The Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

General environmental and recreational duties N.I.

8.—(1) It shall be the duty of each of the following—

(a) a Northern Ireland department;

(b) the Authority; and

(c) every company holding an appointment as a relevant undertaker,

in formulating or considering any proposals relating to any functions of a relevant undertaker (including, in the case of such a company, any functions which, by virtue of that appointment, are functions of the company itself) to comply with the requirements imposed in relation to the proposals by paragraphs (2) and (3).

(2) The requirements imposed by this paragraph in relation to any such proposals as are mentioned in paragraph (1) are—

(a) a requirement, so far as may be consistent—

(i) with the purposes of any statutory provision relating to the functions of the undertaker; and

(ii) in the case of the Department and the Authority, with their duties under Article 6,

so to exercise any power conferred with respect to the proposals on the body subject to the requirement as to further the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty and the conservation of flora, fauna and geological or physiographical features of special interest and, in the case of the exercise of such a power by a company holding an appointment as a relevant undertaker, as to further water conservation;

(b) a requirement to have regard to the desirability of protecting and conserving buildings, sites and objects of archaeological, architectural or historic interest; and

(c) a requirement to take into account any effect which the proposals would have on the beauty or amenity of any rural or urban area or on any such flora, fauna, features, buildings, sites or objects.

(3) The requirements imposed by this paragraph in relation to any such proposals as are mentioned in paragraph (1) are, subject to the requirements imposed by paragraph (2)—

(a) a requirement to have regard to the desirability of preserving for the public any freedom of access to areas of woodland, mountains, cliff or foreshore and other places of natural beauty;

(b) a requirement to have regard to the desirability of maintaining the availability to the public of any facility for visiting or inspecting any building, site or object of archaeological, architectural or historic interest; and

(c) a requirement to take into account any effect which the proposals would have on any such freedom of access or on the availability of any such facility.

(4) Paragraphs (1) to (3) shall apply so as to impose duties on the Authority and any company holding an appointment as a relevant undertaker in relation to any proposal relating to the functions of the Department, DOE or DARD as they apply in relation to any proposals relating to the functions of such an undertaker; and for the purposes of this paragraph the reference in paragraph (2)(a) to the functions of the undertaker shall have effect as a reference to the functions of the department in question.

(5) It shall be the duty of every company holding an appointment as a relevant undertaker to take such steps as are—

(a) reasonably practicable; and

(b) consistent with the purposes of the statutory provisions relating to the functions of the undertaker in question,

for securing, so long as that company has rights to the use of water or land associated with water, that those rights are exercised so as to ensure that the water or land is made available for recreational purposes and is so made available in the best manner.

(6) It shall be the duty of a company holding an appointment as a relevant undertaker, in determining what steps to take in performance of any duty imposed by virtue of paragraph (5), to take into account the needs of persons who are chronically sick or disabled.

(7) The obligations under this Article of a company holding an appointment as a relevant undertaker shall be enforceable under Article 30 by the Department.

(8) Nothing in this Article or the following provisions of this Order shall require recreational facilities made available by a relevant undertaker to be made available free of charge.

(9) References in this Article to the functions of a relevant undertaker shall be construed, without prejudice to Article 217(7), as if those functions included the management, by a company holding an appointment as such an undertaker, of any land for the time being held by that company for any purpose whatever (whether or not connected with the carrying out of the functions of a relevant undertaker).

(10) In this Article “building” includes structure.

Commencement Information

I1 Art. 8 wholly in operation at 1.4.2007, see art. 1(2) and S.R. 2007/194, art. 2(2), Sch. 1 Pt. II (subject to art. 3, Sch. 2)