Control of Pollution Act 1974

36 Provisions supplementary to ss. 34 and 35

(1) Where a water authority receives an application for consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act or serves an instrument in pursuance of subsection (3) of that section, it shall be the duty of the authority, before deciding whether to give or refuse consent in pursuance of the application or, as the case may be, after serving the instrument—

(a) to publish in the prescribed form notice of the application or instrument in two successive weeks in a newspaper or newspapers circulating in—

(i) the area or areas in which the places are situated at which it is proposed in the application that the discharges should be made or, as the case may be, at which discharges are the subject of consent given by the instrument, and

(ii) the area or areas appearing to the water authority to be in the vicinity of any stream or controlled waters which the authority considers likely to be affected by the discharges, and, not earlier than the day following that on which the first publication of the notice is completed in all relevant areas in pursuance of the preceding provisions of this paragraph, to publish such a notice in the London Gazette;

(b) to send copies of the application or instrument to each local authority in whose area it is proposed in the application that a discharge should be made or in whose area a discharge is the subject of consent given by the instrument and, in the case of an application or instrument relating to controlled waters or an application relating to the sea outside controlled waters, to the Secretary of State and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food ; and

(c) to consider any written representations relating to the application or instrument which are made to the authority by any person within the period of six weeks beginning with the date on which the notice of the application or instrument is published in the London Gazette;

and for the purposes of this subsection " local authority " means the council of a county or district, the Greater London Council, the council of a London borough and the Common Council of the City of London, and any place at sea at which it is proposed in an application that a discharge should be made shall be treated as situated at the point on land nearest to that place.

(2) In the application of the preceding subsection to Scotland—

(a) the reference to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food shall be omitted ; and

(b) " local authority " means a regional or district council.

(3) Where notice of an application is published by a water authority in pursuance of subsection (1)(a) of this section, the authority shall be entitled to recover the cost of publication from the applicant.

(4) A water authority shall be entitled to disregard the provisions of subsection (1) of this section in relation to an application (except so much of paragraph (b) of that subsection as requires copies of the application to be sent to Ministers) if the authority proposes to give consent in pursuance of the application and considers that the discharges in question will have no appreciable effect on the water into which they are proposed to be made.

(5) The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect with prescribed modifications in relation to an application which is the subject of a direction in pursuance of subsection (1) of the preceding section.

(6) Where a water authority proposes to give consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act in consequence of an application in respect of which representations have been made in pursuance of subsection (1)(c) of this section, then—

(a) it shall be the duty of the authority to serve notice of the proposal on the person who made the representations and to include in the notice a statement of the effect of the following paragraph ; and

(b) that person may, within the period of twenty-one days beginning with the day on which the notice of the proposal is served on him, request the Secretary of State in accordance with regulations to give a direction in pursuance of subsection (1) of the preceding section in respect of the application ; and

(c) it shall be the duty of the authority not to give consent in consequence of the application before the expiration of that period and, if within that period the said person makes a request in pursuance of the preceding paragraph and serves notice of the request on the authority, not to give consent in pursuance of the application unless the Secretary of State has given notice to the authority that he declines to comply with the request;

and in calculating in the case of any application the period of three months mentioned in section 34(2) of this Act or a longer period there mentioned there shall be disregarded any period during which the water authority to which the application was made is prohibited by virtue of paragraph (c) of this subsection from giving consent in consequence of the application.

(7) A consent for any discharges which is given in pursuance of section 34 of this Act is not limited to discharges by a particular person and accordingly extends to the discharges in question which are made by any person.

(8) Regulations may provide that conditions of a prescribed kind to which a consent given in pursuance of section 34 of this Act is subject shall be disregarded for the purposes of sections 31(2)(a), 32(1) and 54 of this Act.

(9) A person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with a condition which by virtue of the preceding subsection is to be disregarded for the purposes there mentioned shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400; but no proceedings for such an offence shall be brought in England and Wales except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or by the water authority which gave the consent.