Control of Pollution Act 1974

Control of discharges of trade effluent into public sewers

43 Control of discharges into sewers

(1) No discharge of trade effluent from any trade premises into a sewer of a water authority shall after the appointed day be authorised by virtue of—

(a) section 4 of the [1937 c. 40.] Public Health (Drainage of Trade Premises) Act 1937 (which relates to certain cases in which discharges were lawfully made before the passing of that Act or before the alteration of the relevant sewerage system); or

(b) any agreement which is mentioned in section 7(4) of that Act (under which any agreement with respect to any trade effluent which was duly made between a local authority and the owner or occupier of any trade premises before the commencement of that Act is not affected by that Act) and which does not contain express provision enabling the authority to terminate the agreement, so far as it relates to discharges of trade effluent into the sewer of the authority, whether or not there is a breach of the agreement by a person other than the authority ;

and accordingly subsections (1) to (3) of the said section 4 shall cease to have effect at the end of the appointed day.

(2) Where any discharges of trade effluent from any premises in the area of a water authority into a sewer were authorised by virtue of the said section 4 or such an agreement immediately before the date of the passing of this Act and the owner or occupier of the premises gives notice to the authority within the period of six months beginning with that date stating that such discharges from the premises were so authorised, consent shall be deemed to be duly given on the appointed day by the authority for such discharges from the premises into the sewer after that day as were authorised by virtue of the said section 4 or the agreement immediately before the date aforesaid and shall be deemed to be so given subject to the same conditions (if any) as to charges or otherwise as—

(a) in the case of discharges authorised by virtue of the said section 4, the conditions to which by virtue of an agreement (whether subsisting or not) or of a direction given in pursuance of section 55 or 57 of the [1961 c. 64.] Public Health Act 1961 (which relate to charges and to conditions dealing with other matters) the discharges were subject immediately before the appointed day ; and

(b) in the case of discharges authorised by an agreement mentioned in the said section 7(4), the conditions to which the discharges were subject immediately before the appointed day.

(3) The water authority whose consent for any discharge is deemed to be given by virtue of the preceding subsection may at any time after the appointed day, and shall if the authority is requested after the appointed day to do so by any person entitled to make a discharge in pursuance of the consent, by a notice served on the owner and any occupier of the premises in question cancel the deemed consent and, subject to the following subsection, give its actual consent for such discharges as were authorised by the deemed consent.

(4) An actual consent given in pursuance of the preceding subsection shall be so given either unconditionally or subject to any conditions which under section 2(3) of the said Act of 1937 (including section 59 of the said Act of 1961) may be attached to consents, any reference to a trade effluent notice in paragraphs (a) and (d) of the said section 2(3) being construed for the purposes of this subsection as a reference to the actual consent; and the notice signifying the actual consent shall indicate that a right of appeal is conferred by virtue of the following subsection in respect of the notice.

(5) A person on whom notice is served in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section may, in accordance with regulations, appeal to the Secretary of State against the notice; and on any such appeal the Secretary of State may give to the water authority in question such a direction as he thinks fit with respect to the notice and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the direction.

(6) Provision may be made by regulations with respect to consents and the conditions of consents for discharges of trade effluent into a sewer of a water authority through a drain or sewer provided after the appointed day by the authority in pursuance of section 42 of the [1936 c. 49.] Public Health Act 1936 (which enables a water authority to close certain drains and sewers if it provides alternative drains or sewers which are equally convenient).

(7) This section does not apply to Scotland.

44 Provisions supplementary to s. 43

(1) It is hereby declared that a direction may be given in pursuance of subsection (1) of section 60 of the [1961 c. 64.] Public Health Act 1961 varying the conditions attached to an actual consent given in pursuance of the preceding section and that the other provisions of Part V of that Act have effect accordingly.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (4) of the preceding section or the preceding subsection, where a deemed consent is cancelled by a notice giving an actual consent in pursuance of subsection (3) of the preceding section and the deemed consent was by virtue of subsection (2) of the preceding section subject to a condition which was the same as one imposed by a direction given in pursuance of section 55 or 57 of the said Act of 1961, then—

(a) in a case where the condition related to charges, a different condition as to charges, and

(b) in a case where the condition did not relate to charges, a different condition as to any matter except charges,

shall not, except with the written agreement of the owner and any occupier of the premises in question or in pursuance of the following section, be attached to the actual consent during the period during which, by virtue of subsection (3) of the said section 55 or subsection (2) of the said section 57, no further direction to the said owner or occupier in pursuance of that section in respect of charges or, as the case may be, in respect of other matters could have been given without his consent if the said section 55 or 57 had remained in force.

(3) Provision may be made by regulations—

(a) for determining by arbitration or otherwise whether any such agreement as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b) of the preceding section relates also to a matter other than the discharge of trade effluent into a sewer of a particular water authority;

(b) for determining as aforesaid what modifications (if any) of such an agreement relating also to such a matter are appropriate in consequence of any prescribed provision of the preceding section ;

(c) where the conditions mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of the preceding section include a condition as to charges which are in respect of the discharges in question and other matters, for determining as aforesaid the proportion of the charges attributable to the discharges and for limiting accordingly the conditions to which the discharges are, for the purposes of that paragraph, to be treated as subject immediately before the appointed day.

(4) Section 70 of the said Act of 1961 (which provides for a copy of each direction given by a water authority in pursuance of Part V of that Act to be kept available for inspection and copying by any person at all reasonable times) shall apply to a notice given in pursuance of subsection (3) of the preceding section as it applies to such a direction.

(5) In the preceding section and this section " the appointed day " means such day after the expiration of six months beginning with the date on which this Act is passed as the Secretary of State may by order appoint; and an expression used in any provision of the preceding section or this section and in the said Act of 1937 has the same meaning in that provision as in that Act.

(6) This section does not apply to Scotland.

45 Early variation of conditions of discharges

(1) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (2) of section 60 of the [1961 c. 64.] Public Health Act 1961 (under which a water authority may not, except with the written consent of the owner and occupier of the relevant trade premises, give a direction under subsection (1) of that section varying the conditions of its consent to the discharge of trade effluent into a public sewer within two years from the date of the consent or of notice of a previous direction), a water authority may give such a direction within the period mentioned in the said subsection (2) without such written consent as aforesaid if the authority considers it necessary to do so in order to provide proper protection for persons likely to be affected by discharges which could lawfully be made apart from the direction.

(2) Where a water authority gives such a direction by virtue of the preceding subsection, the authority shall be liable to Day compensation to the owner and occupier of the trade premises to which the direction relates unless the authority is of opinion that the direction is required—

(a) in consequence of a change of circumstances (which may include a change in the information available as to the discharges to which the consent in question relates or as to the interaction of those discharges with other discharges or matter) which has occurred since the beginning of the period of two years in question and could not reasonably have been foreseen at the beginning of that period ; and

(b) otherwise than in consequence of consents for discharges given after the beginning of that period;

and where the authority is of such an opinion it shall be the duty of the authority to give to the owner and occupier of the said premises notice of its reasons for the opinion.

(3) Subsection (5) of section 38 of- this Act shall have effect as if the reference to that section included a reference to this section.

(4) A person to whom notice is given in pursuance of subsection (2) of this section may, in accordance with regulations, appeal to the Secretary of State against the notice on the ground that compensation should be paid in consequence of the direction to which the notice relates; and on any such appeal the Secretary of State may direct that that subsection shall have effect as if the authority had not been of the opinion to which the notice relates.

(5) This section does not apply to Scotland.