Land Drainage Act 1976

4 Local land drainage schemes and local land drainage committees

(1) In this Act " a local land drainage scheme " means a scheme—

(a) for the creation in a water authority area of one or more districts to be called "local land drainage districts "; and

(b) for the constitution, membership, functions and procedure of a committee for each such district, to be called the "local land drainage committee" for that district,

and any such scheme in force immediately before the coming into operation of this Act shall, subject to subsection (2) below, continue in force.

(2) A regional land drainage committee may at any time submit to the water authority for their area—

(a) a local land drainage scheme for any part of that area for which there is then no such scheme in force; or

(b) a scheme varying a local land drainage scheme or revoking such a scheme and, if the committee think fit, replacing it with another such scheme ;

and references in the following provisions of this section and in section 5 below to local land drainage schemes are references to schemes under either paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection.

(3) Before submitting a scheme to a water authority under subsection (2) above, a regional land drainage committee shall consult—

(a) the councils of counties and districts any part of which will fall within the area to which the scheme is proposed to relate, and

(b) such organisations representative of persons interested in land drainage or agriculture as the regional land drainage committee consider to be appropriate.

(4) It shall be the duty of a water authority to send any scheme submitted to them under subsection (2) above to the Minister.

(5) A local land drainage scheme may define a local land drainage district—

(a) by reference to areas established for the purposes of functions relating to land drainage under any enactment in force immediately before the passing of the [1973 c. 37.] Water Act 1973 ;

(b) by reference to the water authority area in which that district is situated;

(c) by reference to a map ;

or partly by one of those means and partly by another or the others.

(6) A local land drainage scheme may contain incidental, consequential and supplementary provisions.

(7) The Minister may approve a local land drainage scheme with or without modifications, and any scheme so approved shall come into operation on a date fixed by him.