Part II Pollution of water
Consents for discharges
F136 Provisions supplementary to ss. 34 and 35.
(1)
Where F2SEPA 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 F3, subject to subsections (2A) and (2B) below, be the duty of F4SEPA, 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)
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 Edinburgh Gazette;
(b)
to send copies of the application or instrument F5to Scottish Water and to each local authority in whose area F6... it is proposed in the application that a discharge should be made or in whose area F6... a discharge is the subject of consent given by the instrument and, in the case of an application or instrument relating to coastal waters, relevant territorial waters or an application relating to waters outside the seaward limits of relevant territorial waters, to the Secretary of State; and
(c)
to consider any written representations relating to the application or instrument which are made to F4SEPA 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 Edinburgh Gazette.
(2)
For the purposes of subsection (1) above, “local authority” means a F7council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, 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.
F8(2A)
A person who proposes to make, or has made, an application to SEPA for consent in pursuance of section 34 of this Act may apply to the Secretary of State within a prescribed period for a certificate providing that subsection (1) above shall not apply to that application.
(2B)
If the Secretary of State is satisfied that—
(a)
it would be contrary to the interests of national security; or
(b)
it would prejudice to an unreasonable degree the commercial interests of any person, not to issue a certificate applied for under subsection (2A) above, he may issue the certificate and, if he does so, subsection (1) above shall not apply to the application specified in the certificate.
(3)
(4)
F2SEPA 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 the Secretary of State) if SEPA 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 F2SEPAproposes 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 F4SEPA 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 F4SEPA 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 F4SEPA, not to give consent in pursuance of the application unless the Secretary of State has given notice to F4SEPA that he declines to comply with the request;
and in calculating in the case of any application the period of F9four months mentioned in section 34(2) of this Act or a longer period there mentioned there shall be disregarded any period during which 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.