HL Deb 16 March 1948 vol 154 cc854-9

[The references are to Bill No. 24.]

Clause 2, page 2, line 5, leave out from (" for, ") to third (" the ", and insert (" transferring to the applicants, whether by agreement or compulsorily ")

Clause 2, page 2,line 36, leave out (" the purposes of the order, ") and insert (" that purpose ")

Clause 2, page 2,line 39, after (" shall, ") insert (" except as provided by Section three of this Act ")

After Clause 2, page 3, line 26, at end, insert the following new Cause:

" Compulsory acquisition of land for construction of waterworks.

3.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, an order under Section twenty-three or Section nine of the principal Act authorising any persons to construct or alter waterworks or works connected therewith may authorise those persons to acquire compulsorily any lard required for the construction or alteration of those works, being land which they could be so authorised to acquire by means of a compulsory purchase order made under Section twenty-four of the principal Act, or under that section as amended by the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, as the case may be.

(2) The provisions of the Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to an order under the said Section twenty-three or the said Section nine which authorises any such acquisition as aforesaid. "

Leave out Clause 3.

Clause 4, page 4, line 33, leave out (" supplying water in, ") and insert (" authorised to supply water in any part of ")

Clause 4, page 4,line 33, leave out (" authorising or requiring, ") and insert (" may authorise or require ")

Clause 4, page 4,line 39, leave out: from (" order, ") to (" shall, ")

Clause 4, page 4,line 41, leave out (" the said ")

Clause 4, page 4,line 41, after (" twenty-three, ") insert (" of the principal Act ")

Clause 5, page 5, at end of subsection (3), [after the words inserted in this House on Report] insert—

(" (4) Subsection (10) of the said Section fourteen shall have effect as if after the word ' recoverable ' there were inserted the word ' summarily. ' ")

After Clause 5, insert the following new Clause:

(" Amendment of s. 16 of principal Act.

. Section sixteen of the principal Act which empowers statutory water undertakers to prohibit or restrict temporarily the use of hosepipes in certain circumstances) shall have effect as if at the end of the section there were added the following subsection: ' (5) During any period when a prohibition or restriction imposed under this section is in force, any officer of the undertakers shall, on producing if so required some duly authenticated document showing his authority, have a right at all reasonable hours to enter any premises to which the prohibition or restriction applies for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is or has been any contravention of the prohibition or restriction; and the section of this Act relating to entry of premises shall apply to any such right of entry. ' ")

Insert the following new Clause:

(" Amendment of s. 42 of principal Act.

.—(1) Subsection (1) of Section forty-two of the principal Act (which requires statutory water undertakers being companies to prepare annual abstracts of the accounts of their undertakings) shall have effect as if the words ' in such form as the Minister may direct, ' were omitted, and as if at the end of the subsection there were added the following paragraph: ' The Minister may give directions as to the form of the abstracts to be prepared by statutory water undertakers under this subsection, and such directions may be given either in relation to any particular undertakers or in relation to all undertakers of any specified class. '

(2) Subsection (2) of the said Section forty-two (which requires such undertakers as aforesaid to transmit to the Minister and to certain local authorities copies of the abstracts prepared under that section) shall have effect as if after the word ' certified ' there were inserted the words ' and a copy of the balance sheet of the undertakers for the year to which the abstract relates. ' ")

After Clause 6, insert the following new Clause:

(" Subscriptions to associations of water undertakers.

. Without prejudice to any enactment authorising the payment of contributions by a local authority to any association of local authorities, any statutory undertakers, whether a local authority or not, may pay reasonable subscriptions whether annually or otherwise to the funds of any association of water undertakers formed for the purpose of consultation as to the common interests of those undertakers and the discussion of matters relating to the supply of water. ")

Clause 7, page 7, line 38, leave out subsection (5).

After Clause 7, insert the following new Clause:

(" Other amendments of Third Schedule to principal Act.

.—(1) Section seven of the Third Schedule to the principal Act (which enables the undertakers to acquire easements for underground works) shall have effect as if for subsection (1) of that section there were substituted the following subsection— ' (1) Where the undertakers are authorised by the special Act to acquire any land compulsorily for the purpose of executing any underground works, they may, instead of purchasing the land, purchase only such easements and rights over or in the land as may be sufficient for the said purpose, and the Lands Clauses Acts, and the enactments relating to the compensation payable in respect of the compulsory acquisition of land, shall apply accordingly subject to any exceptions and modifications with which those enactments are incorporated with the special Act and to any other necessary adaptations. '

(2) Subsection (1) of Section thirty of the Third Schedule to the principal Act (which confers on owners or occupiers of premises the right on certain conditions to demand and receive a supply of water for domestic purposes) shall have effect as if, at the end of the proviso to that subsection, there were added the words ' or as requiring the undertakers to supply water for any premises in which any of the water fittings are not in accordance with the requirements of any bye-laws made under Section seventeen of the Water Act, 1945, or of any byelaws or regulations made under any other enactment for purposes similar to those for which byelaws may be made under the said Section seventeen, being byelaws or regulations applicable to those premises. '

(3) Section sixty-three of the Third Schedule to the principal Act (which enables the undertakers to repair supply pipes) shall have effect as if for subsection (2) of that section there were substituted the following subsection— ' (2) Where several houses or other buildings in the occupation of different persons are supplied with water by one common supply pipe belonging to the owners or occupiers of the houses or buildings, the amount of any such expenses as aforesaid and any expenses reasonably incurred by the undertakers in the maintenance of that pipe may be recovered in manner aforesaid from the owners of those premises in such proportions as, in case of dispute, may be settled by the court, but without prejudice to the rights and obligations, as between themselves, of the owners and occupiers of those premises respectively. '

(4) Subsection (1) of Section sixty-four of the said Third Schedule (which imposes penalties for waste of water by non-repair of water fittings) shall have effect as if for the words ' If any person ' there were substituted the words ' If the owner or occupier of any premises, ' and for the words ' water supplied to him ' there were substituted the words ' water supplied to those premises '. ")

Clause 8, page 7, line 43, at beginning insert— (" (1) Where, under subsection (3) of section one hundred and sixteen of the Public Health Act, 1936, the Minister approves the construction by a local authority of works for taking or intercepting water he may by order (to be made by statutory instrument) impose on that authority such restrictions or obligations as appear to him to be expedient for the purpose of or in connection with the carrying out of those works. ")

Clause 8, page 7, line 46, at end insert (" who supply water under that Act ").

Clause 10, page 8, line 29, at end insert— (" (3) Paragraph (a) of the proviso to subsection (1) of the said Section thirty-three (which provides that an order under that section shall not vary the quantity of compensation water required by any local enactment to be discharged into any watercourse) shall have effect as if after the word ' vary, ' there were inserted the word ' compulsorily '. ")

Clause 10, page 8,line 29, at end insert—

(" (4) Section thirty-seven of the principal Act (which requires statutory water undertakers to provide a domestic supply for new buildings) shall have effect as if references therein to the laying or providing of mains included references to the construction of service reservoirs. ")

Clause 10, page 8,line 30, at beginning insert—

(" Subsection (6) of Section nine of the principal Act (which precludes the constitution under that section of any joint board which could be constituted under Section six of the Public Health Act, 1936) and ").

Clause 10, page 8,line 39, after ("order, ") insert (" and any order repealed thereby ").

Clause 10, page 8,line 40, at end insert—

(" (7) In accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Act, Section twenty-three of the principal Act shall have effect subject to the following amendments:

  1. (a) at the beginning of paragraph (i) of the proviso to subsection (1), there shall be inserted the words ' except as otherwise provided by the Water Act, 1948, ' and the words ' land or, ' in that paragraph shall be omitted;
  2. (b) in subsection (2) the words ' other than paragraph 8, ' shall be omitted and at the end of the subsection there shall be added the following proviso:
' Provided that paragraph 8 of that Schedule shall not apply except in the, cases provided by the Water Act, 1948 ' ").

Clause 11, page 9, line 11, at end insert— (" (2) References in this Act to the Third Schedule to the principal Act shall include references to that Schedule as incorporated by Section one hundred and twenty of the Public Health Act, 1936, or by any other enactment in force at the commencement of this Act. ")

After Clause 11, insert the following new Schedule—

(" Section 3.

ORDERS UNDER S. 23 OR S. 9 OF PRINCIPAL ACT AUTHORISING COMPULSORY ACQUISITION OF LAND.

1. The order shall incorporate the Lands Clauses Acts, and those Acts and the enactments relating to the compensation payable in respect of the compulsory acquisition of land shall apply accordingly subject to the exceptions and modifications specified in Parts I and III of the Second Schedule to the Act of 1946, and to such other exceptions and modifications (if any) as may be specified in the order:

Provided that where the undertakers are not a local authority within the meaning of the Act of 1946, paragraphs 3 and 4 of the said Second Schedule shall not apply.

2.—(1) A copy of the notice of the order required by paragraph 2 or paragraph 11 of the First Schedule to the principal Act to be published shall be served in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3 or paragraph 12 of that Schedule on every owner, lessee and occupier (except tenants for a month or for any period less than a month) of any land authorised by the draft order to be compulsorily acquired.

(2) Where any such and as aforesaid is ecclesiastical property (that is to say land belonging to any ecclesiastical benefice, or being or forming part of a church subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of any diocese or the site of such a church, or being or forming part of a burial ground subject to such jurisdiction) a copy of the notice aforesaid shall also be served as aforesaid on the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

3. Where any such objection as is mentioned in paragraph 7 or paragraph 16 of the First Schedule to the principal Act relates to the compulsory acquisition of land, the Minister may require the objector to state in writing the grounds thereof, and if it is certified by the Minister that the objection relates exclusively to matters that can be dealt with by the tribunal by whom compensation for the compulsory acquisition is to be assessed—

  1. (a) the Minister may disregard the objection for the purposes of the said paragraph 7 or paragraph 16, as the case may be; and
  2. (b) where paragraph 8 or paragraph 17 of the said First Schedule applies to the order, the objection shall be disregarded for the purposes of that paragraph.

4. Notwithstanding anything in paragraph 6 or paragraph 15 of the First Schedule to the principal Act, the order as made by the Minister shall not, unless all persons interested consent, authorise the undertakers to acquire compulsorily any land which they would not have been so authorised to acquire if it had been made in terms of the draft submitted to or prepared by him.

5. Subject as hereinafter provided, Part III of the First Schedule to the Act of 1946 (which makes special provision with respect to land of local authorities and statutory undertakers, common land, inalienable land of the National Trust and ancient monuments) shall apply to the order, whether or not the undertakers are a local authority within the meaning of that Act, as it applies to a compulsory purchase order:

Provided that—

  1. (a) nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as authorising the compulsory acquisition by undertakers not being such a local authority as aforesaid of any such land as is mentioned in subsection (6) of section twenty-four of the principal Act; and
  2. 859
  3. (b) where paragraph 8 or paragraph 17 of the First Schedule to the principal Act applies to the order, this paragraph shall have effect as if for the reference to Part III of the First Schedule to the Act of 1946 there were substituted a reference to paragraph 10 of the last-mentioned Schedule.

6. As soon as may be after the order has been made, the undertakers shall publish in one or more local newspapers circulating in the locality in which the land authorised to be acquired is situated a notice describing the land and stating that the order has been made authorising the undertakers to acquire it compulsorily, and naming a place where a copy of the order as made may be inspected at all reasonable hours; and shall serve a like notice and copy of the order on any persons on whom notices with respect to the land were required to be served by virtue of paragraph 2 of this Schedule.

7. Part IV of the First Schedule to the Act of 1946 (which relates to the validity and date of operation of compulsory purchase orders under that Act) shall apply to the order as if it were a compulsory purchase order and as if this Act were included among the enactments specified in subsection (1) of section one of that Act; and sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 15 of that Schedule shall have effect accordingly, in relation to the order, as if for the words ' this Act, ' in the third place where those words occur, there were substituted the words ' the Schedule to the Water Act, 1948, ' and as if after the words ' this Schedule, ' in the second place where those words occur, there were inserted the words ' or the Schedule to the Water Act, 1948 ':

Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit or restrict the taking of legal proceedings for questioning the order so far as it relates to matters other than the compulsory acquisition of land.

8.—(1) In this Schedule the expression ' the Act of 1946 ' means the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, and the expression ' the undertakers ' means the persons authorised by the order to acquire land compulsorily.

(2) The provisions of this Schedule shall apply to a development corporation established under section two of the New Towns Act, 1946, as if it were a local authority within the meaning of the Act of 1946. ")

LORD HENDERSON

My Lords, I beg to move that this House do agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.

Moved, That this House do agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(Lord Henderson.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.