Water Act 2003, Section 102 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 07 March 2025. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
(1)Subject to subsection (2), each licence to abstract water under Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the WRA which is in force immediately before the coming into force of section 1 of this Act shall, after the coming into force of that section, be treated as a full licence within the meaning of that Act.
(2)If—
(a)immediately before the coming into force of section 6 of this Act, a person is the holder of a licence under Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the WRA to abstract water, and
(b)upon the coming into force of that section an abstraction authorised by the licence becomes an abstraction to which the restriction on abstraction does not apply,
the licence shall cease to have effect (so far as it applies to that abstraction) upon the coming into force of that section.
(3)Subject to subsection (4), the person who was the holder of a full licence which ceases (or ceases in part) to have effect by virtue of subsection (2), and who had been taken in consequence of that licence (or that part of the licence) to have a right to abstract water by virtue of section 48(1) of the WRA, shall continue to be taken to have that right for the purposes of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the WRA.
(4)A person shall cease to continue to be taken to have the right mentioned in subsection (3), for the purposes mentioned there, if during a period of—
(a)four years, or
(b)if the abstractions authorised under the licence (or relevant part of the licence) were abstractions planned to be carried out at intervals of more than four years, or abstractions for emergency purposes only, such longer period as the [F1appropriate agency] may determine on the application of the person,
he does not carry out any such abstraction as would have been authorised by the licence (or relevant part of the licence) if it had still been in force.
(5)Where, immediately after the coming into force of any provision of this Act, an abstraction of water to which the restriction on abstraction did not apply becomes one to which the restriction on abstraction does apply, nothing in—
(a)section 39(1), 42(4) or 44(4) of the WRA (which relate to protected rights), or
(b)any other enactment specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State,
prevents the [F1appropriate agency] from granting a licence under Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the WRA in respect of that abstraction, or the Secretary of State from giving the [F1appropriate agency] a direction to do so.
(6)In subsections (2)(b) and (5), “the restriction on abstraction” has the meaning given by section 72(1) of the WRA.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in s. 102 substituted (1.4.2013) by The Natural Resources Body for Wales (Functions) Order 2013 (No. 755), art. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 422 (with Sch. 7)
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C1S. 102(3) modified (temp.) (1.4.2005) by The Water Act 2003 (Commencement No. 4, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/968), art. 4(1)(3), Sch. 1 para. 2(2)Sch. 1 para. 3Sch. 1 para. 6Sch. 1 para. 7
All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. This site additionally contains content derived from EUR-Lex, reused under the terms of the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of documents from the EU institutions. For more information see the EUR-Lex public statement on re-use.
