Water Act 1989

11 Appointment of undertakers

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Chapter, a company may be appointed—

(a) by the Secretary of State; or

(b) with the consent of or in accordance with a general authorisation given by the Secretary of State, by the Director,

to be the water undertaker or sewerage undertaker for any area of England and Wales.

(2) Without prejudice to the obligation of a company holding an appointment under this Chapter to comply with the conditions of its appointment, the appointment of a company to be the water undertaker or sewerage undertaker for any area shall have the effect while the appointment remains in force—

(a) of requiring the company to perform any duty imposed by or under any enactment on an undertaker of the relevant description (that is to say, a water undertaker or, as the case may be, sewerage undertaker);

(b) of authorising the company, for the purposes of, or in connection with, the carrying out of any of the functions of an undertaker of the relevant description, to exercise any power conferred by or under any enactment on an undertaker of that description;

(c) of requiring enactments and subordinate legislation authorising or requiring anything to be done in relation to an undertaker of the relevant description to be construed as authorising or requiring that thing to be done in relation to that company; and

(d) of requiring other references in any enactment or subordinate legislation to an undertaker of the relevant description or to the area of that undertaker, to be construed, so far as necessary for the purposes of, or in connection with, the carrying out by that company of the functions of an undertaker of that description, as references to that company or, as the case may be, to that area.

(3) The appointment of a company to be a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker shall be by service on the company of an instrument in writing containing the appointment and describing the area for which it is made; and a single instrument may contain the appointment of a company to be the sewerage undertaker for an area and the appointment of the same company to be the water undertaker for the whole or any part of that area or for an area which includes the whole or any part of that area.

(4) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to make such appointments under this Chapter as will secure—

(a) that on the transfer date a statutory water company becomes the water undertaker for the area appointment for which will, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, ensure that the company continues to supply water for the same area on and after that date as immediately before; and

(b) that on the transfer date the successor companies become water undertakers for areas comprising so much of England and Wales as is not the subject of appointments by virtue of paragraph (a) above and sewerage undertakers for the areas which immediately before that date are the water authorities' areas for the purposes of section 14 of the 1973 Act (sewerage and sewage disposal);

and to secure that such appointments are made under this Chapter as will ensure that for every area of England and Wales there is at all times on and after the transfer date both a company holding an appointment under this Chapter as water undertaker and (whether or not the same company in relation to the whole or any part of that area) a company holding an appointment as sewerage undertaker.

(5) A company shall not be appointed to be a water undertaker unless it is a limited company or a statutory water company and shall not be appointed to be a sewerage undertaker unless it is a limited company.

(6) Subject to subsection (7) and section 12 below—

(a) the Secretary of State; and

(b) with the consent of or in accordance with a general authorisation given by the Secretary of State, the Director,

shall have power, by notice to a company holding an appointment under this Chapter, to terminate the appointment or to vary the area to which it relates.

(7) The appointment of a company to be a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker shall not be terminated or otherwise cease to relate to or to any part of any area except with effect from the coming into force of such appointments and variations to which section 12 below applies as secure either—

(a) that another company becomes the water undertaker or, as the case may be, sewerage undertaker for that area or part or for an area that includes that area or part; or

(b) that two or more companies each become the water undertaker or, as the case may be, sewerage undertaker for one of a number of different areas that together constitute or include that area or part.

(8) As soon as practicable after making an appointment under this Chapter or exercising any power to vary the area to which such an appointment relates, the Secretary of State shall send a copy of the appointment or variation to the Director.

(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—

“Director of a company for the time being holding an appointment under Chapter I of Part II of the Water Act 1989 or of such a company’s holding company, being a director nominated or appointed by a Minister of the Crown or by a person acting on behalf of the Crown.”;

and the like insertion shall be made in Part III of Schedule 1 to the [1975 c. 25.] Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975.