Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Act 2025

CHAPTER 1 REQUIRING AN OWNER OF LAND TO CARRY OUT OPERATIONS

35 Notice requiring owner of land to carry out operations

(1) The Authority may by notice require an owner of land to carry out operations on the land if the Authority considers the operations to be necessary to achieve the following objective.

(2) The objective is to—

(a) prevent or deal with threats to the stability of a disused tip, or

(b) stabilise a disused tip or prevent a disused tip from becoming more unstable,

so as to avoid or reduce threats to human welfare.

(3) A notice must specify—

(a) the disused tip in connection with which the notice is given,

(b) the operations that must be carried out, and

(c) the threat to human welfare that the specified operations are intended to avoid or reduce.

(4) A notice must also specify the period within which the operations are to be completed, which must be a period beginning at least 21 days after the day on which the notice is given to the owner.

36 Owner’s right of entry onto land etc.

(1) If—

(a) an owner of land who is given a notice under section 35 is not in occupation of the land, or any part of the land, on which the operations required by the notice must be carried out, and

(b) the owner’s estate in the land is superior to any estate or interest of the occupier,

the owner has the right to enter the land in order to carry out the operations and any consequential works of reinstatement.

(2) An owner exercising a right of entry under subsection (1) may take any other persons, equipment and material onto the land as may be necessary.

(3) An owner of land who is given a notice under section 35 may, for the purpose of carrying out operations required by the notice on the land, remove and dispose of any property situated on the land that belongs to another person.

(4) If an owner of land disposes of property under subsection (3) by selling it, the owner of the land must account to the owner of the property for the proceeds of sale.

(5) Subsection (4) does not prevent an owner of land from—

(a) deducting from the proceeds of sale any expenses reasonably incurred by the owner in selling the property;

(b) setting off the proceeds of sale, or any part of those proceeds, against any sum which the owner is entitled to recover from the owner of the property under Chapter 3.

37 Duty to give interested parties copies of notice

(1) Where the Authority gives a notice to an owner of land under section 35, it must also give a copy of the notice to any other person with an interest in the notice.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the following persons (in addition to the owner) are persons with an interest in a notice—

(a) a person occupying land on which the operations required by the notice are to be carried out;

(b) a person who, to the Authority’s knowledge, has an estate or interest in that land otherwise than as a mortgagee;

(c) a person who, to the Authority’s knowledge, otherwise than as a mortgagee—

(i) has an estate or interest in the land on which the disused tip is situated, or

(ii) had an estate or interest in that land at any time in the 12 years before the day on which the notice is given to the owner;

(d) a person who, to the Authority’s knowledge, has an interest in (including a right to acquire) all or any of the material comprised in the disused tip;

(e) a person who, to the Authority’s knowledge, has at any time within the 12 year period mentioned in paragraph (c), used the disused tip to deposit waste from a mine or quarry;

(f) a person who the Authority believes has, at any time within the 12 year period mentioned in paragraph (c), caused or contributed to the need for the operations required by the notice by—

(i) carrying out other operations or performing any other activity on any land, or

(ii) failing to do something which the person might reasonably have done on any land to avoid creating or contributing to the need for the operations required by the notice.

(3) In subsection (2), “disused tip” means the disused tip in connection with which the notice under section 35 is given.

(4) The Authority must give the copies required by this section within 7 days beginning with the day on which the notice is given to the owner.

38 Right of owner and interested parties to appeal against notice

(1) An owner of land who is given a notice under section 35, or a person who is given a copy of the notice under section 37, may apply to the Welsh Ministers to vary or cancel the notice.

(2) An application under this section must be made within 21 days beginning with the day that the notice is given to the owner.

(3) An application under this section may be made on one or more of the following grounds—

(a) that there is no reasonable ground for believing that the operations required by the notice are necessary to avoid or reduce the threat to human welfare specified in the notice;

(b) that the operations required by the notice are more extensive than is necessary to avoid or reduce the threat to human welfare specified in the notice;

(c) that—

(i) the threat to human welfare specified in the notice could be avoided, or reduced to at least the same extent, by carrying out different operations, in whole or in part, from the operations required by the notice, and

(ii) the owner is prepared to carry out the alternative operations;

(d) that—

(i) the owner or another person has already started, or has entered into a contract with a third party to start, operations different, in whole or in part, from the operations required by the notice, and

(ii) the alternative operations will avoid, or reduce to at least the same extent, the threat to human welfare specified in the notice;

(e) that the period within which the operations required by the notice must be carried out is not reasonably sufficient;

(f) that there is a material defect or error in, or in connection with, the notice.

(4) An owner of land who is given a notice under section 35 may also make an application under this section on the ground that the owner is unable to meet the costs of the operations required by the notice.

(5) On receiving an application under this section, the Welsh Ministers must notify—

(a) the Authority, and

(b) each person who was given the notice or a copy of the notice.

39 Determination of appeals

(1) An application under section 38 is to be determined by a person appointed by the Welsh Ministers (an “appointed person”).

(2) If the appointed person is satisfied, on an application under section 38, that the ground (or any of the grounds) of the application is made out, the appointed person may by direction vary or cancel the notice.

(3) Where an appointed person varies a notice under subsection (2), the notice and any copy of it given under section 37 is to be treated as always having had effect as varied.

(4) Where an application is made under section 38 and is not withdrawn, the period specified in the notice as the period within which the operations must be completed does not end before the application is determined.

(5) Where an application is made under section 38, the appointed person may extend the period specified in the notice as the period within which the operations must be completed, regardless of whether the ground (or any of the grounds) of the application is made out.

(6) As soon as practicable after an appointed person determines an application under this section, the Welsh Ministers must notify the following persons of the outcome—

(a) the Authority, and

(b) each person who was given the notice or a copy of the notice.

(7) Where an appointed person varies a notice, the Welsh Ministers must also give the persons mentioned in subsection (6)(a) and (b) a copy of the notice as varied.

40 Supplementary provision about appeals

(1) The Welsh Ministers must by regulations make provision about the procedure to be followed in determining applications under section 38.

(2) The Welsh Ministers may by regulations make other provision in connection with the determination of applications under section 38.

(3) Regulations under this section may, among other things, make provision—

(a) about the attendance and examination of parties or witnesses (including provision authorising an appointed person to administer oaths or to take affirmations);

(b) about the production and inspection of documents;

(c) for powers to enter land.

(4) Regulations under this section may confer a discretion on a person.

(5) Regulations under this section may create offences in connection with failures to comply with any requirements imposed by or under the regulations.

41 Penalty for failure to comply with notice

(1) An owner of land who is given a notice under section 35 commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, the owner fails to carry out the operations required by the notice within the period specified in the notice or, if that period is extended under section 39, within the extended period.

(2) A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine.

(3) A contravention of subsection (1) by the Crown does not make the Crown criminally liable (but see section 28(3) of the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (anaw 4) regarding the liability of persons in the service of the Crown).

42 Power to cancel notice

(1) This section applies where—

(a) the Authority has given a notice to an owner of land under section 35 (“the section 35 notice”), and

(b) the operations required by the notice have not been completed.

(2) The Authority may give the owner a notice (a “notice of cancellation”) cancelling the section 35 notice.

(3) Where an owner of land is given a notice of cancellation, the owner is no longer required to carry out the operations specified in the section 35 notice.

(4) The Authority may give a notice of cancellation even if—

(a) an application under section 38 has been made in respect of the section 35 notice,

(b) the operations required by the section 35 notice have started to be carried out, or

(c) the period specified in the section 35 notice for the completion of the operations has ended.

(5) Where the Authority gives a notice of cancellation under this section, it must also give a copy of the notice to each person who was given a copy of the section 35 notice.

(6) A notice of cancellation does not affect—

(a) any penalty already incurred by the owner under section 41, or

(b) the Authority’s power to give a further notice under section 35 in relation to the land.

43 Reimbursement of owner’s expenses on cancellation of notice

(1) This section applies where—

(a) the Authority has cancelled a notice given under section 35, and

(b) the owner of land who was given the notice has incurred expenditure in complying with it.

(2) The owner may apply to the Welsh Ministers to be reimbursed by the Authority for—

(a) any expenditure incurred by the owner in consequence of the giving of the notice, and

(b) any expenditure incurred by the owner which is attributable to the cancellation of the notice (whether attributable to the reinstatement of any land, the cancellation of any contract or otherwise).

(3) An application under this section is to be determined by a person appointed by the Welsh Ministers (an “appointed person”).

(4) The appointed person may direct the Authority to reimburse to the owner the whole or any part of the expenditure referred to in subsection (2).

(5) In deciding whether to give a direction under subsection (4), or to what extent the Authority should be required to reimburse the owner, the appointed person must have regard to all the circumstances of the case and, in particular, to—

(a) the grounds on which the Authority gave the notice of cancellation under section 42, and

(b) whether the Authority has given or intends to give the owner a further notice under section 35 or intends to carry out operations itself under section 44.

(6) The Authority must comply with a direction given under subsection (4).

(7) The Welsh Ministers must by regulations make provision about the procedure to be followed in determining applications under this section.

(8) The Welsh Ministers may by regulations make other provision in connection with determining applications under this section.

(9) Subsections (3) to (5) of section 40 apply in relation to regulations under this section as if the references in those subsections to section 40 were to this section.