Coast Protection Act 1949

29 Default powers of Minister

(1) If complaint is made to the Minister that a coast protection authority have failed to take sufficient measures for the protection of any land in their area, or he is of the opinion that an investigation should be made into the need for any such measures or the sufficiency of any measures so taken, he may cause a local inquiry to be held into the matter.

(2) If after a local inquiry has been held under this section the Minister is satisfied that there has been such a failure on the part of a coast protection authority, he may make an order declaring them to be in default and directing them to exercise such of their powers under this Act as may be specified in the order in such manner and within such time as may be so specified.

(3) If the authority declared to be in default by an order made under this section fail to comply with any requirement thereof, the Minister, in lieu of enforcing the order by mandamus or otherwise, may make an order transferring to himself such of the powers of the authority as he thinks fit, or may make an order transferring those powers to the council of the county in which, according to the nature of the default, they ought to be exercised:

Provided that this subsection shall not, as respects anything to be done within the area of a county borough, authorise the transfer to a county council of any powers of a coast protection authority being either the council of the borough or a coast protection board on which the council of the borough is represented.

(4) Where any functions are transferred to a county council under this section—

(a) the expenses incurred by the county council in discharging those functions shall, except in so far as they may be met by any contribution made by the county council, be a debt due from the authority in default to the county council, and shall be defrayed as part of the expenses of that authority under this Act, and the authority shall have the like power of raising the money required as they have of raising money for defraying expenses incurred directly by them;

(b) the county, council, for the purpose of the functions transferred to them, may on behalf of the authority in default borrow money subject to the like conditions, in the like manner, and on the security of the like revenues as that authority might have borrowed for the purpose of those functions;

(c) the county council may charge the said revenues with the payment of the principal and interest of the loan, and the loan, with the interest thereon, shall be paid by the authority in default in like manner, and the charge shall have the like effect, as if the loan were lawfully raised and charged on those revenues by that authority; and

(d) the county council shall keep separate accounts of all receipts and expenditure in respect of the transferred functions.

(5) Where the Minister has transferred any functions to himself under this section, any expenses incurred by him in discharging those functions shall be paid in the first instance by him, but the amount of those expenses as certified by the Minister shall on demand be paid to him by the authority in default and shall be recoverable by him from them, and that authority shall have the like power of raising the money required as they have of raising money for defraying expenses incurred directly by them.

(6) Any order made under subsection (3) of this section may provide for the transfer to the Minister or the county council, as the case may be, of such of the property and liabilities of the authority in default -as, in the opinion of the Minister, may be necessary or expedient; and when any such order is revoked the Minister may, either by the revoking order or by a subsequent order, make such provision as appears to him to be desirable as to any property or liabilities held by him or by the county council for the purposes of the functions transferred.

(7) In the application of this section to Scotland, subsection (3) shall have effect as if for the reference to mandamus there were substituted a reference to proceedings under section ninety-one of the Court of Session Act, 1868, and as if for the words from " or may make an order " to the end of the subsection there were substituted the words " or, if the authority declared to be in default are the council of a small burgh within the meaning of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947, may make an order transferring those powers to the council of the county in which the burgh is situated. "