions relating to the pollution of controlled waters; and
3. (iii) of water taken by the authorities;
and information produced by analyses of the samples and the steps taken in consequence of the information;
(e) certificates issued in pursuance of the following section.

§ (2) It shall be the duty of a river purification authority—

(a) to secure that registers maintained by the authority in pursuance of the preceding subsection are, after such date as is prescribed with respect to the registers, open to inspection by the public free of charge at all reasonable hours; and
(b) to afford members of the public reasonable facilities for obtaining from the authority, on payment of reasonable charges, copies of entries in the register.

§ Power of Secretary of State to exempt applications, consents

and conditions etc. from publicity.

§ 42.—(1) If a person who proposes to make or has made an application to a river purification authority for any consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act (hereafter in this subjection refered to as "the relevant application")—

(a) applies to the Secretary of State within a prescribed period for a certificate providing that section 36(1) of this Act and paragraphs (b) to (d) of subsection (1) of the preceding section shall not apply to the relevant application or to any consent given or conditions imposed in consequence of the relevant application or to any sample of effluent taken from a discharge for which consent is given in consequence of the relevant application or to information produced by analysis of such a sample; and
(b) satisfies the Secretary of State that it would—
1. (i) prejudice to an unreasonable degree some private interest by disclosing information about a trade secret, or
2. (ii) be contrary to the public interest,
if a certificate were not issued in pursuance of his application to the Secretary of State.

the Secretary of State may issue a certificate to that person providing that section 36(1) of this Act and those paragraphs shall not apply to such of the things mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection as are specified in the certificate.

§ (2) If a person who is making or propose to make a discharge which is the subject of a consent given in pursuance of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Acts 1951 and 1965— 57

(a) applies to the Secretary of State for a certificate providing section shall not apply to the consent or any conditions to which the consent is subject or any sample of effluent taken from a discharge to which the consent relates or any information produced by analysis of such a sample; and
(b) satisfied the Secretary of State as mentioned in paragraph (c) of the preceding subsection,

the Secretary of State may issue a certificate to that person providing that the said subsection (1)(c) or (d) shall not apply to such of the things mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection as are specified in the certificate.".

§ 5. For sections 46 to 51 there shall be substituted the following sections—

§ "Operations by water authorities to remedy or forestall

pollution of water.

§ 46.—(1) Where it appears to a river purification authority that any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter or any solid waste matter is likely to enter, or is or was present in, any controlled waters in its area, the authority may carry out in its area or elsewhere such operations as it considers appropriate—

(a) in a case where the matter appears likely to enter such waters, for the purpose of preventing it from doing so; and
(b) in a case where the matter appears to be or to have been present in such waters, for the purpose of removing or disposing of the matter or of remedying or mitigating any pollution caused by its presence in the waters or of restoring the waters (including the fauna and flora dependent on the aquatic environment of the waters), so far as it is reasonably practicable to do so, to the state in which they were immediately before the matter became present in the waters;

but nothing in this subsection empowers a river purification authority to impede or prevent the making of any discharge in pursuance of a consent given by any authority by virtue of section 34 of this Act.

§ (2) Where a river purification authority carries out any operations in pursuance of this section the authority shall, subject to the following subsection, be entitled to recover the costs of doing so from any persons who caused or knowingly permitted the matter in question to be present at the place from which it was likely in the opinion of the authority to enter the controlled waters or, as the case may be, to be present in the controlled waters.

§ (3) No such costs shall be payable by a person—

(a) in so far as he satisfies the court in which it is sought to recover the costs that the costs were incurred unnecessarily; or
(b) for any operations in respect of water from an abandoned mine which that person permitted to reach such a place as is mentioned in the preceding subsection or to enter the controlled waters.

§ (4) In determining the damage which a person has suffered in consequence of pollution in respect of which operations have been or may be carried out in pursuance of this section, account shall be taken of the extent to which it is shown that the damage has been reduced by operations in pursuance of this section and of the extent to which it is shown that the damage is likely to be so reduced.

§ Duty of authorities to deal with waste from vessels etc.

§ 47.—(1) It shall be the duty of each river purification authority—

(a) to arrange for the collection and disposal of waste from vessels in its area which appears to the authority to need collection in consequence of section 33 of this Act; and
(b) to arrange for the provision of facilities for the washing out of prescribed appliances from vessels in its area.

§ (2) A river purification authority may arrange for the provision of facilities by way of water closets, urinals and wash basins for the use of persons from vessels in the authority's area.

§ (3) A port local authority constituted under Part X of the Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897 shall have power to make arrangements with a river purification authority for the purposes of any of the preceding provisions of this section.

§ Power of river purification authorities to exclude unregistered

vessels from rivers etc.

§ 48.—(1) Where it appears to a river purification authority to be appropriate to do so for the purpose of preventing the pollution of inland waters in its area, the authority may make byelaws providing that vessels shall not be on any such waters which are specified in the byelaws unless the vessels are registered by the authority in accordance with the byelaws or are exempted by the byelaws from registration; and a person who causes or knowingly permits a vessel to be on inland waters in contravention of byelaws made by virtue of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or such smaller sum as may be specified in the byelaws.

§ (2) Byelaws made by a river purification authority in pursuance of the preceding subsection may authorise the authority to make reasonable charges in respect of the registration of vessels in pursuance of the byelaws; and no charges shall be payable, by persons in or from vessels registered by the authority in pursuance of the byelaws, in respect of the use by those persons of facilities provided in pursuance of the preceding section by or by arrangement with the authority.

§ Deposits and vegetation in rivers etc.

§ 49.—(1) If without the consent of the relevant river purification authority, which shall not be unreasonably withheld,—

(a) a person removes from any part of the bottom, channel or bed of any inland waters a deposit accumulated by reason of any dam, weir or sluice holding back the waters and does so by causing the deposit to be carried away in suspension in the waters; or
(b) any substantial amount of vegetation cut or uprooted in any inland waters, or so near to any such waters that it falls into it, is allowed to remain in the waters by the wilful default of any person,

then, subject to the following subsection, that person shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

§ (2) Nothing in paragraph (a) of the preceding subsection applies to anything done in the exercise of statutory powers conferred by or under any enactment relating to land drainage, flood prevention or navigation.

§ (3) Regulations may provide that any reference to inland waters in subsection (1) of this section shall be construed as including a reference to such coastal waters as are prescribed for the purposes of that subsection.

§ (4) Any question as to whether the consent of a river purification authority in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section is unreasonably withheld shall be determined by the Secretary of State; and any consent given in pursuance of section 24 of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951 (which is superseded by this section) shall be treated for the purposes of this section as given in pursuance of this section.

§ Investigation of water pollution problems arising from closure

of mines

§ 50. Each river purification authority shall have power to carry out studies for the purposes of ascertaining—

(a) what problems relating to the pollution of controlled waters may arise or have arisen in consequence of the abandonment of any mine in its area or might arise if any such mine were abandoned; and
(b) what steps are likely to be appropriate for the purpose of dealing with the problems and what the cost of taking those steps would be.

§ Codes of good agricultural practice

§ 51.—(1) The Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument approve any code of practice issued (whether by him or by another person) for the purpose of—

(a) giving practical guidance to persons engaged in agriculture with respect to activities that may affect controlled waters; and
(b) promoting what appear to him to be desirable practices by such persons for avoiding or minimising the pollution of any such waters,

59 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 for the time being approved under this section shall not of itself give rise to any criminal or civil liability, but a river purification authority shall take into account whether there has been or is likely to be any such contravention in determining when and how it should exercise any powers conferred on it by regulations under section 31A of this Act.

§ (3) The Secretary of State shall not make an order under this section unless he has first consulted the river purification authorities.".

§ 6. For sections 53 to 56 there shall be substituted the following sections—

§ "Charges in respect of certain discharges

§ 53.—(1) Where—

(a) an application is made to a river purification authority for a consent for the purposes of sections 31(3), 32 or 49 of this Act of for the modification of, or of the conditions of, any such consent;
(b) the authority gives a consent under section 34(3) of this Act or a consent for the purposes of section 31(3) or 49 of this Act; or
(c) a consent for the purposes of sections 31(3), 32 or 49 of this Act is for the time being in force,

the authority may require the payment to it of such charges as may be specified in or determined under a scheme made by it under this section.

§ (2) The persons who shall be liable to pay charges which are required to be paid by virtue of a scheme under this section shall be—

(a) in the case of a charge by virtue of subsection (1)(a) above, the person who makes the application;
(b) in the case of a charge by virtue of subsection (1)(b) above, any person who is authorised to do anything by virtue of the consent and on whom the instrument giving the consent is served; and
(c) in the case of a charge by virtue of subsection (1)(c) above, any person who makes a discharge in pursuance of the consent at any time during the period to which, in accordance with the scheme, the charge relates;

and provision made by a scheme for the purposes of paragraph (c) above may impose a single charge in respect of the whole period for which the consent is in force or separate charges in respect of different parts of that period or both such a single charge and such separate chages.

§ (3) An authority shall not make a scheme under this section unless its provisions have been approved by the Secretary of State; and the consent of the Treasury shall be required for the giving of such an approval.

§ (4) Before submitting a scheme under this section to the Secretary of State for his approval an authority shall, in such manner as it considers appropriate for bringing it to the attention of persons likely to be affected by it, publish a notice setting out its proposals and specifying the period within which representations with respect to the proposals may be made to the Secretary of State.

§ (5) Where any proposed scheme has been submitted to the Secretary of State for his approval, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, in determining whether or not to approve the scheme or to approve it subject to modifications—

(a) to consider any representations duly made to him; and
(b) to have regard to the matters specified in subsection (6) below.

§ (6) The matters mentioned in subsection (5)(b) above are—

(a) the need to ensure that the amount recovered by the authority by way of charges fixed by or under schemes under this section does not exceed, taking one year with another, such amount as appears to the Secretary of State to be reasonably attributable to the expenses incurred by the authority in carrying out its functions under sections 34 to 38 and 49 of this Act and otherwise in relation to discharges into controlled waters; and
(b) the need to ensure that no undue preference is shown, and that there is no undue discrimination, in the fixing of charges by or under the scheme.

§ (7) A scheme under this section may—

(a) make provision with respect to the times and methods of payment of the charges which are required to be paid by virtue of the scheme;
(b) make different provision for different cases, including different provision in relation to different persons, circumstances or localities; and
(c) contain supplemental, consequential and transitional provision for the purposes of the scheme;

and such a scheme may revoke or amend a previous scheme under this section.

§ (8) It shall be the duty of a river purification authority to take such steps as it considers appropriate for bringing the provisions of any scheme under this section which is for the time being in force to the attention of persons likely to be affected by them.

§ Directions to the river purification authority

§ 54.—(1) Directions of a general or specific character may be given to each river purification authority by the Secretary of State with respect to the carrying out of its functions and it shall be the duty of each river purification authority to comply with any such direction.

§ (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred by subsection (1) of this section, directions under that subsection may include such directions as the Secretary of State considers appropriate in order to enable Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to give effect to—

(a) any Community obligations; or
(b) any international agreement to which the United Kingdom is for the time being a party.

§ (3) Any power of the Secretary of State otherwise than by virtue of this section to give direction to a river purification authority shall be without prejudice to the power conferred by this section.

§ Supplemental

Discharges by islands councils

§ 55.—(1) This part of this Act shall have effect with prescribed modifications in relation to discharges by an islands council in its area.

§ (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers to make regulation conferred by the preceding subsection, any regulations made in pursuance of that subsection may provide for consents required by islands councils for the purposes of this Part of this Act as modified by virtue of that subsection to be or be deemed to be given by the Secretary of State.

§ Interpretation etc. of Part II

§ 56.—Except where the context otherwise requires, in this Part of this Act—

"agriculture" and "agricultural" have the same meanings as in the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948;
"coastal waters", "controlled waters", "ground waters", "inland waters" and "relevant territorial waters" have the meanings given by section 30A(1) above;
"effluent" means any liquid, including particles of matter and other substances in suspension in the liquid;
"sewage effluent" includes any effluent from the sewage disposal or sewerage works of a local authority within the meaning of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968;
"trade effluent" includes any effluent which is discharged from premises used for carrying on any trade or industry, other than surface water and domestic sewage;
"underground strata" means strata subjacent to the surface of any land;
"water authority" means an authority established in accordance with section 3 of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980;
"watercourse" includes all rivers, streams, ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dykes, sluices, sewers, and passages through which water flows except mains and other pipes which belong to the water authority or are used by a water authority or any other person for the purposes only of providing a supply of water to any premises.

§ (2) In this Part of this Act— 61

(a) any reference to the waters of any loch or pond or of any river or watercourse includes a reference to the bottom, channel or bed of any loch, pond, river or, as the case may be, watercourse which is for the time being dry; and
(b) any reference to water contained in underground strata is a reference to water so contained otherwise than in a sewer, pipe, reservoir, tank or other underground works constructed in any such strata.

§ (3) For the purposes of the definition of "trade effluent" in subsection (1) above any premises (whether on land or not) wholly or mainly used (whether for profit or not) for agricultural purposes or for the purposes of fish farming or for scientific research or experiment shall be deemed to be premises used for carrying on a trade.

§ (4) For the purposes of this Part of this Act the area of a river purification authority shall include all controlled waters off the coast of the area which is the authority's area apart from this subsection; and any question as to whether any place is included in the area of a river purification authority by virtue of this subsection shall be determined by the Secretary of State.

§ (5) For the purposes of this Part of this Act a notice imposing conditions with respect to discharges which was given by a river purification authority in pursuance of—

(a) section 28(4) of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951; or
(b) section 1(5) of the Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1965,

shall be treated as having given the authority's consent in pursuance of the Act in question for those discharges subject to those conditions.

§ (6) Section 30(5) of this Act shall have effect in relation to this Part of this Act as if for any reference to Part I of this Act there were substituted a reference to this Part of this Act.

§ 7. In subsection (1) of section 104 (orders and regulation), for the words "section 33(4), 44(5), 52, 53 or 109(2)" there shall be substituted the words "sections 44(5) and 109(2).". —[Mr. Moynihan.]