The Brechfa Forest Wind Farm Connection Order 2016

PART 4 Supplemental powers

Discharge of water

15.—(1) Provided that consent has been obtained from the relevant person pursuant to paragraph (3) the undertaker may use any watercourse or any public sewer or drain for the drainage of water in connection with the carrying out or maintenance of the authorised development and for that purpose may lay down, take up and alter pipes and may, on any land within the Order limits, make openings into, and connections with, the watercourse, public sewer or drain.

(2) Any dispute arising from the making of connections to or the use of a public sewer or drain by the undertaker pursuant to paragraph (1) is to be determined as if it were a dispute under section 106 of the Water Industry Act 1991(1) (right to communicate with public sewers).

(3) The undertaker must not discharge any water into any watercourse, public sewer or drain except with the consent of the person to whom it belongs; and, such consent may be given subject to such terms and conditions as that person may reasonably impose, but is not to be unreasonably withheld.

(4) The undertaker must not make any opening into any public sewer or drain except—

(a) in accordance with plans approved by the person to whom the sewer or drain belongs, but such approval is not to be unreasonably withheld; and

(b) where that person has been given the opportunity to supervise the making of the opening.

(5) The undertaker must not, in carrying out or maintaining works pursuant to this article, damage or interfere with the bed or banks of any watercourse forming part of a main river.

(6) The undertaker must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that any water discharged into a watercourse or public sewer or drain pursuant to this article is as free as may be practicable from gravel, soil or other solid substance, oil or matter in suspension.

(7) Nothing in this article overrides the requirement for an environmental permit under regulation 12 (1) (b) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010(2).

(8) If a person who receives an application for consent under paragraph (3) or approval under paragraph 4 (a) fails to notify the undertaker of a decision within 28 days of receiving an application that person is deemed to have granted consent or given approval, as the case may be.

(9) In this article—

(a) “public sewer or drain” means a sewer or drain which belongs to Natural Resources Wales, an internal drainage board, a local authority, a sewerage undertaker or an urban development corporation; and

(b) other expressions, excluding watercourse, used both in this article and in the Water Resources Act 1991(3) have the same meaning as in that act.

Defence to proceedings in respect of statutory nuisance

16.—(1) Where proceedings are brought under section 82(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990(4) (summary proceedings by person aggrieved by statutory nuisance) in relation to a nuisance falling within paragraph (g) of section 79(1) of that Act (noise emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance), no order is to be made and no fine may be imposed under section 82(2) of that Act if—

(a) the defendant shows that the nuisance—

(i) relates to premises used by the undertaker for the purposes of or in connection with the construction or maintenance of the authorised development and that the nuisance is attributable to the carrying out of the authorised development in accordance with a notice served under section 60 (control of noise on construction site), or a consent given under section 61 (prior consent for work on construction site), of the Control of Pollution Act 1974(5); or

(ii) is a consequence of the construction or maintenance of the authorised development and that it cannot reasonably be avoided; or

(b) the defendant shows that the nuisance is a consequence of the use of the authorised development and that it cannot be reasonably avoided.

(2) Section 61(9) (consent for work on construction site to include statement that it does not of itself constitute a defence to proceedings under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 shall not apply where the consent relates to the use of premises by the undertaker for the purposes of or in connection with the construction or maintenance of the authorised development.

Authority to survey and investigate the land

17.—(1) The undertaker may for the purposes of this Order enter on any land shown within the Order limits or which may be affected by the authorised development and—

(a) survey or investigate the land;

(b) without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraph (a), make trial holes in such positions on the land as the undertaker thinks fit to investigate the nature of the surface layer and subsoil and remove soil samples;

(c) without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraph (a), carry out ecological or archaeological investigations on such land; and

(d) place on, leave on and remove from the land apparatus for use in connection with the survey and investigation of land and making of trial holes.

(2) No land may be entered or equipment placed or left on or removed from the land under paragraph (1) unless at least 14 days’ notice has been served on every owner and occupier of the land.

(3) Any person entering land under this article on behalf of the undertaker—

(a) must, if so required before or after entering the land, produce written evidence of their authority to do so; and

(b) may take onto the land such vehicles and equipment as are necessary to carry out the survey or investigation or to make the trial holes.

(4) No trial holes are to be made under this article—

(a) in land located within the highway boundary without the consent of the highway authority; or

(b) in a private street without the consent of the street authority,

but such consent is not to be unreasonably withheld.

(5) The undertaker must compensate the owners and occupiers of the land for any loss or damage arising by reason of the exercise of the authority conferred by this article, such compensation to be determined, in case of dispute, under Part 1 of the 1961 Act (determination of questions of disputed compensation).

(6) If either a highway authority or a street authority which receives an application for consent fails to notify the undertaker of its decision within 28 days of receiving the application for consent—

(a) under paragraph (4)(a) in the case of a highway authority; or

(b) under paragraph (4)(b) in the case of a street authority,

that authority is to be deemed to have granted consent.

(7) Unless the undertaker has taken temporary possession of the land pursuant to article 28 (temporary use of land by the undertaker), the undertaker shall (unless required by the owners of the land not to do so) remove all vehicles and equipment from and restore the land to the reasonable satisfaction of the owners as soon as reasonably practicable after completion of the survey, monitoring or investigation (as the case may be).

(1)

1991 c.56. Section 106 was amended by the Water Act 2003 (c.37), sections 36(2) and 99.

(2)

S.I. 2010/675.

(3)

1991 c.57.

(4)

1990 c. 43.

(5)

1974 c. 40. Section 61(9) amended by section 162 of, and paragraph 15 of Schedule 15 to, the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (c. 43). There are other amendments to this Act which are not relevant to this Order.