Water Act 1948

10 Amendment of definition of "communication pipe" etc.

(1) Where any main is laid alongside and within sixty feet of the middle of a street, then, for the purposes of the definition of " communication pipe " contained in section one of the Third Schedule to the principal Act, the land in which the main is laid, and any land between the main and the street, shall be deemed to form part of that street, and references in that definition to the part of the street in which the main is laid, and to the boundary of the street in which the main is laid, shall be construed accordingly :

Provided that where the premises supplied with water lie between any such main as aforesaid and the street, only that land in which the main is laid together with any land between the main and those premises shall be deemed to form part of the street.

(2) Where any main is laid as mentioned in the foregoing subsection, the power of the undertakers to lay service pipes, stopcocks and other fittings under section twenty-one of the said Third Schedule shall include power, with the consent of every owner and occupier of the land, and subject to payment of compensation for any damage done by the undertakers, to lay such pipes, stopcocks and fittings in, on or over any land which is deemed to form part of a street for the purposes specified in the foregoing subsection.

(3) Any consent required for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection shall not be unreasonably withheld, and any question whether such consent is, or is not, unreasonably withheld shall be referred to and determined by the Minister ; and any dispute as to the amount of compensation to be paid under the last foregoing subsection shall be determined by arbitration in the manner provided by section ninety-one of the said Third Schedule.

(4) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that the provisions of section forty-four of the said Third Schedule (which relates to the vesting in the undertakers of communication pipes) apply to any pipe laid before the commencement of this Act which, by virtue of this section, is deemed to be a communication pipe.