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;

F1“the 2010 Regulations” means the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 M1; F1“the 2017 Regulations” means the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017;

“conservation site” means—

(a)

a site appearing on the list provided to the European Commission pursuant to F2regulation 10(5) of the 2010 Regulations M2 F2regulation 12(5) of the 2017 Regulations;

(b)

a special area of conservation within the meaning of F3regulation 11 of the 2010 Regulations F3regulation 13 of the 2017 Regulations;

(c)

a special protection area or proposed special protection area within the meaning of F4regulations 12A and 12B, respectively, of the 2010 Regulations F4regulations 15 and 16, respectively, of the 2017 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;

“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;

“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 F5regulation 40(1) of, and Schedule 2 to, the 2010 Regulations F5regulation 42(1) of, and Schedule 2 to, the 2017 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.

(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.