Removal of vessels
52.—(1) If it appears to the undertaker necessary or convenient to do so for the purposes of the construction or maintenance of the authorised works it may remove from within the new crossing area any vessel or structure that is—
(a)sunk, stranded or abandoned; or
(b)moored or laid up (whether lawfully or not),
either to another place within the new crossing area or to a place outside the new crossing area where it may without injury to the vessel be moored or laid.
(2) Before exercising the powers conferred by paragraph (1) the undertaker shall—
(a)publish a notice of its intention to do so in Lloyd’s List and once in each of two successive weeks in a local newspaper published or circulating in the borough of Halton, with an interval between the dates of publication of not less than 6 clear days; and
(b)display notice of this in a conspicuous position adjacent to that part of the new crossing area in which a vessel to which paragraph (1) applies is located.
(3) Each of the notices shall—
(a)state the reason for requiring removal of any vessel from within that part of the new crossing area specified in the notice; and
(b)specify a date, which shall be a date not earlier than one month after the last date on which a notice is published pursuant to sub-paragraph (2)(a), by which all vessels must be removed from within that part of the new crossing area specified in the notice.
(4) If the owner or master of any vessel within the new crossing area does not remove that vessel from within the new crossing area before the date specified in accordance with sub-paragraph (3)(b), the undertaker may, having first consulted the relevant navigation authority, cause that vessel to be removed.
(5) The undertaker may recover as a debt from the owner of any vessel removed pursuant to paragraph (4) all expenses incurred by the undertaker in respect of its removal.