37.—(1) If it appears to the Council necessary or convenient to do so for the purposes of the construction or maintenance of the authorised works, or to enable vessels to navigate through the Back Water Channel, it may, having first consulted the harbour master, remove from within the designated area, any vessel that is—
(a)sunk, stranded or abandoned; or
(b)moored or laid up (whether lawfully or not),
either to another place within the designated area or to a place outside the designated area where it may without injury to the vessel be moored or laid.
(2) Before exercising the powers conferred by paragraph (1) the Council shall—
(a)publish a notice of its intention to do so in Lloyd’s List and once in each of two successive weeks in a local newspaper published or circulating in the borough of Poole, with an interval between the dates of publication of not less than 6 clear days; and
(b)display notice thereof in a conspicuous position adjacent to Back Water Channel.
(3) Each of the notices shall—
(a)state the reason for requiring removal of any vessel from within that part of the designated area specified in the notice; and
(b)specify a date, which shall be a date not earlier than one month after the last date on which a notice is published pursuant to paragraph (2)(a), by which all vessels must be removed from within that part of the designated area specified in the notice.
(4) If the owner or master of any vessel within the designated area does not remove that vessel from within the designated area before the date specified in accordance with paragraph (3)(b), the Council may, having first consulted the harbour master, cause that vessel to be removed.
(5) The Council may recover as a debt from the owner of any vessel removed pursuant to paragraph (4) all expenses incurred by the Council in respect of its removal.