Miscellaneous
Section 71 – Duty to establish and maintain a website or other electronic facility
290.Section 71 places a duty on the Authority to establish and maintain a website or other electronic facility that is free for the public to access. The reference to “other electronic facility” is intended to future proof the requirement.
Section 72 - Publication
291.Section 72 provides that where the Act requires the Authority to publish anything (for example a notice or report) it must be published on the Authority’s website (or other electronic facility) established and maintained under section 71. The publication requirement applies to, for example, the Authority’s annual report, corporate plan, reports of preliminary and full assessments and notices given under sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 29 and 30.
292.Section 72 also gives the Authority the power to publish documents and information subject to a publication requirement in any other way the Authority sees fit.
Section 73 – Provision of administrative, technical or professional services
293.This section gives the Authority the power to provide administrative, technical or professional services to any devolved Welsh authority within the meaning of section 157A of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
294.Administrative, technical and professional services include “back room” services such as finance, payroll, human resources and information technology. The Authority may choose to charge a fee for the provision of a service under this section.
Section 74 - Guidance
295.Subsection (1) places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to give guidance to the Authority in relation to the exercise of its functions in relation to –
section 3(4) (Authority’s power to charge fees);
section 10 (Authority’s duty to monitor registered tips);
Chapter 2 of Part 2 (preliminary and full assessment of tips by the Authority);
section 33 (compensation for damage or disturbance caused by monitoring or assessment activity);
Chapter 3 of Part 3 (payments in connection with operations);
section 57 (management plans).
296.Subsection (2) gives Welsh Ministers the power to give guidance to the Authority in relation to the exercise of any of its other functions under the Act. Subsection (3) requires the Authority to have regard to guidance given under subsection (1) or (2) in exercising its functions.
297.Subsection (4) places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to give guidance to a person appointed to determine an appeal under section 38 or section 43. In accordance with subsection (5), a person appointed to determine such an appeal must have regard to guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers under subsection (4).
298.Subsection (6) places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to consult with such persons as they consider appropriate prior to giving guidance under this section.
Section 75 – Amendments to the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969
299.Section 75 makes amendments to the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969 (“
300.The main effect of the amendments is to remove the functions that Part 2 of the 1969 Act placed on local authorities in Wales for the purpose of ensuring that disused tips do not constitute a danger to members of the public. Functions relating to the oversight of disused tips in Wales will now fall, instead, to the Authority. The amendments to the 1969 Act do not impact the application of the 1969 Act to local authorities in England or Scotland, in relation to whom the current position is preserved.
301.There are a small number of disused tips that straddle the border between England and Wales. The Authority will have functions in relation to those tips under this Act, and the relevant local authorities in England will have functions in relation to those tips under the 1969 Act. The functions of the Authority, and of the English local authorities, will be exercisable in relation to those cross-border tips in their entirety (not just the parts of those tips that fall within the respective geographical areas). The powers of the Authority in the Act could also be exercised in relation to land in England for the purpose of dealing with threats to the stability of a tip situated wholly in Wales, for example, where the only threat to a tip’s stability exists on the English side of the border.
302.Section 5 confers power on the Authority to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or which is conducive or incidental to, to the exercise of its functions. In respect of a cross-border tip, the Authority could potentially rely on this power to co-operate with English local authorities where such co-operation is conducive to the exercise of the Authority’s functions.
