PART 1Introduction
Citation and commencement1
These Regulations may be cited as the Water Abstraction and Impounding (Exemptions) Regulations 2017 and come into force on 1st January 2018.
Interpretation2
1
In these Regulations—
“the 1991 Act” means the Water Resources Act 1991;
“the 2010 Regulations” means the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 M1;
“conservation site” means—
- a
a site appearing on the list provided to the European Commission pursuant to regulation 10(5) of the 2010 Regulations M2;
- b
a special area of conservation within the meaning of regulation 11 of the 2010 Regulations;
- c
a special protection area or proposed special protection area within the meaning of regulations 12A and 12B, respectively, of the 2010 Regulations;
- d
a site of special scientific interest confirmed by the Natural Resources Body for Wales or Natural England pursuant to section 28(5)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 M3;
- e
in so far as not falling under sub-paragraph (d), a wetland designated under the Ramsar Convention, within the meaning of section 37A of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 M4;
- f
an area designated by order by the Natural Resources Body for Wales or Natural England under section 7 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 M5;
- g
a nature reserve established by a local authority under section 21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 M6;
- a
“managed wetland system” means—
- a
an area of land that is periodically inundated or saturated by abstracted water in order to provide ecological benefits to flora and fauna, or
- b
an area of land through which abstracted water flows, through a system of channels, sluices, carriers or other apparatus in order to provide ecological benefits to flora and fauna;
- a
“normal tidal limit” means the normal tidal limit as marked on the Ordnance Maps (1:25,000 scale);
“protected species” means—
- a
a European protected species within the meaning of regulation 40(1) of, and Schedule 2 to, the 2010 Regulations;
- b
a species designated under section 9 of, and Schedule 5 to, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 M7;
- c
a species included in a list published by the Secretary of State under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 M8 or by the Welsh Ministers under section 7 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 M9.
- a
2
In these Regulations, references to alteration, in relation to impounding works, include the removal or partial removal of those works and cognate expressions are construed accordingly.