Section 53 – Environmental matters
128.This section is an amended version of 65(2)(b), (c) and (d) of the 1994 Act.
129.Subsections (1) and (2) place duties on the Scottish Ministers and Scottish Water, when discharging their respective functions under the Act, and under the 1968 and the 1980 Acts, to have regard to the desirability of preserving public access and protecting and conserving particular aspects of the environment. Subsection (3) requires the Scottish Ministers and Scottish Water, in exercising those functions, to further environmental conservation and enhancement of natural beauty.
130.Subsection (4) qualifies the duties on the Scottish Ministers and Scottish Water under subsection (3) so that they need only act to meet them where doing so does not run counter to the purposes of any enactment relating to any of their functions.