PART III
Agreements made by statutory water undertakers under section 12 and section 26.
20Statutory water undertakers who propose to enter into an agreement to which this Part of this Schedule applies shall publish once at least in each of two successive weeks in one or more local newspapers circulating within their limits of supply, a notice explaining the effect of the proposals and stating that objections thereto may be made to the Minister within twenty-eight days after the first publication of the notice, and shall send a copy of the notice to the council of any county, the catchment board of any catchment area, the fishery board of any fishery district, and any navigation authority or rivers boards exercising functions in relation to any watercourse, from which water is obtained by the persons who propose to give the supply, or, as the case may be, from which the water is proposed to be taken under the rights to be acquired.
If it appears to the Minister in the case of an agreement to which the Metropolitan Water Board is a party that publication in local newspapers is unnecessary as respects any part of the Board's limits of supply, he may dispense with such publication as respects that part.
21The statutory water undertakers shall also publish in the London Gazette a notice stating that they propose to enter into such an agreement as aforesaid with the persons specified in the notice and giving the name and date of issue of a local newspaper in which the notice explaining the effect of the proposals will be found.
22The Minister shall not approve the agreement, before the expiration of the said twenty-eight days, or before the expiration of twenty-five days from the publication of the said notice in the London Gazette, and before approving it shall consider any objections which may have been received by him before the expiration of either of the said periods, and if before such expiration an objection is received by the Minister from any such catchment board, fishery board or navigation authority as is referred to in subsection (2) of section twelve or subsection (6) of section twenty-six of this Act, as the case may be, and the objection is not withdrawn, the Minister, before approving the agreement by order in accordance with the said subsection, shall cause a local inquiry to be held.
23On approving by order / any agreement to which this Part of this Schedule applies, the Minister shall give notice of the making of the order to any catchment board, fishery board or navigation authority mentioned in the last foregoing paragraph who have objected to the approval of the agreement and have not withdrawn that objection, and in that case the order shall not have effect until the expiration of twenty-eight days from the date of the said notice, and if within that period any such board or authority give notice to the Minister that they object to the order and the objection is not withdrawn, the order shall be provisional only and shall not have effect until it is confirmed by Parliament.
24The costs incurred by the Minister in connection with the approval of agreements under this Part of this Schedule (whether by order or otherwise) and the confirmation of orders thereunder shall be paid by the undertakers to which the agreement or order relates, and, in a case where there are two or more such undertakers, the Minister may apportion such costs between them, and may require the undertakers to give security for the payment of such costs.