301 Appeals to quarter sessions against decisions of justices.
Subject as hereinafter provided, where a person aggrieved by any order, determination or other decision of a court of summary jurisdiction under this Act is not by any other enactment authorised to appeal to the Crown Court he may appeal to such a court:
Provided that nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring a right of appeal from the decision of a court of summary jurisdiction in any case if each of the parties concerned might under this Act have required that the dispute should be determined by arbitration instead of by such a court.
Where upon an appeal under this Act a court varies or reverses any decision of a council, it shall be the duty of the council to give effect to the order of the court and, in particular, to grant or issue any necessary consent, certificate or other document, and to make any necessary entry in any register.
In arbitrations under this Act the reference shall, except where otherwise expressly provided, be to a single arbitrator to be appointed by agreement between the parties or, in default of agreement, by the Minister.
304 Judges and justices not to be disqualified by liability to rates.
A judge of any court or a justice of the peace shall not be disqualified from acting in cases arising under this Act by reason only of his being as one of several ratepayers, or as one of any other class of persons, liable in common with the others to contribute to, or be benefited by, any rate or fund out of which any expenses of a council are to be defrayed.
305 Protection of members and officers of certain local authorities from personal liability
Section two hundred and sixty-five of the Public Health Act 1875, (which relates to the protection of members and officers of certain authorities) shall apply to local authorities, joint boards and port health authorities under this Act as if any reference in that section to the said Act of 1875 were a reference to this Act.
(1) Any expenses incurred by a joint board shall, unless otherwise determined by the order constituting the board, be defrayed out of a common fund to be contributed by the constituent districts, or contributory places, in proportion to the rateable value of the property in each district or contributory place, as ascertained according to the valuation list for the time being in force.
(2) For the purpose of obtaining payment from constituent districts or contributory places of the sums to be contributed by them, a joint board shall issue precepts to the local authority of each district concerned, stating the sum to be contributed by the authority and requiring the authority, within a time limited by the precept, to pay the sums therein mentioned to the joint board, or to such person as the joint board may direct.
(3) Any sum mentioned in a precept issued under this section by a joint board to a local authority shall be a debt due from that authority, and may be recovered accordingly. ...
(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(5) Where the order constituting a united district provides for contributions to be made to the common fund of the joint board by a county council, the amount of any such contribution as fixed by the order shall be a debt due to the joint board and may be recovered accordingly.
(6) In subsection (5) of this section, the reference to a county council shall not include a reference to the council of a Welsh county or county borough.
316 Adaptation, where necessary, of provisional order procedure.
(1) In relation to any order made by the Minister under this Act which is subject to special Parliamentary procedure but was not made on the application of any local authority, section two hundred and forty of the Local Government Act 1972 (which relates to the procedure for making such orders), shall have effect as if for references therein to the applicants for the order and to the application for the order there were substituted respectively references to the Minister and to the order proposed to be made by him.
(2) The expenses incurred by the Minister in connection with the making and confirmation of any such order as aforesaid shall be paid by such council, or by such councils in such shares, as he may direct, and the amount of those expenses as certified by him, or the amount of any share thereof so certified, shall be recoverable by him from the council liable therefor as a debt due to the Crown.
In section three hundred and three of the Public Health Act 1875 (which relates to the power of the Minister to repeal and alter local Acts by means of provisional orders), the reference to any local Act which relates to the same subject-matters as that Act shall be construed as including a reference to any local Act which relates to the same subject-matters as this Act.
The Minister may cause a local inquiry to be held in any case where he is authorised by this Act to determine any difference, to make any order, to frame any scheme, to give any consent, confirmation, sanction or approval, or otherwise to act under this Act, and in any other case where he deems it advisable that a local inquiry should be held in relation to any matter concerning the public health in any place.
322 Power of Minister to enforce exercise of powers by local authorities, &c., in default.
(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(2) If the Minister is satisfied that any council . . . or joint board have failed to discharge their functions under this Act in any case where they ought to have done so, he may make an order declaring them to be in default and directing them for the purpose of removing the default to discharge such of their functions, and in such manner and within such time or times, as may be specified in the order.
(3) If a council, authority or board with respect to whom an order has been made under the last preceding subsection fail to comply with any requirement thereof within the time limited thereby for compliance with that requirement, the Minister, in lieu of enforcing the order by mandamus or otherwise, may—
(i) . . .
(ii) . . . , make an order transferring to himself such of the functions of the body in default as may be specified in his order.
324 Provisions as to exercise by Minister of functions of body in default.
(1) Where under the last but one preceding section the Minister has by order transferred to himself any functions of a council . . . or joint board, any expenses incurred by him in discharging the said functions shall be paid in the first instance out of moneys provided by Parliament, but the amount of those expenses as certified by the Minister shall on demand be paid to him by the body in default, and shall be recoverable by him from them as a debt due to the Crown, and that body shall have the like power of raising the money required as they have of raising money for defraying expenses incurred directly by them.
(2) The payment of any such expenses as aforesaid shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister, be a purpose for which a local authority . . . or joint board may borrow money in accordance with the statutory provisions relating to borrowing by such an authority or board.
325 Power to vary and revoke orders relating to defaults.
In any case where under this Part of this Act an order has been made by the Minister transferring to a county council or to himself any functions of a council . . . or joint board, the Minister may at any time by a subsequent order vary or revoke that order, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder; and when any order is so revoked the Minister may, either by the revoking order or by a subsequent order, make such provision as appears to him to be desirable with respect to the transfer, vesting and discharge of any property or liabilities acquired or incurred by the county council or by him in discharging any of the functions to which the order so revoked related.
326 Provisions as to the transfer and compensation of officers and superannuation rights of transferred officers.
(1) The provisions of this section shall apply in relation to any order or agreement made under this Act, or any order made by virtue of this Act under section three hundred and three of the Public Health Act 1875, or any order under section 2 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, being an order or agreement by, under or in consequence of which an authority is constituted or dissolved, or any functions of an authority are relinquished, delegated, transferred or re-transferred, or exercised by two, or more authorities in combination, or the services of any staff of one authority are rendered available to another authority.
(2) The provisions of section one hundred and fifty of, and the Fourth Schedule to, the Local Government Act 1933, (which relate to the transfer and compensation of officers of a local authority affected by an order made under Part VI of that Act) shall have effect in relation to any such order as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section as they have effect in relation to an order made under the said Part VI, and where, by virtue or in consequence of any such order as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, officers of one authority who are entitled as such to the benefits of a superannuation enactment will be transferred to the service of another authority, there shall be included in the order such provisions as are hereinafter mentioned for the purpose of protecting the rights and interests of those officers in respect of superannuation.
(3) The provisions with respect to superannuation to be included in any such order as aforesaid shall be either—
(a) provisions for securing that the superannuation enactment to the benefits of which an officer was entitled immediately before his transfer shall continue to apply to him, subject to such modifications and adaptations as the Minister may determine; or
(b) provisions for applying to the officer, subject to such modifications and adaptations as the Minister may determine, any superannuation enactment to the benefits of which any officers of the authority to whom the officer is transferred are entitled.
(4) The Minister, on the application of any officer or authority affected by any such agreement as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, shall make a scheme containing such provisions for the protection and compensation of existing officers effected by the agreement as are specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of section one hundred and fifty of the Local Government Act 1933, and such provisions, if any, as he deems expedient with respect to the transfer of such existing officers, and where, by virtue or in consequence of the agreement, officers of one authority who are entitled as such to the benefits of a superannuation enactment will be transferred to the service of another authority, the scheme shall also contain such provisions for the purpose of protecting the rights and interests of those officers in respect of superannuation as in the case of an order are required by the last preceding subsection to be included in the order.
(5) A scheme made by the Minister under the last preceding subsection and the agreement to which it relates shall be construed together as if they constituted a single instrument coming into operation on the date on which the agreement comes into operation, and the provisions of subsections (2) to (6) of section one hundred and fifty of, and the Fourth Schedule to, the Local Government Act 1933, shall have effect in relation thereto as they have effect in relation to a scheme made under Part VI of the said Act.
(6) In this section the expression “authority” means a county council, local authority, joint board, . . .port health authority or riparian authority within the meaning of section two of this Act, and, for the purposes of this section, any reference in the relevant provisions of the Local Government Act 1933, to a local authority shall be construed as a reference to an authority as herein defined.
In this section the expression “superannuation enactment” means an enactment, including a scheme made thereunder, by virtue of which persons employed by an authority become entitled to superannuation benefits on retirement.
327 Provisions for compensation in certain cases to officers of trustees, &c. executing local Acts.
(1) If, by virtue or in consequence of a provisional order or order made by the Minister under or by virtue of any provision of this Act or section 2 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, an officer of any trustees or other body of persons entrusted with the execution of a local Act suffers any direct pecuniary loss by reason of the determination of his appointment or the diminution of his emoluments and no other provision for his compensation for that loss is made by any enactment or statutory order for the time being in force, he shall be entitled to receive compensation for that loss from such local authority as the Minister may determine.
(2) The provisions of subsections (2) to (6) of section one hundred and fifty of, and the Fourth Schedule to, the Local Government Act 1933, shall apply to the case of any such officer as aforesaid as if the provisional order or order of the Minister were an order made under Part VI of the said Act and as if subsection (1) of this section were contained in the said order.
All powers and duties conferred or imposed by this Act shall be deemed to be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other powers and duties conferred or imposed by Act of Parliament, law or custom, and, subject to any repeal effected by, or other express provision of, this Act, all such other powers and duties may be exercised and shall be performed in the same manner as if this Act had not been passed.
330 Power of railway companies, dock undertakers and land drainage authorities to alter sewers, &c. vested in a local authority.
Any railway company, dock undertakers or land drainage authority may, after giving reasonable notice to the local authority concerned, at their own expense and on substituting other sewers, drains, culverts and pipes which will be equally effectual and will entail no additional expense on the local authority, take up, divert or alter the level of any sewers, drains, culverts or pipes vested in the local authority which pass under, or interfere with, or interfere with the improvement or alteration of, the railway of the railway company, or, as the case may be, any river, canal, towing path or works forming part of the undertaking of the undertakers, or any watercourse or other works vested in or under the control of the land drainage authority.
Nothing in this Act shall authorise a local authority injuriously to affect any reservoir, canal, watercourse, river or stream, or any feeder thereof, or the supply, quality or fall of water contained in, or in any feeder of, any reservoir, canal, watercourse, river or stream without the consent of any person who would, if this Act had not been passed, have been entitled by law to prevent, or be relieved against, the injurious affection of, or of the supply, quality or fall of water contained in, that reservoir, canal, watercourse, river, stream or feeder.
332 Arbitration as to alteration of sewers, &c., or injurious affection of water rights.
Any difference of opinion which may arise under either of the two last preceding sections between a local authority and any person as to whether—
(a) any sewers, drains, culverts or pipes substituted or proposed to be substituted for sewers, drains, culverts or pipes of a local authority are or will be equally effectual, or entail or will entail additional expense on the authority; or
(b) the supply, quality or fall of water in any reservoir, canal, watercourse, river, stream or feeder is injuriously affected by the exercise or powers under this Act,
may, at the option of the party complaining, be referred to an arbitrator to be appointed, in default of agreement, by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
333 Protection for works of dock undertakers and for railways.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, nothing in this Act shall authorise a local authority without the consent of the dock undertakers concerned—
(a) to interfere with any river, canal, dock, harbour, basin, lock or reservoir so as injuriously to affect navigation thereon or the use thereof or the access thereto, or to interfere with any towing path, so as to interrupt the traffic thereon;
(b) to interfere with any bridges crossing any river, canal dock, harbour or basin;
(c) to execute any works in, across or under any dock, harbour, basin, wharf, quay or lock, or any land which belongs to dock undertakers and is held or used by them for the purposes of their undertaking;
(d) to execute any works which will interfere with the improvement of, or the access to, any river, canal, dock, harbour, basin, lock, reservoir, or towing path, or with any works appurtenant thereto or any land necessary for the enjoyment or improvement thereof;
or without the consent of the railway company concerned, to execute any works along, across or under any railway of a railway company:
Provided that consent under this section shall not be unreasonably withheld, and if any question arises as to whether or not consent is unreasonably withheld, either party may require that it shall be referred to an arbitrator to be appointed, in default of agreement, by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
(2) Upon an arbitration under this section, the arbitrator shall determine—
(i) whether any works which the local authority propose to execute are such works as under the last preceding subsection they are not entitled to execute without the consent of the statutory undertakers; and
(ii) if they are such works, whether the injury, if any, to the undertakers will be of such a nature as to admit of being fully compensated by money; and
(iii) if the works are of such a nature, the conditions subject to which the local authority may execute the works, including the amount of the compensation, if any, to be paid by them to the undertakers.
If the arbitrator should determine that the proposed works are such works as the local authority are not entitled to execute without the consent of the undertakers and that the works would cause injury to the undertakers of such a nature as not to admit of being fully compensated by money, the local authority shall not proceed to execute the works, but in any other case they may execute the works subject to compliance with such conditions, including the payment of such compensation, as the arbitrator may have determined.
(3) For the purposes of this section, dock undertakers shall be deemed to be concerned with any river, canal, dock, harbour, basin, lock, reservoir, towing path, wharf, quay or land if it belongs to them and forms part of their undertaking, or if they have statutory rights of navigating on or using it, or of demanding tolls or dues in respect of navigation thereon or the use thereof.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the powers of a local authority under any of the foregoing provisions of this Act in respect of the opening and breaking up of streets and bridges for the purpose of constructing, laying and maintaining sewers, drains and pipes.
334 Protection for works of land drainage authorities, &c.
Nothing in this Act shall authorise a local authority to use, injure or interfere with any sluices, floodgates, sewers, groynes, sea defences or other works, whether made before or after the date of commencement of this Act, which are vested in or under the control of a land drainage authority, or are used by any person for draining, preserving or improving land under any local or private Act of Parliament, or for irrigating land, without the consent, as the case may be, of that authority or that person:
Provided that consent under this section shall not be unreasonably withheld, and if any question arises as to whether or not consent is unreasonably withheld, either party may require that it shall be referred to an arbitrator to be appointed, in default of agreement, by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
338 Sewers or drains of collegiate and other corporate bodies and Government departments.
Any collegiate or other corporate body required or authorised by or in pursuance of Act of Parliament to divert sewers or drains from any river or to construct new sewers, and any Government department, shall have the like powers and be subject to the like obligations under this Act as they had or were subject to under the Sewage Utilization Act 1867; and for that purpose the provisions of this Act applicable to purposes the same as, or similar to, those of the Sewage Utilization Act 1865, and the Sewage Utilization Act 1867, shall apply in substitution for the provisions of those Acts.
Nothing in this Act shall authorise the execution of any works on, over or under tidal lands below high-water mark of ordinary spring tides, except in accordance with such plans and sections and subject to such restrictions and regulations as may, before the works are commenced, be approved by the Board of Trade in writing . . .
341 Power to apply provisions of Act to Crown property.
(1) The provisions of this section shall apply in relation to any house, building or other premises being property belonging to His Majesty in right of the Crown or of the Duchy of Lancaster, or belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall, or belonging to a Government department, or held in trust for His Majesty for purposes of a Government department.
(2) The authority which in relation to any such property is for the purposes of this section the appropriate authority and the council of the county, or the local authority of the district, in which that property is situate may agree that any provisions of this Act specified in the agreement shall apply to that property and, while the agreement is in force, those provisions shall apply to that property accordingly, subject however to the terms of the agreement.
Any such agreement as aforesaid may contain such consequential and incidental provisions, including, with the approval of the Treasury, provisions of a financial character, as appear to the appropriate authority to be necessary or equitable.
(3) In this section the expression “the appropriate authority” means—
(a) in the case of property belonging to His Majesty in right of the Crown, the Crown Estate Commissioners or other Government department having the management of the property in question;
(b) in the case of property belonging to His Majesty in right of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Chancellor of the Duchy;
(c) in the case of property belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall, such person as the Duke of Cornwall, or the possessor for the time being of the Duchy of Cornwall, appoints; and
(d) in the case of property belonging to a Government department or held in trust for His Majesty for purposes of a Government department, that department;
and, if any question arises as to what authority is the appropriate authority in relation to any property, that question shall be referred to the Treasury, whose decision shall be final.
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them—
“authorised officer” means, as respects any council, an officer of the council authorised by them in writing, either generally or specially, to act in matters of any specified kind, or in any specified matter:
Provided that the medical officer of health, surveyor and sanitary inspector of a council shall, by virtue of their appointments, be deemed to be authorised officers for the purpose of matters within their respective provinces:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“clerk,” in relation to a local authority being the council of a borough, means the town clerk;
“coastal waters” means waters within a distance of three nautical miles from any point on the coast measured from low-water mark of ordinary spring tides;
“contributory place” means a rating district within the meaning of the General Rate Act 1967..
“county” means an administrative county;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“dock undertakers” means persons who are statutory undertakers in respect of a dock, harbour, canal, or inland navigation;
“drain” means a drain used for the drainage of one building or of any buildings or yards appurtenant to buildings within the same curtilage;
“dustbin” means a movable receptacle for the deposit of ashes or refuse;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“enactment” includes any enactment in a provisional order confirmed by Parliament;
“factory” means a factory within the meaning of the Factories Act 1961;
...
“functions” includes powers and duties;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“house” means a dwelling-house, whether a private dwelling-house or not;
“inland waters” includes rivers, harbours and creeks;
“joint board” means a joint board constituted under this Act or under any Act repealed by this Act, other than a port health authority;
“land” includes any interest in land and any easement or right in, to or over land;
“ land drainage authority ” means the Environment Agency, the Natural Resources Body for Wales or an internal drainage board; and
“local Act” includes a provisional order confirmed by Parliament and the confirming Act so far as it relates to that order;
“local authority” has the meaning assigned to it in section one of this Act;
. . .
“Minister” means the Secretary of State;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“officer” includes servant;
“owner” means the person for the time being receiving the rackrent of the premises in connection with which the word is used, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person, or who would so receive the same if those premises were let at a rackrent;
. . .
“prejudicial to health” means injurious, or likely to cause injury, to health;
“premises” includes messuages, buildings, lands, easements and hereditaments of any tenure;
“private sewer” means a sewer which is not a public sewer;
“ public sewer ” means a sewer for the time being vested in a sewerage undertaker in its capacity as such, whether vested in that undertaker by virtue of a scheme under Schedule 2 to the Water Act 1989 or Schedule 2 to the Water Industry Act 1991 or under section 179 of that Act of 1991 or otherwise;
“rackrent” in relation to any property means a rent which is not less than two-thirds of the rent at which the property might reasonably be expected to let from year to year, free from all usual tenant’s rates and taxes, . . . and deducting therefrom the probable average annual cost of the repairs, insurance and other expenses (if any) necessary to maintain the same in a state to command such rent;
“railway company” means persons who are statutory undertakers in respect of a railway undertaking;
. . .
“sewer” does not include a drain as defined in this section but, save as aforesaid, includes all sewers and drains used for the drainage of buildings and yards appurtenant to buildings;
“statutory order” means an order, rule or regulation made under any enactment;
“statutory scheme” means a scheme made under any enactment;
“statutory undertakers” means any persons authorised by an enactment or statutory order to construct, work or carry on any railway, canal, inland navigation, dock, harbour, tramway, gas, . . . , . . . or other public undertaking;
“street” includes any highway, including a highway over any bridge, and any road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not;
“vessel” has the same meaning as ship in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995;
“waterworks” includes streams, springs, wells, pumps, reservoirs, cisterns, tanks, aqueducts, cuts, sluices, mains, pipes, culverts, engines and all machinery, lands, buildings and things for supplying, or used for supplying, water, or used for protecting sources of water supply;
“workplace” does not include a factory . . ., but save as aforesaid includes any place in which persons are employed otherwise than in domestic service;
. . .
(2) In the construction of any enactment incorporated with this Act, the expressions “the undertakers” and “the special Act” shall be construed as meaning respectively the local authority and this Act.
(3) Nothing in this section shall affect the interpretation of expressions which are used in any local Act, statutory order or scheme passed or made before the commencement of this Act and are defined as having for the purposes thereof the same meaning as in some enactment repealed by this Act.