Coal Act 1938

34 Saving for certain statutory rights

(1) The matters subject to which by virtue of section four of this Act the vesting in the Commission of any coal, mine of coal, property or rights is to take effect, and the contract referred to in that section for the sale of any coal, mine of coal, property or rights is to be deemed to have been made, shall include the following rights, that is to say :—

(a) any right vested in a railway company by virtue of the provisions substituted by Part II of the Mines (Working Facilities and Support) Act, 1923, for sections seventy-eight to eighty-five of the [8 & 9 Vict. c. 20.] Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, or by virtue of those sections as originally enacted, any right vested in undertakers by virtue of sections twenty-two to twenty-six of the [10 & 11 Vict. c. 17.] Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847, and any right vested by virtue of those provisions or of those sections respectively in any other person in a capacity corresponding to that of the company or undertakers thereunder;

(b) any right vested in a local authority by virtue of the [46 & 47 Vict. c. 37.] Public Health Act, 1875 (Support of Sewers) Amendment Act, 1883; and

(c) any right to prevent or restrict the working of coal vested in the Crown or in any local authority, highway authority or statutory undertakers by virtue of any enactment or of any order having effect, with or without confirmation by Parliament, under any enactment;

and those rights shall not be treated for the purposes of this Part of this Act as constituting or conferring any interest in the coal or mine in respect of which they are exercisable.

(2) An interest in coal or a mine of coal that arises under a coal-mining lease, the lessee whereunder is a Committee appointed for the purposes of a drainage scheme made under section eighteen of the [10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 50.] Mining Industry Act, 1920, shall be a retained interest, and any such Committee that is immediately before the vesting date entitled to the fee simple in any coal or mine of coal held by them for the purposes of such a scheme as aforesaid shall have the right, on making application in writing in that behalf to the Commission, to a grant from the Commission of a coal-mining lease thereof at a peppercorn rent for such term and on such conditions as they may reasonably require.