Water Resources Act 1991

Applications for a licence

34 Regulations with respect to applications

(1) Any application for a licence under this Chapter shall be made in such manner as may be prescribed, and shall include such particulars, and be verified by such evidence, as may be prescribed.

(2) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision as to the manner in which applications for the grant of licences under this Chapter are to be dealt with, including provision requiring the giving of notices of, and information relating to, the making of such applications or decisions on such applications.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2) above, provision shall be made by regulations under this section for securing that, in such circumstances as may be prescribed (being circumstances in which it appears to the Secretary of State that applications for licences under this Chapter would be of special concern to National Park planning authorities)—

(a) notice of any such application will be given to such one or more National Park planning authorities as may be determined in accordance with the regulations; and

(b) the matters to which the Authority or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State is to have regard in dealing with the application will include any representations made by any such National Park planning authority within such period and in such manner as may be prescribed.

(4) The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect subject to any express provision contained in, or having effect by virtue of, any other enactment contained in this Chapter; and any regulations made under this section shall have effect subject to any such express provision.

(5) In this section “National Park planning authority” means a local planning authority whose area consists of, or includes, the whole or any part of a National Park.

35 Restrictions on persons who may make applications for abstraction licences

(1) No application for a licence under this Chapter to abstract water shall be entertained unless it is made by a person entitled to make the application in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) In relation to abstractions from any inland waters, a person shall be entitled to make the application if, at the place (or, if more than one, at each of the places) at which the proposed abstractions are to be effected, either—

(a) he is the occupier of land contiguous to the inland waters; or

(b) he satisfies the Authority that he has, or at the time when the proposed licence is to take effect will have, a right of access to such land.

(3) In relation to abstractions from underground strata, a person shall be entitled to make the application if either—

(a) he is the occupier of land consisting of or comprising those underground strata; or

(b) the following two conditions are satisfied, that is to say—

(i) the case is one in which water contained in an excavation into underground strata is to be treated as water contained in those strata by virtue of the level of water in the excavation depending wholly or mainly on water entering it from those strata; and

(ii) that person satisfies the Authority that he has, or at the time when the proposed licence is to take effect will have, a right of access to land consisting of, or comprising, those underground strata.

(4) Any reference in this section to a person who is the occupier of land of any description—

(a) includes a reference to a person who satisfies the Authority that he has entered into negotiations for the acquisition of an interest in land of that description such that, if the interest is acquired by him, he will be entitled to occupy that land; and

(b) without prejudice to the application of paragraph (a) above to a person who is or can be authorised to acquire land compulsorily, also includes any person who satisfies the Authority that by virtue of any enactment, the compulsory acquisition by that person of land of that description either has been authorised or can be authorised and has been initiated.

(5) In subsection (4) above the reference to initiating the compulsory acquisition of land by a person is a reference to—

(a) the submission to the relevant Minister of a draft of an order which, if made by that Minister in the form of the draft, will authorise that person to acquire that land compulsorily, with or without other land; or

(b) the submission to the relevant Minister of an order which, if confirmed by that Minister as submitted will authorise that person to acquire that land compulsorily, with or without other land.

(6) In subsection (5) above “the relevant Minister”, in relation to the compulsory acquisition of land by any person, means the Minister who, in accordance with the enactment mentioned in subsection (4)(b) above, is empowered to authorise that person to acquire land compulsorily.

36 Application for combined abstraction and impounding licence

Where a licence under this Chapter is required by virtue of section 25 above for constructing or altering impounding works at a point in any inland waters, for the purpose of abstracting water from those waters at or near that point—

(a) an application may be made to the Authority for a combined licence under this Chapter to obstruct or impede the flow of those inland waters by means of impounding works at that point and to abstract the water; and

(b) the Authority shall have power (subject to the provisions of this Chapter as to procedure and as to the matters to be taken into account in dealing with applications for licences) to grant such a licence accordingly.

37 Publication of application for licence

(1) The Authority shall not entertain an application for a licence under this Chapter to abstract water or to obstruct or impede the flow of any inland waters by means of impounding works or for a combined licence, unless the application is accompanied—

(a) by a copy of a notice in the prescribed form; and

(b) by the prescribed evidence that the necessary notices of the application have been given.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, the necessary notices of an application have been given for the purposes of subsection (1) above if—

(a) the notice mentioned in paragraph (a) of that subsection has been published—

(i) in the London Gazette; and

(ii) at least once in each of two successive weeks, in one or more newspapers (other than the London Gazette) circulating in the relevant locality;

and

(b) a copy of that notice has been served, not later than the date on which it was first published as mentioned in paragraph (a)(ii) above—

(i) on any navigation authority, harbour authority or conservancy authority having functions in relation to any inland waters at a proposed point of abstraction or impounding;

(ii) on the drainage board for any internal drainage district within which any such proposed point is situated; and

(iii) on any water undertaker within whose area any such proposed point is situated.

(3) Where the licence applied for is exclusively for the abstraction of water from a source of supply that does not form part of any inland waters, the giving of the necessary notices shall not for the purposes of subsection (1) above require the service of any copy of the notice mentioned in paragraph (a) of that subsection on any navigation authority, harbour authority, conservancy authority or drainage board.

(4) A notice for the purposes of the preceding provisions of this section, in addition to containing any other matters required to be contained in that notice, shall—

(a) name a place within the relevant locality where a copy of the application, and of any map, plan or other document submitted with it, will be open to inspection by the public, free of charge, at all reasonable hours during a period specified in the notice in accordance with subsection (5) below; and

(b) state that any person may make representations in writing to the Authority with respect to the application at any time before the end of that period.

(5) The period specified in a notice for the purposes of the preceding provisions of this section shall be a period which—

(a) begins not earlier than the date on which the notice is first published in a newspaper other than the London Gazette; and

(b) ends 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.

(6) Where—

(a) an application for a licence under this Chapter to abstract water is made to the Authority; and

(b) the application proposes that the quantity of water abstracted in pursuance of the licence should not in any period of twenty-four hours exceed, in aggregate, twenty cubic metres or any lesser amount specified in the application,

the Authority may dispense with the requirements imposed by virtue of the preceding provisions of this section if and to the extent that it appears to the Authority appropriate to do so.

(7) In this section—

• “proposed point of abstraction or impounding”, in relation to any application for a licence under this Chapter, means a place where a licence, if granted in accordance with the application, would authorise water to be abstracted or, as the case may be, would authorise inland waters to be obstructed or impeded by means of impounding works; and

• “relevant locality”, in relation to an application for a licence under this Act, means the locality in which any proposed point of abstraction or impounding is situated.