Water Act 1989

155 Compulsory powers for carrying out works

(1) Where the Authority or a water undertaker is proposing, for the purposes of, or in connection with, the carrying out of any of its functions—

(a) to carry out any engineering or building operations; or

(b) to discharge water into any inland water or underground strata,

the Authority or, as the case may be, the undertaker may apply to the appropriate Minister for an order under this section.

(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the appropriate Minister may, on an application under subsection (1) above, by order made by statutory instrument confer such compulsory powers and grant such authority as he considers necessary or expedient for the purpose of enabling any engineering or building operations or discharges of water to be carried out or made for the purposes of, or in connection with, the carrying out of the functions with respect to which the application was made.

(3) Schedule 20 to this Act shall have effect with respect to applications for orders under this section and with respect to such orders.

(4) Subject to the said Schedule 20, an order under this section may—

(a) without prejudice to section 151 above, confer power to acquire compulsorily any land, including—

(i) power to acquire interests in and rights over land by the creation of new rights and interests; and

(ii) power, by the compulsory acquisition by the Authority or any water undertaker of any rights over land which is to be or has been acquired by the Authority or that undertaker, to extinguish any such rights;

(b) apply for the purposes of the order, either with or without modifications, any of the provisions of this Part of this Act which do not apply for those purposes apart from by virtue of this paragraph;

(c) make any authority granted by the order subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order;

(d) amend or repeal any local statutory provision;

(e) contain such supplemental, consequential and transitional provision as the appropriate Minister considers appropriate.

(5) Nothing in any order under this section shall exempt the Authority or any water undertaker from any restriction imposed by Part IV of the [1963 c. 38.] Water Resources Act 1963 (abstraction and impounding of water).

(6) It is hereby declared that an order under this section may grant authority for discharges of water by the Authority or a water undertaker where the Authority or the undertaker has no power to take water, or to require discharges to be made, from the inland water or other source from which the discharges authorised by the order are intended to be made; but nothing in so much of any such order as grants authority for any discharges of water shall have the effect of conferring any such power.

(7) In this section and Schedule 20 to this Act “the appropriate Minister”—

(a) in relation to an application by the Authority for an order under this section or an order made on such an application, means the Secretary of State or the Minister; and

(b) in relation to an application by a water undertaker for an order under this section or an order made on such an application, means the Secretary of State.