15.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4) below 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.
(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 paragraph (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 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) Nothing in this article overrides the requirement for an environmental permit under Regulation 12(1)(b) of the 2016 Regulations insofar as the discharge activity comes within the definition contained within the 2016 Regulations.
(7) Subject to paragraph (8) below, the undertaker may in connection with the carrying out or maintenance of the authorised project, alter the bed or banks of, and construct works in, under, over or within any watercourse and may divert, alter, interrupt or obstruct the flow of any watercourse within the Order limits.
(8) The undertaker must not:
(a)undertake any works within 8 metres of, any watercourse forming part of a river, or within 16 metres of a tidally influenced main river without the consent of the Environment Agency, which must not be unreasonably withheld but may be subject to reasonable conditions; and
(b)undertake any works to any ordinary watercourse without the consent of the relevant drainage authorities or Norfolk County Council as the case may be, which must not be unreasonably withheld but may be subject to reasonable conditions.
(9) In this article—
(a)“public sewer or drain” means a sewer or drain which belongs to a sewerage undertaker, the Environment Agency, a relevant drainage authority or a local authority;
(b)“ordinary watercourse” has the meaning given in the Land Drainage Act 1991;
(c)other expressions, excluding watercourse, used both in this article and in the Water Resources Act 1991 have the same meaning as in that Act.
(10) 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), approval under paragraph (4)(a) or consent under paragraph (8), that person is deemed to have granted consent or given approval, as the case may be.
Commencement Information
I1Art. 15 in force at 5.3.2022, see art. 1
1991 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 of the Water Act 2003 (c. 37) and section 32, and paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (c. 29).