The East Anglia THREE Offshore Wind Farm Order 2017

PART 4 Supplemental powers

Discharge of water

13.—(1) 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 project 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 subject to the obtaining of consent and approval respectively pursuant to sub-paragraphs (3) and (4) below.

(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 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 must not be unreasonably withheld.

(4) The undertaker must not carry out any works to any public sewer or drain pursuant to article 13(1) except—

(a) in accordance with plans approved by the person to whom the sewer or drain belongs, but such approval must not 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, or construct any works in, under, over or within 8 metres of, any watercourse forming part of a main river, or within 16 metres of a tidally influenced main river without the prior written consent of the Environment Agency.

(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) This article does not authorise the entry into controlled waters of any matter whose entry or discharge into controlled waters is prohibited by regulation 12 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016(2).

(8) In this article—

(a) “public sewer or drain” means a sewer or drain which belongs to a sewerage undertaker, the Environment Agency, an internal drainage board or a local authority; and

(b) other expressions, excluding watercourse, used both in this article and in the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 have the same meaning as in those Regulations.

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

Authority to survey and investigate the land onshore

14.—(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 project 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 on entering the land, produce written evidence of their authority to do so; and

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

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

(a) in land forming a railway without the consent of Network Rail(3); or

(b) in land held by or in right of the Crown without the consent of the Crown.

(5) No trial holes may 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 must not be unreasonably withheld.

(6) 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 (determination of questions of disputed compensation) of the 1961 Act.

(7) 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 (5)(a) in the case of a highway authority; or

(b) under paragraph (5)(b) in the case of a street authority;

that authority is deemed to have granted consent.

(1)

1991 c.56. Section 106 was amended by section 35(8)(a) of the Competition and Service (Utilities) Act 1992 (c.43) and sections 36(2) and 99 of the Water Act 2003 (c.37). There are other amendments to this section which are not relevant to this Order.

(2)

S.I. 2016/1154.

(3)

As defined in Part 3 of Schedule 8 (Protection for Network Rail Infrastructure Limited).