Land Drainage Act 1976

3 Members and proceedings of regional land drainage committees

(1) The chairman of a regional land drainage committee shall be one of the members of the water authority appointed to that authority by the Minister.

(2) The remaining members appointed to a regional land drainage committee by the Minister under section 2(1)(a) above shall be appointed from among persons who in his opinion have had experience of, and have shown capacity in, or otherwise have special knowledge of, matters relating to land drainage or agriculture and, in particular, matters so relating which affect the area of the water authority or part of that area.

(3) The number of members to be appointed to a regional land drainage committee by or on behalf of each of the constituent councils shall (subject to this subsection) continue to be such as was specified, or last specified, by the Minister by order before the commencement of this Act; but whenever the number of members of any such committee is varied by a determination under section 2(2) above the Minister shall by order specify, subject to subsections (4) to (7) below, the number of members to be appointed to the committee as aforesaid.

(4) An order under subsection (3) above shall be so framed that the number of members appointed by or on behalf of constituent councils is one more than the total number of those appointed under section 2(1)(a) and (b) above.

(5) In determining for the purposes of an order under subsection (3) above the number of persons to be appointed to a regional land drainage committee by or on behalf of each constituent council, the Minister shall have regard to the estimated penny rate product for each relevant area of that council for the relevant year; and where, having regard to the proportion which that product bears to the aggregate of the estimated penny rate products for the relevant areas of all the constituent councils for that year—

(a) he considers it to be inappropriate that that council should appoint a member of the committee, or

(b) he considers that one or more members should be appointed jointly by that council and one or more other constituent councils,

he may by the order so provide.

(6) Where, in accordance with subsection (5)(b) above, an order provides for the joint appointment of one or more members of a regional land drainage committee, and the councils by whom that appointment is to be made are unable to agree on an appointment, the member or members in question shall be appointed by the Minister on behalf of those councils.

(7) The Greater London Council shall be entitled to appoint one member of the Thames Water Authority's regional land drainage committee.

(8) In the appointment of members of a regional land drainage committee, that committee's constituent councils or the Minister (where he appoints on behalf of those councils) shall, so far as may be practicable, select persons appearing to them or him to have a practical knowledge of land drainage or agriculture.

(9) The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the members and proceedings of regional land drainage committees.

(10) In this section—

• " estimated penny rate product " for any area for any year has the same meaning as is provided by section 45(3) below; and

• " relevant year ", in relation to any determination, means the latest financial year for which, at the time when that determination falls to be made, precepts have been issued under section 46 below.

(11) References in this section to a relevant area of any constituent council, in relation to a water authority's regional land drainage committee, are references to a part of the council's area comprised in any local land drainage district; and for this purpose a water authority area in relation to which no local land drainage scheme is in force shall be treated as a single local land drainage district, and any parts of a water authority area in relation to which no such scheme is in force shall be treated as included in a single such district.