15.—(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 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) must be determined as if it were a dispute under section 106 (right to communicate with public sewers) of the Water Industry Act 1991 M1.
(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 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 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 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.
(6) This article does not authorise any water discharge activities or groundwater activities for which an environmental permit would be required pursuant to regulation 12(1) (requirement for an environmental permit) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 M2.
(7) In this article—
(a)“public sewer or drain” means a sewer or drain which belongs to Homes England, the Environment Agency, a harbour authority within the meaning of section 57 (interpretation) of the Harbours Act 1964 M3, an internal drainage board, a joint planning board, a local authority, a National Park Authority, a sewerage undertaker or an urban development corporation; and
(b)other terms and expressions, with the exception of the term “watercourse”, used both in this article and in the Water Resources Act 1991 M4 have the same meaning as in that Act.
Commencement Information
I1Art. 15 in force at 1.9.2020, see art. 1
Marginal Citations
M11991 c.56. Section 106 was amended by sections 35(8)(a) and 43(2) and paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Competition and Service (Utilities) Act 1992 (c.43) and sections 36(2) and 99(2), (4), and (5) of the Water Act 2003 (c.37).
M31964 c.40. Paragraph 9B was inserted into Schedule 2 by paragraph 9 of Schedule 3 of the Transport and Works Act 1992 (c.42).
16.—(1) The undertaker may for the purposes of this Order enter on any land shown within the Order limits or on any land 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 on 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.
(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 (determination of questions of disputed compensation) of the 1961 Act.
(6) Section 13 (refusal to give possession to acquiring authority) of the 1965 Act applies to the entry onto, or possession of land under this article to the same extent as it applies to the compulsory acquisition of land under this Order by virtue of section 125 (application of compulsory acquisition provisions) of the 2008 Act.
Commencement Information
I2Art. 16 in force at 1.9.2020, see art. 1
17.—(1) Before the undertaker carries out any part of the authorised development or works which will or may disturb any human remains in the Order land it must remove those human remains from the Order land, or cause them to be removed, in accordance with the following provisions of this article.
(2) Before any such remains are removed from the Order land the undertaker must give notice of the intended removal, describing the Order land and stating the general effect of the following provisions of this article, by—
(a)publishing a notice once in each of two successive weeks in a newspaper circulating in the area of the authorised project; and
(b)displaying a notice in a conspicuous place on or near to the Order land.
(3) As soon as reasonably practicable after the first publication of a notice under paragraph (2) the undertaker must send a copy of the notice to the relevant planning authority.
(4) At any time within 56 days after the first publication of a notice under paragraph (2) any person who is a personal representative or relative of any deceased person whose remains are interred in the specified land may give notice in writing to the undertaker of that person's intention to undertake the removal of the remains.
(5) Where a person has given notice under paragraph (4), and the remains in question can be identified, that person may cause such remains to be—
(a)removed and re-interred in any burial ground or cemetery in which burials may legally take place; or
(b)removed to, and cremated in, any crematorium and that person must, as soon as reasonably practicable after such re-interment or cremation,
provide to the undertaker a certificate for the purpose of enabling compliance with paragraph (10) and that person must, as soon as reasonably practicable after such re-interment or cremation, provide to the undertaker a certificate for the purpose of enabling compliance with paragraph (10).
(6) If the undertaker is not satisfied that any person giving notice under paragraph (4) is the personal representative or relative as that person claims to be, or that the remains in question can be identified, the question is to be determined on the application of either party in a summary manner by the county court, and the court may make an order specifying who is to remove the remains and as to the payment of the costs of the application.
(7) The undertaker must pay the reasonable expenses of removing and re-interring or cremating the remains of any deceased person under this article.
(8) If—
(a)within the period of 56 days referred to in paragraph (4) no notice under that paragraph has been given to the undertaker in respect of any remains in the Order land; or
(b)such notice is given and no application is made under paragraph (6) within 56 days after the giving of the notice, but the person who gave the notice fails to remove the remains within a further period of 56 days; or
(c)within 56 days after any order is made by the county court under paragraph (6) any person, other than the undertaker, specified in the Order fails to remove the remains; or
(d)it is determined that the remains to which any such notice relates cannot be identified,
subject to paragraph (9), the undertaker must remove the remains and cause them to be re-interred in such burial ground or cemetery in which burials may legally take place as the undertaker thinks suitable for the purpose and, so far as possible, remains from individual graves must be re-interred in individual containers which must be identifiable by a record prepared with reference to the original position of burial of the remains that they contain.
(9) If the undertaker is satisfied that any person giving notice under paragraph (4) is the personal representative or relative as that person claims to be and that the remains in question can be identified, but that person does not remove the remains, the undertaker must comply with any reasonable request that person may make in relation to the removal and re-interment or cremation of the remains.
(10) On the re-interment or cremation of any remains under this article—
(a)a certificate of re-interment or cremation must be sent by the undertaker to the Registrar General by the undertaker giving the date of re-interment or cremation and identifying the place from which the remains were removed and the place in which they were re-interred or cremated; and
(b)a copy of the certificate of re-interment or cremation and the record mentioned in paragraph (8) must be sent by the undertaker to the relevant planning authority mentioned in paragraph (3).
(11) The removal of the remains of any deceased person under this article must be carried out in accordance with any directions which may be given by the Secretary of State.
(12) Any jurisdiction or function conferred on the county court by this article may be exercised by the district judge of the court.
(13) Section 25 (offence of removal of body from burial ground) of the Burial Act 1857 M5 is not to apply to a removal carried out in accordance with this article.
Commencement Information
I3Art. 17 in force at 1.9.2020, see art. 1
Marginal Citations
M51857 c.81. Substituted by Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 2014 No. 1 s.2 (January 1, 2015: substitution has effect subject to transitional and saving provisions specified in SI 2014/2077 Sch.1 paras 1 and 2).