Subject to the provisions of this section, this Act binds the Crown.

No contravention by the Crown of any provision made by or under this Act shall make the Crown criminally liable; but the High Court may, on the application of the F2appropriate body, declare unlawful any act or omission of the Crown which constitutes such a contravention.

Notwithstanding anything in subsection (2) above, the provisions of this Act shall apply to persons in the public service of the Crown as they apply to other persons.

If the Secretary of State certifies that it appears to him, as respects any Crown premises and any powers of entry exercisable in relation to them specified in the certificate, that it is requisite or expedient that, in the interests of national security, the powers should not be exercisable in relation to those premises, those powers shall not be exercisable in relation to those premises.

Subject to subsection (4) above, the powers conferred by sections 154, 156, 160, 162(3) and 168 above shall be exercisable in relation to land in which there is a Crown or Duchy interest only with the consent of the appropriate authority.

Nothing in this section shall be taken as in any way affecting Her Majesty in her private capacity; and this subsection shall be construed as if section 38(3) of the M1Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (interpretation of references to Her Majesty in her private capacity) were contained in this Act.

Nothing in this Act, as read with the other provisions of this section, shall be construed as conferring any power of levying drainage charges in respect of lands below the high-water mark of ordinary spring tides.

Section 74 of the M2Land Drainage Act 1991 (Crown application), so far as it relates to land in which there is a Crown or Duchy interest, shall apply in relation to the flood defence provisions of this Act as it applies in relation to that Act; but nothing in this subsection shall affect any power conferred by this Act for the purposes both of the Agency’s F3or the NRBW's functions under those provisions and of other functions of the Agency F4or the NRBW.

In this section—

• “the appropriate authority” has the same meaning as it has in Part XIII of the M3Town and Country Planning Act 1990 by virtue of section 293(2) of that Act;

• F5“the appropriate body” means—

  1. a

     in relation to any act or omission of the Crown in England, the Agency;

  2. b

     in relation to any act or omission of the Crown in Wales, the NRBW;

• “Crown or Duchy interest” means an interest which belongs to Her Majesty in right of the Crown or of the Duchy of Lancaster, or to the Duchy of Cornwall, or belonging to a government department or held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of a government department;

• “Crown premises” means premises held by or on behalf of the Crown.

The provisions of subsection (3) of section 293 of the M4Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (questions relating to Crown application) as to the determination of questions shall apply for the purposes of this section.

This section shall apply in relation to sections 3, 4 and 10 of the Water Act 2003 as it applies in relation to the provisions of this Act.