Section 71: Licences
244.The licensing authority may, by virtue of this section, impose conditions on any licence it grants. Examples of the sorts of conditions that may be imposed are given in subsection (3); these are very similar in effect to those that could be imposed by the Act’s predecessor, FEPA. However, under FEPA, conditions could only be imposed that governed the original carrying out of an activity. Subsection (2)(b) allows the licensing authority to attach conditions that will govern the behaviour of the licensee after the carrying out of the authorised activities. For example, under FEPA a developer would obtain a licence to build a jetty and the conditions attached to the licence would only cover the activity of building that jetty. Under the Act, the same licence could also include conditions relating to precautions to be taken when using the jetty once it has been built and also how the jetty should be dismantled and removed from the sea once its active life is over.
245.In the particular case of licensing the construction, alteration or improvement of works, licence conditions may bind persons other than those to whom the licence is given. The persons who may be bound are those that own, occupy or enjoy the use of the works. There is a similar provision in section 34(4A)(b) of the Coast Protection Act 1949 (“CPA”) though not in FEPA, as the consequences of using the works primarily relate to obstructing navigation (the subject matter of the CPA). Given that the Act subsumes the CPA’s navigational remit under the interpretation of “interference with legitimate uses of the sea”, the Act also includes this provision. Such persons may commit an offence in failing to comply with the condition in the circumstances described in section 85.
