19.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4) 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 under paragraph (1) is to be determined as if it were a dispute under section 106 (right to communicate with public sewers) of the Water Industry Act 1991(1).
(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 or delayed.
(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 such approval must not be unreasonably withheld or delayed; 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 any watercourse forming part of a main river.
(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 under the powers conferred by this article is as free as may be practicable from gravel, soil or other solid substance, oil or matter in suspension.
(7) Nothing in this article overrides the requirement for an environmental permit under regulation 12(1)(b) (requirement for an environmental permit) of the 2016 Regulations.
(8) This article does not permit any activity listed in paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 21 (water discharge activities) to the 2016 Regulations.
(9) 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 (2), an internal drainage board, a joint planning board, a local authority, the highway authority, a National Park Authority, a sewerage undertaker or an urban development corporation; and
(b)other expressions, excluding watercourse, used both in this article and in the Water Resources Act 1991(3) have the same meaning as in that Act.
(10) Any application for consent under paragraph (3) or approval under paragraph (4)(a) must include a statement that the provisions of paragraph (9) apply to that application.
(11) In relation to any works executed under this Order, Section 66 of the Land Drainage Act 1991(4) is amended after paragraph (9) to insert—
“(10) Where an application is made to an internal drainage board for their consent under a byelaw made under this section—
(a)the consent is not to be unreasonably withheld; and
(b)if the internal drainage board fail within 28 days after receipt of the application to notify the applicant in writing of their determination, the internal drainage board are deemed to have consented to the application.
(11) No consent is required under any byelaw made by an internal drainage board under this section if it relates solely to the oversail of an overhead electric line which meets the minimum statutory clearances contained in Schedule 2 of the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002(5) when measured from the top of the bank of any watercourse maintained by an internal drainage board.”
1991 c. 56. Section 106 was amended by sections 35(1) and (8) and 43(2) of the Competition and Service (Utilities) Act 1992 (c. 43), sections 36(2) and 99 of the Water Act 2003 (c. 37) and section 49 of, and paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (c. 29).
1964 c. 40. Paragraph 9B was inserted into Schedule 2 by the Transport and Works Act 1992 (c. 42), section 63(1) and Schedule 3, paragraph 9(1) and (2), subject to transitional provisions specified in S.I. 1992/1347 article 3.
SI: 2002/2665. There are amendments to the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 which are not relevant to this section.