(1)An application for an appointment or variation replacing a company as a relevant undertaker shall be made in such manner as may be prescribed.
(2)Within fourteen days after making an application under this section, the applicant shall—
(a)serve notice of the application on the existing appointee and on every local authority whose area includes the whole or any part of the area to which the application relates; and
(b)publish a copy of the notice in such manner as may be prescribed.
(3)Before making an appointment or variation replacing a company as a relevant undertaker, the Secretary of State or the Director shall give notice—
(a)stating that he proposes to make the appointment or variation;
(b)stating the reasons why he proposes to make the appointment or variation; and
(c)specifying the period (not being less than twenty-eight days from the date of publication of the notice) within which representations or objections with respect to the proposed appointment or variation may be made.
(4)A notice under subsection (3) above shall be given—
(a)by publishing the notice in such manner as the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, the Director considers appropriate for bringing it to the attention of persons likely to be affected by the making of the proposed appointment or variation; and
(b)by serving a copy of the notice on the existing appointee and on every local authority whose area includes the whole or any part of the area to which the proposed appointment or variation relates.
(5)As soon as practicable after making an appointment or variation replacing a company as a relevant undertaker, the Secretary of State or the Director shall—
(a)serve a copy of the appointment or variation on the existing appointee; and
(b)serve notice of the making of the appointment or variation on every local authority whose area includes the whole or any part of the area to which the appointment or variation relates,
and as soon as practicable after exercising any power to vary the area to which an appointment under this Chapter relates, the Secretary of State shall send a copy of the variation to the Director.
(6)In this section “the existing appointee”, in relation to an appointment or variation replacing a company as a relevant undertaker, means the company which is replaced in relation to the whole or any part of the area to which the appointment or variation relates or, where there is more than one such company, each of them.