PART 4SUPPLEMENTAL POWERS

Discharge of water21.

(1)

Subject to paragraphs (3) to (5) the undertaker may use any watercourse or any public sewer or drain for the drainage of water in connection with the carrying out or maintenance of the authorised development and for that purpose may lay down, take up and alter pipes and may, on any land within the Order limits, make openings into, and connections with, the watercourse, public sewer or drain.

(2)

Any dispute arising from the making of connections to or the use of a public sewer or drain by the undertaker under paragraph (1) must be determined as if it were a dispute under section 106 (right to communicate with public sewers) of the Water Industry Act 199135.

(3)

The undertaker must not discharge any water into any public sewer or drain except with the consent of the person to whom it belongs; and such consent may be given subject to such terms and conditions as that person may reasonably impose, but must not be unreasonably withheld.

(4)

No water may be discharged into a watercourse that flows into the highway drainage system without the consent of the relevant highway authority and such consent may be given subject to such terms and conditions as the relevant highway authority considers appropriate such consent not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed.

(5)

The undertaker must not make any opening into any public sewer or drain except—

(a)

in accordance with plans approved by the person to whom the sewer or drain belongs, but such approval must not be unreasonably withheld; and

(b)

where that person has been given the opportunity to supervise the making of the opening.

(6)

The undertaker must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that any water discharged into a watercourse or public sewer or drain under this article is as free as may be practicable from gravel, soil or other solid substance, oil or matter in suspension.

(7)

Nothing in this article overrides the requirement for an environmental permit under regulation 12(1)(b) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 201636.

(8)

In this article—

(a)

“public sewer or drain” means a sewer or drain which belongs to the Environment Agency, an internal drainage board, a local authority or a sewerage undertaker; and

(b)

other expressions excluding watercourse, which are used both in this article and in the Water Resources Act 199137 have the same meaning as in that Act.

(9)

If a person who has received an application for consent under paragraphs (3) or (4) or approval under paragraph (5)(a) fails to notify the undertaker of its decision within 42 days of receiving the application submitted with all relevant information, that person is deemed to have granted consent or given approval, as the case may be.