Gas Act 1986

SCHEDULE 4 E+W+S Power of Public Gas Suppliers to Break Up Streets, Bridges Etc.

1 (1) Subject to the following provisions of this Schedule, a public gas supplier may execute the following kinds of works, that is to say, placing in or under any street or bridge and from time to time repairing, altering or removing—

(a) pipes, conduits, service pipes, cables, sewers and other works; and

(b) pressure governors, ventilators and other apparatus.

(2) Subject as aforesaid, a public gas supplier may execute any works requisite for or incidental to the purposes of any works falling within sub-paragraph (1) above, including for those purposes—

(a) opening or breaking up any street or bridge or any sewers, drains or tunnels within or under any street or bridge; and

(b) removing or using all earth and materials in or under any street or bridge.

(3) A public gas supplier shall do as little damage as possible in the exercise of the powers conferred by this paragraph and shall make compensation for any damage done in the exercise of those powers.

2 (1) The powers of a public gas supplier under paragraph 1 above shall include power to erect in any street one or more structures for housing any apparatus, but only with the consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, of the highway authority.

(2) Any question whether or not consent to the erection of such a structure is unreasonably withheld shall be determined by a single arbitrator to be appointed by the parties or, in default of agreement, appointed by the Director.

(3) For the purposes of this 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 supplier shows 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 (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2) below, nothing in paragraph 1 above shall empower a public gas supplier 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.

(2) A public gas supplier may exercise the powers conferred by paragraph 1 above 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.

4 (1) Except in cases of emergency arising from defects in any pipes or other works, a street or bridge which—

(a) does not constitute for the purposes of the M1 Highways Act 1980 a highway or part of a highway maintainable at the public expense; and

(b) is under the control or management of, or maintainable by, any railway authority or navigation authority,

shall not be opened or broken up under paragraph 1 above except with the consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld, of that authority.

(2) Any question whether or not consent to the opening or breaking up of such a street or bridge is unreasonably withheld shall be determined by a single arbitrator to be appointed by the parties or, in default of agreement, appointed by the Director.

Marginal Citations

M1 1980 c. 66.

5 (1) The powers conferred by paragraph 1 above shall be included among those to which section 20 of the Highways Act 1980 (restriction on laying of apparatus etc. in special roads) applies.

(2) Nothing in paragraph 1 above shall effect the application to any operation of sections 34 to 36 of the M2 Coast Protection Act 1949.

Marginal Citations

M2 1949 c. 74.

6 In this Schedule—

• “highway authority”, in relation to a street, means the highway authority or other person having the control or management of the street;

• “navigation authority” means any person or body of persons, whether incorporated or not, authorised by or under any enactment to work, maintain, conserve, improve or control any canal or other inland navigation, navigable river, estuary, harbour or dock;

• “railway authority” means any person or body of persons, whether incorporated or not, authorised by any enactment to construct, work or carry on a railway; and

• “street” includes any square, court, alley, highway, road, lane, thoroughfare, or public passage or place.

7 In its application to Scotland this Schedule shall have effect with the following modifications—

(a) in paragraphs 1 to 4, for the word “street”, wherever it occurs, there shall be substituted the word “road”;

(b) in paragraph 2(1), for the words “highway authority” there shall be substituted the words “roads authority or road managers”;

(c) in paragraphs 2(2) and 4(2), for the word “arbitrator” there shall be substituted the words “arbiter”;

(d) in paragraph 4(1), for the words “for the purposes of the Highways Act 1980 a highway part of a highway maintainable at the public expense” there shall be substituted the words “a road within the meaning of the M3 Roads (Scotland) Act 1984”;

(e) in paragraph 5(1), for the words “section 20 of the M4 Highways Act 1980” there shall be substituted the words “section 133 of the M5 Roads (Scotland) Act 1984”; and

(f) in paragraph 6, the definition of “highway authority” shall be omitted and for the definition of “street” there shall be substituted the following definitions—

““road”, “roads authority” and “road managers” have the same meanings as in the Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950.”

Marginal Citations

M3 1984 c. 54.

M4 1980 c. 66.

M5 1984 c. 54.