Gas Act 1972

Power to break up streets, bridges etc.

1 (1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, the Corporation may, for the purposes of the exercise or performance of any of their functions under this Act or any other enactment, open and break up any street or bridge, and open and break up any sewers, drains or tunnels within or under any such street or bridge, and place pipes, conduits, service pipes, cables, pressure governors, sewers and other works, and from time to time repair, alter or remove them, and for the purposes aforesaid may remove or use all earth and materials in or under any such street or bridge, and may in any such street erect any pillars, lamps and other works, and do all other acts which the Corporation from time to time think necessary for the purposes of the exercise or performance of any of their said functions, doing as little damage as may be in the exercise of the powers hereby conferred and making compensation for any damage done in the exercise of those powers.

(2) The powers of the Corporation under sub-paragraph (1) above shall include power to erect in any street one or more structures for housing pressure governors, but only with the consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, of the highway authority or other person having the control or management of the street.

Any question whether or not consent to the erection of such a structure is unreasonably withheld shall be determined by arbitration ; and for the purposes of this sub-paragraph, the withholding of consent shall, to the extent that it is based on the ground that the structure ought to be erected elsewhere than in a street, be treated as unreasonable if the Corporation show either that there is no reasonably practicable alternative to erecting it in a street, or that all such alternatives would, on the balance of probabilities, involve greater danger to life or property.

(3) Nothing in sub-paragraph (1) above shall empower the Corporation to lay down or place any pipe or other works into, through or against any building, or in any land not dedicated to the public use, without the consent of the owners and occupiers thereof:

Provided that—

(a) the Corporation may exercise the powers conferred by that sub-paragraph in relation to any street which has been laid out but not dedicated to the public use for the purpose of giving a supply of gas to any premises which abut on the street, and

(b) the Corporation may, after giving notice in writing to the owners and occupiers of the land or building not less than seven clear days before the entry, enter upon any land (not being a street to which paragraph (a) above applies) or building for the purpose of placing a new pipe in the place of an existing pipe which has already been lawfully placed, or of repairing or altering any pipe lawfully placed, so, however, that entry may be made without such notice in cases of emergency arising from defects in any pipes, but notice shall then be given as soon as possible after the occurrence of the emergency.

(4) Except in cases of emergency arising from defects in any pipes or other works, a street or bridge which does not constitute for the purposes of the [1959 c. 25.] Highways Act 1959 a highway or part of a highway maintainable at the public expense, and is under the control or management of, or maintainable by, any railway authority or navigation authority, shall not be opened or broken up without the consent of that authority ; but that consent shall not be unreasonably withheld, and any question whether or not consent is unreasonably withheld shall be determined by arbitration.

In the application of this sub-paragraph to Scotland, for the words from "constitute " to " public expense " there shall be substituted the words " constitute a highway as defined in section 50(1) of the [1970 c. 20.] Roads (Scotland) Act 1970 ".

(5) If the Corporation open or break up a street or bridge to which sub-paragraph (4) above applies without the consent required by that sub-paragraph, they shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50.

(6) The powers conferred by sub-paragraph (1) above shall be included among those to which section 15 of the Highways Act 1959 and (in Scotland) section 4 of the [1949 c. 32.] Special Roads Act 1949 (restriction on laying of mains etc. in special roads) apply.