§ Clause 23, page 22, line 1, after ("area") insert ("or cause or permit any other person so to abstract any water").
§ Clause 23, page 22, line 7, after ("begin") insert ("or cause or permit any other person to begin").
§ Clause 23, page 22, line 15, leave out from ("unless") to end of line and insert ("the abstraction of").
§ Clause 23, page 22, line 17, after ("be") insert ("is authorised by a licence under this Act")
§ Clause 24, page 23, line 21 at end insert ("and where in the course of any such operations as are mentioned in paragraph (b) of this 1047 subsection water is abstracted from an excavation to which section 2(2)(b) of this Act applies and the abstraction is necessary as mentioned in paragraph (b) of this subsection, the exemption conferred by this subsection shall apply notwithstanding that the water is used for the purposes of the operations").
§ Clause 24, page 23,line 34, at end insert—
§ ("(7) The restriction imposed by subsection (1) of the last preceding section does not apply to any abstraction by machinery or apparatus installed on a vessel, where the water is abstracted for use on that, or any other, vessel.")
§ Clause 25, page 24, line 5, leave out subsection (1) and insert—
- ("(1) Any of the relevant authorities, after consultation with the other relevant authorities (if any), may apply to the Minister for an order excepting any one or more sources of supply in a river authority area from the restriction imposed by section 23(1) of this Act, on the grounds that the restriction so imposed is not needed in relation to that source of supply or those sources of supply, as the case may be.
- (2) An application under this section may be made in respect of—
- (a) any one or more inland waters specified in the application, or any class of inland waters so specified, or
- (b) any underground strata described in the application, whether by reference to their formation or their location in relation to the surface of the land or in relation to other strata subjacent to that surface or partly in one way and partly in another,
§ Provided that any one order under this section shall be limited to one river authority area and shall not extend to any source of supply outside that area.")
§ Clause 25, page 24, line 15, leave out ("inland waters") and insert ("sources of supply").
§ Clause 25, page 24, line 15,leave out line 31.
§
Clause 25, page 24, line 32, leave out from ("to") to end of line 33 and insert ("an inland water to which the draft statement relates were a reference to a source of supply to which the draft order relates, and
(c) paragraph 4(g) of that Schedule were omitted.
§ (5) In relation to any application under this section made by a relevant authority other than a river authority, the provisions of Schedule 6 to this Act applied by the last preceding subsection shall have effect subject to the following further modifications, that is to say:—
- (a) except in paragraphs 9 and 16 of that Schedule, any reference to the river authority, unless the reference is to the river authority area, shall be construed as a reference to the applicant authority;
- (b) in paragraph 9 of that Schedule, the first reference to the river authority shall be construed as a reference to the applicant
1048 authority, and the second such reference shall be construed as a reference to the river authority and the applicant authority; - (c) the river authority shall be included among the bodies on whom, under paragraph 4 of that Schedule, a copy of the notice is required to be served.
§ (6) If, in the case of a source of supply in a river authority area,—
- (a) it appears to the Minister, after consultation with the river authority and the Water Resources Board, that the question whether the restriction imposed by section 23(1) of this Act is needed in relation to that source of supply ought to be determined, but
- (b) no application for an order under this section has been made,
§ (7) Part I, and, where applicable, Part IV, of Schedule 6 to this Act shall have effect in relation to any draft order submitted to the Minister in pursuance of the last preceding subsection, subject to the modifications specified in subsection (4) of this section and to the further modification that paragraph 8 of that Schedule shall apply in relation to any objection received by the Minister from the river authority as it applies in relation to an objection received by him from a person on whom a notice is required by that Schedule to be served.")
§ Clause 25, page 24, line 36, leave out from ("by") to third ("to") in line 37 and insert ("subsection (1) of section 23 of this Act (and, in the case of any underground strata, the restriction imposed by subsection (2) of that section) shall cease to apply to any source of supply").
§ Clause 25, page 24, line 41, leave out ("inland water") and insert ("source of supply")
§ Clause 28, page 26, line 5, after ("published") insert ("in the London Gazette and").
§ Clause 28, page 26, line 6, at end insert ("(other than the London Gazette)").
§ Clause 28, page 26, line 10, after ("published") insert ("(otherwise than in the London Gazette)").
§ Clause 28, page 26, line 24, leave out from ("during") to ("and in line 25 and insert ("a period specified in the notice in accordance with the next following subsection").
§ Clause 28, page 26, line 29, leave out subsection (3) and insert—
§ ("(3) The period specified in a notice in pursuance of the last preceding subsection shall be a period beginning not earlier than the date on which the notice is first published in a newspaper other than the London Gazette, and ending not less than twenty-eight days from that date and not less than twenty-five days from the date on which the notice is published in the London Gazette; and a river authority shall not determine any such application as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section before the end of the period so specified.")
1049§ Clause 29, page 27, line 18, leave out from second ("the") to end of line 21 and insert ("considerations by reference to which, in accordance with section 19(5) of this Act, a minimum acceptable flow for that inland water would fall to be determined").
§ Clause 29, page 27, line 32, after ("strata") insert ("(a)").
§
Clause 29, page 27, line 35, at end insert ("and
(b) if it appears to them that the proposed abstraction is likely to affect the flow, level or volume of an inland water (not being an inland water falling within section 2(3) of this Act or an inland water comprised in an order under section 25 of this Act), subsection (5) or subsection (6) of this section, as the case may be, shall apply (without prejudice to the preceding provisions or to paragraph (a) of this subsection) as if the application related to abstraction from that inland water.")
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 3, at end insert ("from the source of supply to which the licence relates").
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 8, leave out from ("for") to first ("the") in line 10 and insert ("determining, by measurement or assessment, what quantity of water is to be taken to have been abstracted during any such period by").
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 8, leave out lines 16 to 18.
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 19, after ("to") insert ("a river authority, or to").
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 23, leave out from first ("used") to end of line 26.
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 39, leave out ("(a)").
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 40, leave out ("shall") and insert ("may").
§ Clause 30, page 28, line 42, at end insert—
§ ("(7) Nothing in the last preceding subsection shall be construed as preventing two or more licences from being granted to the same person to be held concurrently in respect of the same source of supply, if the licences authorise the abstraction of water at different points or by different means.")
§ Clause 31, page 28, line 44, leave out from beginning to end of line 10 on page 29 and insert ("in any action brought against a person in respect of the abstraction of water from a source of supply, it shall be a defence for him to prove that the water was abstracted in pursuance of a licence under this Act, and that the provisions of the licence were complied with").
§ Clause 31, page 29, line 20, at end insert—
§ ("(5) Where, in accordance with the provisions contained in a licence in pursuance of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of the last preceding section, or in pursuance of that paragraph as modified by subsection (6) of that section, it has been determined what quantity of water is to be taken—
- (a) to have been abstracted during any period from a source of supply by the holder of the licence, or
- (b) to have been so abstracted at a particular point or by particular means, or for use for particular purposes,
§ LORD HASTINGSMy Lords, in this group I would draw attention to Amendments 59 and 60. In granting a licence to abstract water from underground strata the river authority must have regard not only to requirements of existing lawful uses of water from those strata, as they do under the Bill now, but also—and this is the new part—to the possible effects on any other inland water a withdrawal from the underground strata may have. Amendment 69 I must refer to now, being in this Part, although it really goes with Nos. 84, 119 and 120. This is an important matter which relates to the defences against actions which may be taken by other parties against licence holders, and it was a matter which exercised my noble friend Lord Amherst of Hackney very considerably during both Committee and Report stages. The result of these Amendments is that the burden is shifted from the complainant to the abstracter. It was agreed, I think, that it would be very difficult for the complainant to get proof that an abstracter was not sticking to the terms of his licence. It meant access to his gauges and all that sort of paraphernalia. Now the abstracter will have to prove that he is abstracting strictly according to the terms of his licence.
There is another important aspect, and that is that licences of right which refer to non-statutory abstracters will afford under Clause 31(1) no defence before the end of the transitional period—and the transitional period as laid down in the clause is to be from the second appointed day to the time when a charging scheme comes into force, and that will be as long as four years probably. During that period a mere licence of right for non-statutory abstraction will not be a defence if by any chance he is spoiling water for his neighbour downstream, and is resting his case for abstracting over a five-year period. Therefore, we feel it is a very considerable improvement in the Bill for the ordinary Common Law rights of people. Those are the only things I wish to mention up to No. 70. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(Lord Hastings.)
§ THE EARL OF ALBEMARLEMy Lords, I have a note I received late last night from the River Boards Association, in which they express thanks for the co-operation and kindness of the Minister in attending to all the amendments they felt it right to put forward, and most of them have taken place to our satisfaction. But there is one thing which I am asked to mention. Clause 48 concerns the right of action against a river authority. These are the words that are in my short brief. The Association, however, regret in regard to Amendment 109 that the Government have not seen fit to accept their other Amendment to this clause which would have mitigated the onerous liability placed on river authorities by the clause. As the clause now stands, river authorities may have to pay out large sums of money to satisfy claims based on derogation of protected rights.
There is no time to elaborate that further, but I have to put it on record so that the Government should take notice for the future, in case there are opportunities in the future of bringing in something amended. Therefore, I would merely say again that the River Boards Association, after their numerous meetings with the Ministers and their colleagues in this House, are extremely grateful for the attention that has been given to the remarks they have put forward, but they would like Clause 48 to be observed in its implications as it could possibly affect the river authorities.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.