Water Act 1989

16 (1) Revenue raised by the Authority in a local flood defence district—

(a) under or by virtue of sections 45 to 49 of the [1976 c. 70.] Land Drainage Act 1976 (revenue raised from local authorities) or any regulations under section 74 of the [1988 c. 41.] Local Government Finance Act 1988 (power to issue levies);

(b) by contributions required under section 84(1) of the said Act of 1976 (contributions from internal drainage boards); or

(c) by special drainage charges under section 50 of the said Act of 1976,

shall, except for any amount falling within sub-paragraph (2) below, be spent only in the carrying out of the Authority’s flood defence functions in or for the benefit of that district.

(2) An amount falls within this sub-paragraph if it is an amount which the Authority considers it appropriate—

(a) to set aside towards research or related activities or towards meeting the Authority’s administrative expenses; or

(b) to be paid by way of contribution towards expenses incurred by the Authority or any regional flood defence committee under arrangements made for the purposes of section 136(3)(b) of this Act.

(3) Any amount specified in a resolution under section 86(1) of the Land Drainage Act 1976 in relation to any local flood defence district (allocation of revenue in lieu of contributions) shall be treated for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) above as if it were revenue actually raised by contributions required under section 84(1) of that Act.

(4) Any sums held by the Authority by virtue of any transfer of property, rights or liabilities from a water authority in accordance with a scheme under Schedule 2 to this Act shall, in so far as those sums represent amounts which the water authority was required by virtue of paragraph 31 of Schedule 3 to the 1973 Act to spend only in the discharge of their land drainage functions in or for the benefit of a particular local land drainage district, be treated for the purposes of this paragraph as revenue raised by the Authority as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) above in or for the benefit of the corresponding local flood defence district.

(5) In this paragraph—

• “flood defence functions”, in relation the Authority, means its functions by virtue of Chapter III of Part III of this Act, including all its functions under the Land Drainage Act 1976;

• “local flood defence district” has the same meaning as in the said Act of 1976;

and for the purposes of this paragraph so much of a regional flood defence area as is an area in relation to which no local flood defence scheme is in force shall be treated as a single local flood defence district.