Water Act 1989

Chapter III Flood Defence

136 Flood defence functions of the Authority

(1) Subject to subsection (3) below, the Authority shall in relation to England and Wales exercise a general supervision over all matters relating to flood defence and, for the purpose of carrying out its functions in relation to flood defence, shall from time to time carry out surveys of the areas in relation to which it carries out those functions.

(2) Schedule 15 to this Act shall have effect for transferring the functions of water authorities relating to flood defence to the Authority and for making amendments of the [1976 c. 70.] Land Drainage Act 1976 (in this Chapter referred to as “the 1976 Act”), including amendments consequential on the following provisions of this Chapter.

(3) Without prejudice to any scheme for the appointment of local flood defence committees and subject to subsection (4) below, the Authority shall arrange for all its functions under the 1976 Act relating to flood defence to be carried out by regional flood defence committees established under section 137 below, so that those functions of the Authority are carried out—

(a) in relation to the area of each regional flood defence committee, by the committee for that area; and

(b) in cases involving the areas of more than one regional flood defence committee, by such committee, or jointly by such committees, as may be determined in accordance with arrangements made by the Authority.

(4) The Authority shall not make arrangements for the carrying out by any other body, or by any committee, of any of its functions with respect to—

(a) the issuing of levies (within the meaning of the [1988 c. 41.] Local Government Finance Act 1988); or

(b) the making of drainage charges under the 1976 Act;

and nothing in this section shall enable the Authority to authorise any such other body or any committee to borrow money for purposes connected with the Authority’s functions relating to flood defence.

(5) The Authority may give a regional flood defence committee a direction of a general or specific character as to the carrying out of any function relating to flood defence, other than one of their internal drainage functions, so far as the carrying out of that function appears to the Authority likely to affect materially the Authority’s management of water for purposes other than flood defence; and a regional flood defence committee shall comply with any direction under this subsection.

(6) The Authority shall maintain a principal office for the area of each regional flood defence committee.

(7) The functions of the Authority by virtue of this Chapter extend to the territorial sea adjacent to England and Wales in so far as—

(a) the area of any regional flood defence committee includes any area of that territorial sea; or

(b) section 17(2) or (3) of the 1976 Act (works in the sea and in estuaries) provides for the exercise of any power in the territorial sea;

and where under the said section 17(2) or (3) any function of the Authority falls to be carried out at a place beyond the seaward boundaries of the area of any regional flood defence committee, that place shall be assumed for the purposes of this Chapter and that Act to be within the area of the regional flood defence committee to whose area the area of sea where that place is situated is adjacent.

(8) Where the functions of any water authority immediately before the transfer date include, by virtue of any local statutory provision, any functions relating to flood defence—

(a) those functions shall become functions of the Authority on that date; and

(b) subject to the power conferred by section 191 below, the local statutory provisions relating to the functions transferred by this subsection and everything done by or in relation to a water authority under any such provision shall have effect, so far as may be necessary for the purposes of, or in connection with, the transfer of functions under this subsection, as if—

(i) any reference in any such provision to a water authority were a reference to the Authority; and

(ii) any such thing had been done by or in relation to the Authority.

(9) In this section—

• “flood defence” means the drainage of land (within the meaning of the 1976 Act) and the provision of flood warning systems;

• “internal drainage functions” means the functions of the Authority under sections 10 to 16, 68(1) to (4) and (7) to (9), 69(2), (3) and (6), 84 and 86(1) of the 1976 Act.

137 Establishment of regional flood defence committees

(1) There shall, in accordance with the following provisions of this section and section 138 below, be committees, to be known as regional flood defence committees, for the purpose of carrying out the functions which fall to be carried out by such committees by virtue of this Chapter (being functions corresponding to those which immediately before the transfer date were functions of regional land drainage committees).

(2) Subject to Schedule 16 to this Act (which makes provision for the alteration of the boundaries of and the amalgamation of the areas of regional flood defence committees), there shall be a regional flood defence committee for each of the areas for which there was a regional land drainage committee immediately before the transfer date (being the areas which immediately before that date were the areas of water authorities for land drainage purposes).

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, a regional flood defence committee shall consist of the following, none of whom shall be a member of the Authority, that is to say—

(a) a chairman and a number of other members appointed by the appropriate Minister;

(b) two members appointed by the Authority;

(c) a number of members appointed by or on behalf of the constituent councils.

(4) Subject to subsection (5) and section 138(1)(a) below, in the period beginning with the transfer date and ending with such day as the appropriate Minister may by order made by statutory instrument appoint for the purposes of this subsection, the regional flood defence committee for any area shall consist of—

(a) a chairman, being the person who, by reason of his appointment by the Secretary of State or the Minister, is the chairman of the regional land drainage committee for that area immediately before that date;

(b) every other person who, by reason of his appointment by the Secretary of State or the Minister, is a member of that regional land drainage committee immediately before that date;

(c) every person who, by reason of his appointment by or on behalf of any of the constituent councils of that regional land drainage committee, is a member of that committee immediately before that date; and

(d) two members appointed by the Authority;

and different days may be appointed for the purposes of this subsection in relation to different regional flood defence committees.

(5) A person who is the chairman or a member of a regional flood defence committee by virtue of paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subsection (4) above shall hold and, subject to subsection (6) below, vacate office on the terms of the appointment mentioned in that paragraph; and where at any time in the period mentioned in subsection (4) above there is a vacancy in the chairmanship or membership of a regional flood defence committee, a person may be appointed to fill the vacancy—

(a) where the vacancy is in respect of a member appointed by the Authority, by the Authority;

(b) where the vacancy is in respect of a person who held or would have held office in respect of his appointment by or on behalf of any of the constituent councils of a regional land drainage committee (being either an appointment to that committee or an appointment by virtue of this subsection to the regional flood defence committee), by the council or councils which made that appointment; and

(c) in any other case, by the appropriate Minister.

(6) A person who is the chairman or a member of a regional flood defence committee by virtue of paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subsection (4) above shall not cease to be the chairman or a member of that committee by reason only of the expiration before the end of the period mentioned in that subsection of his term of office under the appointment mentioned in that paragraph; but, without prejudice to his eligibility for re-appointment, every person who on the day with which that period ends is the chairman or a member of a regional flood defence committee by virtue of that subsection or subsection (5) above shall cease to be the chairman or, as the case may be, such a member of that committee at the end of that period.

(7) In appointing a person to be the chairman or a member of a regional flood defence committee under subsection (3)(a) or (c) or (5)(b) or (c) above, the appropriate Minister or, as the case may be, a constituent council shall have regard to the desirability of appointing a person who has experience of, and has shown capacity in, some matter relevant to the functions of the committee.

(8) Subject to the preceding provisions of this section, Schedule 1 to the 1976 Act (members and proceedings of regional land drainage committees) shall have effect in relation to regional flood defence committees as it had effect immediately before the transfer date in relation to regional land drainage committees.

(9) In the [1975 c. 24.] House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, in Part III of Schedule 1 (other disqualifying offices), there shall be inserted (at the appropriate place) the following entry—

“Chairman of a regional flood defence committee for any area of England and Wales.”

(10) For the purposes of this Chapter and the 1976 Act the councils of every county, metropolitan district or London borough any part of which is in the area of a regional flood defence committee shall be the constituent councils for the regional flood defence committee for that area, and the Common Council of the City of London shall be a constituent council for the regional flood defence committee for any area which comprises any part of the City.

(11) In this section and section 138 below “the appropriate Minister”—

(a) in relation to the regional flood defence committee for an area the whole or the greater part of which is in Wales, means the Secretary of State; and

(b) in relation to any other regional flood defence committee, means the Minister.

138 Composition of regional flood defence committees

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section and to any order under Schedule 16 to this Act amalgamating the areas of any two or more regional flood defence committees, on and after the transfer date—

(a) the total number of members of the regional flood defence committee for any area shall be the number which, whether under section 2 of the 1976 Act or by virtue of any determination or order made under that section, was for the purposes of that section the total number of members of the regional land drainage committee for that area immediately before that date; and

(b) the number of members to be appointed to a regional flood defence committee for any area by or on behalf of each of the constituent councils or, as the case may be, jointly by or on behalf of more than one of them shall be the number which, whether under section 3 of that Act or by virtue of an order made under that section, was the number to be appointed to the regional land drainage committee for that area by that council or those councils immediately before that date.

(2) The Authority may, in accordance with the following provisions of this section, from time to time make a determination varying the total number of members of a regional flood defence committee; but that number shall be not less than eleven and, except where an order under subsection (4) below otherwise provides, not more than seventeen.

(3) The Authority shall submit any determination under subsection (2) above to the appropriate Minister; and any determination by the Authority under subsection (2) above that a regional flood defence committee should consist of more than seventeen members shall be provisional and shall take effect only if the appropriate Minister makes an order under subsection (4) below.

(4) If the Authority submits a provisional determination to the appropriate Minister with respect to any regional flood defence committee and he considers that the committee should consist of more than seventeen members, he may by order made by statutory instrument—

(a) confirm it; or

(b) substitute for the number of members determined by the Authority some other number not less than seventeen.

(5) Subject to the following provisions of this section, whenever—

(a) the total number of members of a regional flood defence committee is varied under this section; or

(b) the appropriate Minister considers it necessary to make an order under this subsection in consequence of—

(i) the effect in relation to the whole or any part of the area of any regional flood defence committee of any regulations under section 69(7) of the [1988 c. 41.] Local Government Finance Act 1988 (definition of relevant population); or

(ii) the alteration of the boundaries of the area of a regional flood defence committee,

the appropriate Minister shall by order made by statutory instrument specify, in relation to times after the coming into force of the variation, regulations or alteration, the number of members to be appointed to the committee by each of the constituent councils.

(6) An order under subsection (5) above shall be so framed that the total number of members appointed under section 137(3)(a) and (b) above is one less than the number of those appointed by or on behalf of constituent councils.

(7) For the purpose of determining for the purposes of subsection (5) above the number of persons to be appointed to a regional flood defence committee by or on behalf of each constituent council, the appropriate Minister—

(a) shall have regard to the relevant population of any relevant area of that council; and

(b) where, having regard to the proportion which that population bears to the aggregate of the relevant populations of the relevant areas of all the constituent councils—

(i) he considers it to be inappropriate that that council should appoint a member of the committee; or

(ii) he considers that one or more members should be appointed jointly by that council and one or more other constituent councils,

may include provision to that effect in the order.

(8) Where—

(a) the appointment of one or more members of a regional flood defence committee is, by virtue of subsection (1) above or an order under subsection (5) above, to be made jointly by more than one constituent council; and

(b) the councils by whom that appointment is to be made are unable to agree on an appointment,

the member or members in question shall be appointed by the appropriate Minister on behalf of those councils; and subsection (7) of section 137 above shall apply in relation to an appointment under this subsection as it applies in relation to an appointment under subsection (3)(a) of that section.

(9) In this section—

• “member”, in relation to a regional flood defence committee, includes the chairman of the committee;

• “relevant area”, in relation to a council which is a constituent council in relation to any regional flood defence committee, means so much of the council’s area as is included in the area of the committee;

• “relevant population” has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of section 69 of the [1988 c. 41.] Local Government Finance Act 1988 (precepted authorities).

139 Local flood defence schemes and local flood defence committees

(1) A scheme, to be known as a local flood defence scheme, may be made in accordance with section 4 of the 1976 Act—

(a) for the creation in the area of a regional flood defence committee of one or more districts, to be known as local flood defence districts; and

(b) for the constitution, membership, functions and procedure of a committee for each such district, to be known as the local flood defence committee for that district.

(2) Any local land drainage scheme which was made or continued in force under section 4 of the 1976 Act and which is in force immediately before the transfer date in relation to an area which becomes the area of a regional flood defence committee under this Chapter shall have effect on and after that date, and may be amended or revoked under that Act, as if it were a local flood defence scheme made in relation to the area of that committee; and, accordingly, subject to any such amendment or revocation—

(a) any local land drainage district created by that scheme and (however defined) in being immediately before that date shall be treated, on and after that date, as such a local flood defence district of the area of that regional flood defence committee as is defined by reference to the area of that local land drainage district; and

(b) any local land drainage committee created by that scheme for any such district and in being immediately before that date shall be treated, on and after that date, as the local flood defence committee for that district.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, section 5 of the 1976 Act (members and proceedings of local land drainage committees) shall have effect on and after the transfer date in relation to local flood defence committees as it had effect before that date in relation to local land drainage committees.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) above, any person who immediately before the transfer date is, by virtue of an appointment by a regional land drainage committee or any council, the chairman or a member of a local land drainage committee which becomes a local flood defence committee under this section shall be treated, on and after that date for the remainder of the period for which he would, under the terms of his appointment, have held office in relation to the local land drainage committee—

(a) as if he had been appointed to the local flood defence committee by the regional flood defence committee, or (as the case may be) by that council, on the same terms; and

(b) in the case of the chairman, as if he were a member of the regional flood defence committee.

(5) Without prejudice to his eligibility for re-appointment if he is a member of the regional flood defence committee, any person who on the day appointed for the purposes of subsection (4) of section 137 above in relation to any regional flood defence committee is, by virtue of subsection (4) above, the chairman of a local flood defence committee for a district in the area of that regional flood defence committee shall cease to be the chairman of that local flood defence committee at the end of that day.

(6) In the [1975 c. 24.] House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, in Part III of Schedule 1 (other disqualifying offices), there shall be inserted (at the appropriate place) the following entry—

“Chairman of a local flood defence committee for any district in England and Wales.”

140 Internal drainage districts and internal drainage boards

For the purposes of the drainage of land the internal drainage districts within the areas of the water authorities shall continue on and after the transfer date, in accordance with section 6 of the 1976 Act, as internal drainage districts within the areas of the regional flood defence committees; and for each such district there shall continue, in accordance with that section, to be a board known as an internal drainage board, which shall be a body corporate.