Agriculture Act 1970

91 Supplementary provision and interpretation and extent of Part V

(1) Section 71(1) of the Act of 1963 (which limits the operation of powers conferred on river authorities by that Act) shall apply as if section 88 of this Act were a provision of that Act and as if all the bodies on whom powers are conferred by virtue of the said section 88 were river authorities; and nothing in the said section 88 shall authorise any infringement of the exclusive privilege conferred on the Post Office by section 24(1) of the [1969 c. 48.] Post Office Act 1969 (telecommunication systems).

(2) Before a relevant authority within the meaning of section 89(4) of this Act exercise within the area of another such authority any power conferred on them by section 88(1)(b) or (4)(b) thereof other than the power to maintain apparatus, they shall consult with that other authority; and for the purposes of this subsection the area of the Greater London Council shall be taken to be the London excluded area referred to in section 88(4)(a) of this Act.

(3) Section 135(1) of the Act of 1963 (interpretation), except in so far as it defines the expression " the Minister ", shall have effect for the purposes of this Part of this Act as it has effect for the purposes of that Act, but as if in the definition of " inland water " for the words " within any of the river authority areas " wherever they occur there were substituted the words " within Great Britain ".

(4) Section 135(2)(b) of the Act of 1963 (whereby, for the purpose of construing references in that Act to the appropriate Minister or Ministers, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is to be taken to be concerned with functions relating to land drainage) shall have effect as if the reference to land drainage included a reference to flood warning systems.

(5) Any river authority whose area adjoins Scotland may exercise the powers conferred by section 88(1)(b) or (c) of this Act in an area in Scotland as if that area in Scotland formed part of the authority's area subject (except in the case of the power to maintain apparatus) to prior consultation with the local authority for that area in Scotland within the meaning of section 92 (2)(b) of this Act; but save as aforesaid this Part of this Act extends to England and Wales only.