Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950 (repealed 1.1.1993)

The code in this Part of this Act E+W+S

22 Undertakers’ right to payment for works made necessary by, and obligation to facilitate, road, etc. works. E+W+S

(1) Where in any such case as is mentioned in subsection (1) of the last preceding section the authority’s works render necessary for the purposes of the supply or service for which the undertakers’ apparatus is used the execution by the undertakers of any undertakers’ works or the taking by them of any other measures, whether consisting of a change in the position of apparatus, of works or measures for the protection of apparatus from damage or for preventing any undue interruption or restriction of the supply or service or of other works or measures, the promoting authority shall pay to the undertakers an amount equal to the cost reasonably incurred by the undertakers of the execution of those works or of the taking of those measures, subject however to the provisions of the next succeeding section.

(2) In any such case as is mentioned in subsection (1) of the last preceding section the promoting authority may require the undertakers to execute any undertakers’ works which are necessary for the purposes of the carrying out of the authority’s works with reasonable facility and which the undertakers have power to execute, and—

(a) the undertakers shall be under obligation to execute any such undertakers’ works which the promoting authority require them to execute, and, if the undertakers fail to execute them in accordance with their obligation, they shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds in respect of each day of such failure; and

(b) the promoting authority shall pay to the undertakers an amount equal to the cost reasonably incurred by the undertakers of the execution of those works, subject however to the provisions of the next succeeding section:

Provided that the promoting authority shall not be entitled—

(i)

to require the undertakers to remove any of their apparatus permanently from the [F1 street][F1 road] or controlled land in which it is; or

(ii)

to require the undertakers to remove any of their apparatus therefrom temporarily, except that, in a case in which such a removal can be arranged consistently with the maintenance of the supply or service for which the apparatus is used without undue interruption or restriction, the promoting authority may require a temporary removal of apparatus to any adjacent land in which the undertakers have power to place it, or, in the case of apparatus in a [F1 street][F1 road] carried by a bridge, to the side or other part of the bridge if the bridge authority or managers consent (or are themselves the promoting authority); or

(iii)

to require, otherwise than with the consent of a Minister within the meaning of that section, any lateral diversion of a line to which section twelve of the M1 Requisitioned Land and War Works Act 1948 (which relates to government oil pipe-lines and works accessory thereto) applies, or any such change of the site of accessory works to which that section applies as would necessitate such a diversion.

(3) Where works necessary as aforesaid are code-regulated works, the promoting authority may waive observance by the undertakers of any of the requirements of section three or six of this Act so far as they concern that authority.

(4) The provisions of Part I of the Fourth Schedule to this Act shall have effect as to the settlement at the instance of the undertakers or of the promoting authority, as the case may be, of a specification of works or measures to be treated in operating the code in this Part of this Act as necessary for the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, or of works to be so treated as necessary for the purposes mentioned in subsection (2) thereof, and, save in so far as may be otherwise agreed between the promoting authority and the undertakers, such works and measures only as are included in a specification settled under that Schedule shall be so treated.

(5) Any question arising under proviso (ii) to subsection (2) of this section, on a requirement by a promoting authority for a temporary removal of apparatus, whether the circumstances in which such a requirement may be made exist shall be determined by arbitration.

Textual Amendments

F1 Word “road” substituted (S.) for word “street” by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), Sch. 9 para. 39(21)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 22 amended by Pipe-lines Act 1962 (c. 58, SIF 102), s. 17

C2 S. 22(2) proviso (iii) extended by Land Powers (Defence) Act 1958 (c. 30, SIF 28:3), s. 16(5)(b)

Marginal Citations

M1 1948 c. 17(28:3).

23 Limitations on undertakers’ right to payment for works, and county contribution towards such a payment. E+W+S

(1) Undertakers shall not be entitled to payment by virtue of the last preceding section in respect of works or measures of theirs if the authority’s works in question consist only of works executed after a subsidence for reinstating and making good the area of subsidence to its level immediately before the subsidence occurred, unless the undertakers prove that the subsidence was attributable to matters for which the promoting authority were to blame.

(2) Subsection (1) of the last preceding section or paragraph (b) of subsection (2) thereof, as the case may be, shall have effect subject to the provisions of this subsection in a case in which the following conditions as to notice of the authority’s works were satisfied before the apparatus in question was placed (whether by way of an original placing or by way of renewal of other apparatus), that is to say—

(a) where the placing of the apparatus was a code-regulated work, if notice of the authority’s works being intended was given by the promoting authority or predecessors of theirs to the undertakers or predecessors of theirs within eight days from the date on which the intention to place the apparatus was signified to the authority or their predecessors by the submission of a plan and section if the placing thereof was a work to which section three of this Act applied or by notice under section six of this Act if it was not, and within twenty-nine days from that date a plan and section of the authority’s works were furnished to the undertakers or their predecessors; or

(b) where the placing of the apparatus was not a code-regulated work, if notice of the authority’s works being intended and particulars as to their works were given by the promoting authority or predecessors of theirs to the undertakers or predecessors of theirs in accordance with provisions corresponding to this subsection of any corresponding enactment within the meaning of the next succeeding section.

In any case the undertakers shall not be entitled to payment by virtue of the last preceding section if the authority’s works were—

(i) substantially begun within two years from the date on which the notice was given, and

(ii) executed in accordance with the plan and section thereof furnished as mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection, or with the particulars thereof given as mentioned in paragraph (b) of this subsection, or without any departure therefrom materially affecting the undertakers:

Provided that the Minister may, if he considers it requisite to do so having regard to any general economic circumstances affecting such works as are mentioned in subsection (1) of section twenty-one of this Act, by order (which shall be a statutory instrument, and shall be revocable or variable by him) substitute any longer period not exceeding four years for the period of two years mentioned in paragraph (i) of this subsection, and that paragraph shall, in relation to the authority’s works if they were substantially begun at a time when such an order was in force, have effect with the substitution prescribed by the order as in force at that time.

(3) If in the course of undertakers’ works necessary as mentioned in the last preceding section apparatus of better type, of greater dimensions or of greater capacity is placed in substitution for existing apparatus of worse type, of smaller dimensions or of smaller capacity, or apparatus (whether existing apparatus or apparatus substituted for existing apparatus) is placed at a depth greater than the depth at which the existing apparatus was, and the placing of apparatus of that type, dimensions or capacity, or the placing of apparatus at that depth, as the case may be, had not been specified as so necessary in a specification of the works settled under Part I of the Fourth Schedule to this Act or agreed so to be by the promoting authority, then—

(a) if it involves cost in the execution of the undertakers’ works exceeding that which would have been involved if the apparatus placed had been of the existing type, dimensions or capacity, or at the existing depth, as the case may be, the amount which apart from this subsection would be payable to the undertakers in respect of their works by virtue of the last preceding section shall be reduced by the amount of that excess; and

(b) if it involves cost in the execution of the authority’s works exceeding that which would have been involved in that case, the undertakers shall pay to the promoting authority an amount equal to that excess.

For the purposes of this subsection—

(i) an extension of apparatus to a length greater than the length of existing apparatus shall not be treated as a placing of apparatus of greater dimensions than those of the existing apparatus;

(ii) where the provision of a joint in a cable is specified or agreed as necessary, the consequential provision of a jointing chamber or of a manhole shall be treated as if it also had been so specified or agreed.

(4) An amount which apart from this subsection would be payable to undertakers in respect of works of theirs by virtue of the last preceding section (and having regard, where relevant, to the last preceding subsection) shall, if the works include the placing of apparatus by way of renewal of apparatus placed more than seven-and-a-half years earlier so as to confer on the undertakers any financial benefit by deferment of the time for renewal of the apparatus in the ordinary course, be reduced by the amount which represents that benefit.

(5) Any question arising under either of the two last preceding subsections shall, in default of agreement between the promoting authority and the undertakers, be determined by arbitration.

(6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

Textual Amendments

F2 S. 23(6) repealed (E.W.) by Highways Act 1959 (c. 25), Sch. 25 and repealed (S.) by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), s. 156(3), Sch. 11

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C3 S. 23(3)(4) applied with modifications by Channel Tunnel Act 1987 (c. 53, SIF 102), s. 45, Sch. 7 Pt. VI paras. 2, 12(2)