Gas Act 1972

PART I Specific Amendments of Public General Acts

The Land Drainage Act 1930

1 In section 61(1)(e) of the [1930 c. 44.] Land Drainage Act 1930, for the words " the undertakings of Area Boards (within the meaning of the Gas Act, 1948)", there shall be substituted the words " the undertaking of the British Gas Corporation ".

The Petroleum (Production) Act 1934

2 For the proviso to section 4 of the [1934 c. 36.] Petroleum (Production) Act 1934, there shall be substituted the following proviso—

“Provided that the Secretary of State shall not give an authorisation under this section in respect of any premises unless he is satisfied—

(a) that the British Gas Corporation have been given an opportunity of purchasing the gas at a reasonable price, and

(b) that the gas is to be supplied to those premises for industrial purposes only”.

The Gas Act 1948

3 Section 46 of the [1948 c. 67.] Gas Act 1948 (central guarantee fund) and paragraph 32 of Schedule 3 to that Act (pollution of inland waters) shall cease to have effect.

The Iron and Steel Act 1949

4 In section 47 of the [1949 c. 72.] Iron and Steel Act 1949 (as revived by section 34 of the [1967 c. 17.] Iron and Steel Act 1967 and set out in Schedule 4 to that Act), the words " with the Gas Council and with any Area Gas Board in whose area those activities are or are to be carried on " shall be omitted.

Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act 1954

5 (1) In section 1(2) of the [1954 c. 21.] Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act 1954, for the words " the enactments relating to gas ", there shall be substituted the words " the Gas Act 1972 or regulations made thereunder, by any other enactment relating to gas ",

and for the words " a Gas Board or Electricity Board ", there shall be substituted the words " the British Gas Corporation or an Electricity Board ".

(2) In section 2(1)(a) of the said Act, for the words " a Gas Board or ", there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation or an ",

and before the words " such a Board", there shall be inserted the words " the Corporation or ".

(3) In the said section 2(1), for the words " the Board " (in both places where they appear), there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation or Board ".

(4) In section 2(3) of the said Act, for the words " section seventy of the Gas Act, 1948 (if entry is required for the purposes of a Gas Board) ", there shall be substituted the words " section 44 of the Gas Act 1972 (if entry is required for the purposes of the Corporation) ".

(5) In section 3(1) of the said Act:—

(a) the following definition shall be inserted before that of " Electricity Board " —

• “' the Corporation ' means the British Gas Corporation ;”,

(b) the following definition shall be substituted for that of " employee " —

• “' employee ', in relation to the Corporation or to an Electricity Board, means an officer, servant or agent of the Corporation or of the Board ;”,

(c) the definition of " Gas Board " shall be omitted.

The Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956

6 (1) In section 24 of the [1956 c. 60.] Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956—

(a) any reference to a Gas Board shall be construed as a reference to the British Gas Corporation,

(b) in subsection (1)—

(i) for the words " the year 1961-1962 and of any subsequent year ", there shall be substituted the words " any year subsequent to the year following the appointed day ",

(ii) the words " the year 1961-1962 or" shall be omitted,

(c) in subsection (2)—

(i) for the words " 1961-1962", there shall be substituted the words " subsequent to the year following the appointed day ",

(ii) the words " except as provided in this Part of this Act" shall be omitted,

(d) in subsection (4)—

(i) the words " and the next following" shall be omitted,

(ii) after the word " section ", the following definition shall be inserted—

• “' appointed day ' means the day appointed by the Secretary of State under section 1(1) of the Gas Act 1972”,

(iii) in the definition of " excepted premises", after the words "functions of a Gas Board", there shall be inserted the words " or lands and heritages occupied and used by the British Gas Corporation wholly or mainly for the manufacture of plant or gas fittings

(2) In section 43(1) of the said Act, the definition of " Gas Board " shall be omitted and there shall be inserted the following definition—

• “' gas ' includes gas in a liquid state, but—

  (a)

  the liquefaction of gas, and

  (b)

  the evaporation of gas in a liquid state,

  shall not of themselves be taken to constitute the manufacture of gas or the application of a process to gas.”.

(3) In Schedule 4 to the said Act—

(a) any reference to a Gas Board shall be construed as a reference to the British Gas Corporation,

(b) in paragraph 1, for the words " 1963-1964 ", there shall be substituted the words " subsequent to the year following the appointed day ",

(c) for paragraph 3, there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“3. For the purposes of this Schedule the standard number of therms shall be 157, 613, 661,”

(d) in paragraph 4—

(i) in sub-paragraph (1), after the word "For" there shall be inserted the words " the basic year and ",

(ii) in sub-paragraph (2)(a), for the words " their area ", there shall be substituted the word " Scotland ",

(e) in paragraph 5(1)(b), for the words " the area of the Board ", there shall be substituted the word " Scotland

House of Commons Disqualification Act 1957

7 In Part II of Schedule 1 to the [1957 c. 20.] House of Commons Disqualification Act 1957 (which lists bodies of which all members are disqualified for membership of the House of Commons), as it applies in relation to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the references to an Area Gas Board and to the Gas Council shall be omitted, and there shall be inserted at the appropriate point the words " The British Gas Corporation ".

.

The Housing Act 1957

8 In section 130 of the [1957 c. 56.] Housing Act 1957, the words "gas boards", " and gas works respectively" and " or gas" shall be omitted.

The Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act 1961

9 In section 2(2)(e) and section 4(1)(c) of the [1961 c. 50.] Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act 1961, the words "paragraph 32 of the Third Schedule to the Gas Act, 1948, or " shall be omitted.

The Local Government (Financial Provisions etc.) (Scotland) Act 1962

10 In section 3 of the [1962 c. 9.] Local Government (Financial Provisions etc.) (Scotland) Act 1962—

(a) any reference to a Gas Board shall be construed as a reference to the British Gas Corporation,

(b) in paragraph (a), for the words from " Boards)" to the end there shall be substituted the words " the number of therms estimated under paragraph 4(2) of that Schedule shall be reduced by one-half of the number of therms purchased by the British Gas Corporation in order to supply consumers in Scotland in the period of twelve months referred to in that paragraph ",

(c) in paragraph (c)—

(i) after the word " manufactured" there shall be inserted the words " in Scotland ",

(ii) after the word " produced " there shall be inserted the words " in Scotland ",

(d) after paragraph (d), the following paragraph shall be inserted—

“(c) in this section the expression ' gas ' has the same meaning as in section 43(1) of the Act of 1956”.

The Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1963

11 In section 12 of the [1963 c. 12.] Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1963—

(a) any reference to a Gas Board shall be construed as a reference to the British Gas Corporation,

(b) in subsection (1), for the words " 1963-1964 ", there shall be substituted the words " subsequent to the year following the appointed day ",

(c) after subsection (3), the following subsection shall be added—

“(4) In this section the expression ' the appointed day' means the day appointed by the Secretary of State under section 1(1) of the Gas Act 1972.”

The Continental Shelf Act 1964

12 (1) In section 9(3) of the [1964 c. 29.] Continental Shelf Act 1964, for paragraph (a), there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(a) that the supply is for industrial purposes and that the British Gas Corporation have been given an opportunity of purchasing the gas at a reasonable price ; or”.

(2) In section 9(6) of the said Act, for the words "an Area Board", there shall be substituted the words " the British Gas Corporation ".

(3) In section 9(7) of the said Act, the words "' Area Board' has the same meaning as in the Gas Act 1948 and" shall be omitted.

The Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1965

13 In section 2(2) of the [1965 c. 13.] Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1965, paragraph (e) shall be omitted.

The Gas Act 1965

14 (1) In Part II of the [1965 c. 36.] Gas Act 1965, for the words " a gas authority ", " the gas authority ", " the gas authority concerned " and " any gas authority " (wherever those words occur), there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation ".

Provided that—

(a) the words " the Corporation " shall be substituted in section 5(2) for the words " the gas authority authorised to operate the underground gas storage " , in section 5(4) for the words " the gas authority to whom the storage authorisation order applies ", in section 5(11) for the words "the gas authority named in the order ", and in section 19(5)(c) for the words " the gas authority having responsibilities as respects the storage ",

(b) in section 16(4), for the words " The gas authority on whom a notice is served under this section ", there shall be substituted the words " Where a notice is served on the Corporation under this section, they ", and

(c) in section 17(1), for the words " and a gas authority failing to comply with this subsection ", there shall be substituted the words " and if the Corporation fail to comply with this subsection, they ",

(d) in section 17(5), for the words "A gas authority failing to comply with this subsection", there shall be substituted the words " If the Corporation fail to comply with this subsection, they ", and

(e) in section 17(6), for the words " A gas authority guilty of an offence under this Part of this Act by virtue of this section", there shall be substituted the words " if the Corporation are guilty of an offence under this Part of this Act by virtue of this section, they ".

(2) In Part II of the said Act, for the words "section 11 of the principal Act" (wherever those words occur), there shall be substituted the words " Schedule 2 to the principal Act " ; and in section 13(3) of the said Act, for the words "the said section 11 ", there shall be substituted the words " the said Schedule 2 ".

(3) In section 4(8) of the said Act, paragraph (a) shall be omitted.

(4) In section 12(6) of the said Act, the words "another gas authority or " shall be omitted.

(5) In section 19(3) and in section 19(4) of the said Act, for the words " the Gas Council ", there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation ".

(6) In section 21(1) and in section 21(2) of the said Act, for the words " section 68(1)", there shall be substituted the words " section 42(1) " and in section 21(2), for the words " Section 69(1)", there shall be substituted the words " Section 43(1) ".

(7) In section 21(3) of the said Act, for the words " that authority or ", there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation or that ".

(8) In section 22(1) of the said Act, for the words " Section 70 ", there shall be substituted the words " Section 44 " and in section 22(2), for the words " Section 73 ", there shall be substituted the words " Section 46 ".

(9) In section 28(1) of the said Act:—

(a) the following definition shall be inserted before that of " danger " —

• “' the Corporation ' means the British Gas Corporation;”,

(b) the following definition shall be substituted for that of " large-scale map " —

• “' large-scale map ' means a map on a scale not less than 1 in 10,560;”, and

(c) the definition of " gas authority " shall be omitted.

(10) In section 32(2) of the said Act, for the words from " the Gas Act, 1948 " to " that Act", there shall be substituted the words " the Gas Act 1972 ".

(11) In paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 2 to the said Act, paragraph (a) shall be omitted.

(12) In paragraph 8(1), in paragraph 8(5) and in paragraph 12(8) of Schedule 2 to the said Act, for the words "section 73 ", there shall be substituted the words " section 46 ".

(13) Paragraph 14 of Schedule 2 to the said Act shall be omitted.

(14) In paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 6 to the said Act, the words " or any other gas authority " shall be omitted.

(15) In paragraph 5 of Schedule 6 to the said Act, for the words "a gas board", there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation ".

(16) In paragraph 6 of Schedule 6 to the said Act, for the words " that gas authority", there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation ".

The Selective Employment Payments Act 1966

15 (1) In Part I of Schedule 1 to the [1966 c. 32.] Selective Employment Payments Act 1966, the following entry shall be substituted for the entries numbered 7 and 8—

“7 The British Gas Corporation.”.

(2) In Part II of that Schedule, for the words "an Area Gas Board" there shall be substituted the words " the British Gas Corporation ".

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966

16 (1) In section 18 of the [1966 c. 51.] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966—

(a) in subsection (1), the words " or section 3(1) of the Gas Act 1965 " shall be omitted,

(b) in subsection (4), for paragraph (b), there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(b) the British Gas Corporation, is the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry ; and ”,

(c) in subsection (5), for the words from " Gas Council" to " 1948", there shall be substituted the words " British Gas Corporation ".

(2) In section 19 of the said Act—

(a) in subsection (1), the words "or section 3(1) of the Gas Act 1965 " shall be omitted,

(b) in subsection (3), for the words from " any area board " to " 1948 ", there shall be substituted the words " the British Gas Corporation ".

The General Rate Act 1967

17 In paragraph 5(1)(b) of Schedule 3 to the [1967 c. 9.] General Rate Act 1967, for the words "an area board established by the Gas Act 1948, in the Gas Council", there shall be substituted the words " the British Gas Corporation ".

The Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970

18 In section 14(1) of the [1970 c. 4.] Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, for the words " the Gas Consultative Councils ", there shall be substituted the words " the National Gas Consumers' Council and the Regional Gas Consumers' Councils ".