Control of Pollution Act 1974

87 Miscellaneous provisions relating to legal proceedings

(1) When an offence under this Act which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members the preceding provisions of this subsection shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

(2) Where the commission by any person of an offence under this Act is due to the act or default of some other person, that other person shall be guilty of the offence; and a person may be charged with and convicted of an offence by virtue of this subsection whether or not proceedings for the offence are taken against any other person.

(3) Notwithstanding anything in section 104 of the [1952 c. 55.] Magistrates' Courts Act 1952, a magistrates' court in England and Wales may try an information for an offence under section 3(2) or (3) of this Act or by virtue of section 18(2) of this Act or under section 31(1) of this Act or regulations or byelaws made in pursuance of section 31 of this Act if the information is laid within one year from the commission of the offence; and notwithstanding anything in section 23 of the [1954 c. 48.] Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act 1954, summary proceedings in Scotland for any such offence may be commenced at any time within one year from the time when the offence was committed, and subsection (2) of section 23 of the said Act of 1954 shall apply for the purposes of this subsection, in its application to Scotland, as that subsection applies for the purposes of that section.

(4) Where an appeal against a decision of a relevant authority lies to a magistrates' court by virtue of any provision of this Act, it shall be the duty of the authority to include in any document by which it notifies the decision to the person concerned a statement indicating that such an appeal lies as aforesaid and specifying the time within which it must be brought.

(5) Where on an appeal to any court against or arising out of a decision of a relevant authority in pursuance of this Act the court varies or reverses the decision it shall be the duty of the authority to act in accordance with the court's decision.

(6) A judge of any court and a justice of the peace shall not be disqualified from acting in cases arising under this Act by reason of his being, as one of several ratepayers or as one of any other class of persons, liable in common with the others to contribute to or be benefited by any rate or fund out of which any expenses of a relevant authority are to be defrayed.