PART IAuthorisation of, and Facilities for, Opencast Working of Coal

7General limitations on effect of compulsory rights orders

(1)The rights conferred by a compulsory rights order in accordance with subsection (5) of section five of this Act, or in accordance with subsection (3) of section six of this Act, shall not affect any of the rights mentioned in subsection (2) or subsection (3) of this section.

(2)Subject to the next following subsection, the said rights are:—

(a)any right of support for any land not comprised in the order, or for any building or structure on any such land, or any right of action of any person in so far as it arises from the withdrawal of support to which he is entitled for any such land, building or structure;

(b)any rights of any statutory water undertakers under any public general Act relating to the supply of water, or under any byelaw made by virtue of such an Act, or under any local enactment, in so far as (apart from this Act) the Act, byelaw or enactment restricts, or enables the undertakers to restrict, the working of coal or other minerals, or the doing of any other act, on land comprised in the order;

(c)any rights of any statutory undertakers, or of the body carrying on a sewerage undertaking or sewage disposal undertaking, or of any river board or other drainage authority, in respect of any apparatus on, under or over land comprised in the order, being apparatus in respect of which, at any time since the granting of the authorisation referred to in the order, the Board have been entitled to serve a notice under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, applied by section thirteen of this Act.

(3)In relation to an opencast site order, the said rights also include the following:—

(a)the rights conferred by any agreement made by the Board and for the time being in force whereby (apart from this Act) the Board are required to leave any coal un-worked;

(b)any rights of the body carrying on a railway, canal, inland navigation, harbour or dock undertaking (not being rights falling within the last preceding subsection) under any enactment (whether contained in a public general Act or in any other Act) in so far as (apart from this Act) the enactment would operate so as—

(i)to restrict, or enable that body to restrict, the working of coal or other minerals on land comprised in the order which is adjacent to a railway, waterway, harbour, dock or other works situated on land not comprised in the order, being works vested in that body or works which they have any right or duty to maintain, or

(ii)to require, or enable that body to require, coal or other minerals on land comprised in the order to be left unworked for the protection or support of such a railway, waterway, harbour, dock or other works.

(4)Without prejudice to the preceding provisions of this section, the rights conferred by a compulsory rights order as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section—

(a)shall not affect any right of action of a person who is not a person directly concerned, and

(b)in the case of a person directly concerned, shall not affect any right of action of his in so far as it arises otherwise than by virtue of his being entitled to an interest in or right over land, or in so far as it arises by virtue of his being entitled to an interest in, or right over, land not comprised in the order.

(5)Nothing in the preceding provisions of this section shall affect the operation of subsection (4) of section five of this Act, or of subsection (2) of section six of this Act.

(6)Without prejudice to the preceding provisions of this section, nothing in section .five or section six of this Act shall be construed as authorising any interference with the exercise of a public right of way.

(7)Notwithstanding anything in subsection (6) of section five of this Act, or in subsection (4) of section six of this Act, a person shall not be taken to be a person directly concerned in relation to a compulsory rights order by reason only that he is entitled to any such right as is mentioned in subsection (2) or subsection (3) of this section.

(8)In this section " statutory water undertakers" and " local enactment " have the same meanings as in the Water Act, 1945.

(9)In the application of this section to Scotland, for references to statutory water undertakers, to the Water Act, 1945, and to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, there shall be substituted respectively references to a local water authority, to the Water (Scotland) Act, 1946, and to the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1945.