Agriculture Act 1970

88 Provision of flood warning systems

(1) The functions transferred to river authorities by section 5 of the [1963 c. 38.] Water Resources Act 1963 (in this Part of this Act referred to as " the Act of 1963 ") shall be deemed always to have included powers for any such authority—

(a) to provide and operate a flood warning system for their area;

(b) both within and outside their area, to provide, install and maintain apparatus required for the purposes of such a system;

(c) to carry out within their area any other engineering or building operations so required; and

(d) to adapt for the purposes of such a system any apparatus or works to which a hydrometric scheme made by the authority under section 15 of that Act relates;

and any reference in that Act to the transferred functions of river authorities shall be construed accordingly.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall have effect in relation to the Isle of Wight River and Water Authority (in this Part of this Act referred to as " the Isle of Wight Authority ") as if in that subsection any reference to a river authority were a reference to the Isle of Wight Authority and any reference to section 5 or section 15 of the Act of 1963 were a reference to that section as applied by section 7 of the [1964 c. xxv.] Isle of Wight River and Water Authority Act 1964.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall have effect in relation to the Conservators of the River Thames (in this Part of this Act referred to as " the Conservators ") and to the Lee Conservancy Catchment Board (in this Part of this Act referred to as " the Catchment Board ") as if in that subsection—

(a) any reference to the functions transferred to river authorities by section 5 of the Act of 1963 were a reference to the functions exercisable by the Conservators or the Catchment Board, as the case may be, immediately before the second appointed day, and

(b) any reference to section 15 of the Act of 1963 were a reference to that section as applied to the Thames catchment area or the Lee catchment area, as the case may be, by an order made under section 125 of that Act.

(4) The Greater London Council shall have power—

(a) to provide and operate a flood warning system for the London excluded area as defined by paragraph 15(3) of Schedule 14 to the [1963 c. 33.] London Government Act 1963 ;

(b) both within and outside that area, to provide, install and maintain apparatus required for the purposes of such a system; and

(c) to carry out within that area any other engineering or building operations so required;

and section 51 of the [1930 c. 44.] Land Drainage Act 1930 and section 40 of the [1961 c. 48.] Land Drainage Act 1961 (which relate to powers of entry) and paragraphs 11 to 14 of the said Schedule 14 (which relate to the expenses incurred by the Greater London Council in the discharge of the functions as to land drainage and flood prevention conferred on them by virtue of that Schedule) shall apply—

(i) in the case of the said section 51 or 40, in relation to, and to the functions under this subsection of, the Greater London Council as they apply in relation to, and to such functions of, such a council or board as is mentioned in that section, or

(ii) in the case of the said paragraphs 11 to 14, in relation to the functions of the Greater London Council under this subsection as they apply in relation to the functions mentioned in those paragraphs.

(5) In this Part of this Act "flood warning system" means any system whereby, for the purpose of providing warning of any danger of flooding, information with respect to—

(a) rainfall, as measured at a particular place within a particular period, or

(b) the level or flow of any inland water at a particular time, or

(c) other matters appearing to the authority providing the system to be relevant for that purpose,

is obtained and transmitted, whether automatically or otherwise, with or without provision for carrying out calculations based on any such information and for transmitting the results of those calculations.