Office of Public Sector Information
PART I continued CHAPTER I continued
(1) The Secretary of State shall establish and maintain a committee for advising him with respect to matters affecting, or otherwise connected with, the carrying out in Wales of the Agency’s functions.
(2) The committee shall consist of such persons as may from time to time be appointed by the Secretary of State.
(3) The committee shall meet at least once a year.
(4) The Secretary of State may pay to the members of the committee such sums by way of reimbursement (whether in whole or in part) for loss of remuneration, for travelling expenses and for other out-of-pocket expenses as he may determine.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Agency—
(a) to establish and maintain advisory committees, to be known as Environment Protection Advisory Committees, for the different regions of England and Wales;
(b) to consult the advisory committee for any region as to any proposals of the Agency relating generally to the manner in which the Agency carries out its functions in that region; and
(c) to consider any representations made to it by the advisory committee for any region (whether in response to consultation under paragraph (b) above or otherwise) as to the manner in which the Agency carries out its functions in that region.
(2) The advisory committee for any region shall consist of—
(a) a chairman appointed by the Secretary of State; and
(b) such other members as the Agency may appoint in accordance with the provisions of the approved membership scheme for that region.
(3) In appointing the chairman of any advisory committee, the Secretary of State shall have regard to the desirability of appointing a person who has experience of, and has shown capacity in, some matter relevant to the functions of the committee.
(4) The members of advisory committees appointed by virtue of subsection (2)(b) above—
(a) must not be members of the Agency; but
(b) must be persons who appear to the Agency to have a significant interest in matters likely to be affected by the manner in which the Agency carries out any of its functions in the region of the advisory committee in question.
(5) The duty imposed by subsection (1)(a) above to establish and maintain advisory committees is a duty to establish and maintain an advisory committee for each area which the Agency considers it appropriate for the time being to regard as a region of England and Wales for the purposes of this section.
(6) It shall be the duty of the Agency, in determining the regions for which advisory committees are established and maintained under this section, to ensure that one of those regions consists wholly or mainly of, or of most of, Wales.
(7) For the purposes of this section, functions of the Agency which are carried out in any area of Scotland, or of the territorial sea, which is adjacent to any region for which an advisory committee is maintained, shall be regarded as carried out in that region.
(8) Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect with respect to advisory committees.
(9) In this section—
“advisory committee” means an advisory committee under this section;
“approved membership scheme” means a scheme, as in force for the time being, prepared by the Agency and approved (with or without modification) by the Secretary of State under Schedule 3 to this Act which makes provision with respect to the membership of the advisory committee for a region.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Agency—
(a) to establish and maintain advisory committees of persons who are not members of the Agency but appear to it to be interested in salmon fisheries, trout fisheries, freshwater fisheries or eel fisheries in the different parts of the controlled area; and
(b) to consult those committees as to the manner in which the Agency is to perform its duty under section 6(6) above.
(2) If the Agency, with the consent of the Ministers, so determines, it shall also be under a duty to consult those committees, or such of them as may be specified or described in the determination, as to—
(a) the manner in which it is to perform its duties under or by virtue of such of the enactments relating to recreation, conservation or navigation as may be the subject of the determination, or
(b) such matters relating to recreation, conservation or navigation as may be the subject of the determination.
(3) Where, by virtue of subsection (2) above, the Agency is under a duty to consult those committees or any of them, there may be included among the members of the committees in question persons who are not members of the Agency but who appear to it to be interested in matters—
(a) likely to be affected by the manner in which it performs the duties to which the determination in question relates, or
(b) which are the subject of the determination,
if the Ministers consent to the inclusion of persons of that description.
(4) The duty to establish and maintain advisory committees imposed by subsection (1) above is a duty to establish and maintain—
(a) a regional advisory committee for each such region of the controlled area as the Agency considers it appropriate for the time being to regard as a region of that area for the purposes of this section; and
(b) such local advisory committees as the Agency considers necessary to represent—
(i) the interests referred to in subsection (1)(a) above, and
(ii) where persons may be appointed members of those committees by virtue of subsection (3) above by reference to any such interests as are mentioned in that subsection, the interests in question,
in the different parts of each such region.
(5) It shall be the duty of the Agency in determining the regions for which regional advisory committees are established and maintained under this section to ensure that one of those regions consists (apart from territorial waters) wholly or mainly of, or of most of, Wales.
(6) In addition to any members appointed under the foregoing provisions of this section, there shall, in the case of each regional advisory committee established and maintained under this section, also be a chairman appointed—
(a) by the Secretary of State, in the case of the committee established and maintained for the region described in subsection (5) above; or
(b) by the Minister, in any other case.
(7) There shall be paid by the Agency—
(a) to the chairman of any regional or local advisory committee established and maintained under this section such remuneration and such travelling and other allowances; and
(b) to any other members of that committee such sums by way of reimbursement (whether in whole or in part) for loss of remuneration, for travelling expenses or for any other out-of-pocket expenses,
as may be determined by one of the Ministers.
(8) In this section “the controlled area” means the area specified in section 6(7) above in respect of which the Agency carries out functions under section 6(6) above and Part V of the 1991 Act.
(1) There shall be committees, known as regional flood defence committees, for the purpose of carrying out the functions which fall to be carried out by such committees by virtue of this Act and the 1991 Act.
(2) Subject to Schedule 4 to this Act (which makes provision for the alteration of the boundaries of and the amalgamation of the areas of regional flood defence committees)—
(a) there shall be a regional flood defence committee for each of the areas for which there was an old committee immediately before the transfer date; but
(b) where under section 165(2) or (3) of the 1991 Act any function of the Agency falls to be carried out at a place beyond the seaward boundaries of the area of any regional flood defence committee, that place shall be assumed for the purposes of this Act and the 1991 Act to be within the area of the regional flood defence committee to whose area the area of sea where that place is situated is adjacent.
(3) The Agency shall maintain a principal office for the area of each regional flood defence committee.
(4) In this section “old committee” means a regional flood defence committee for the purposes of section 9 of the 1991 Act.
(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, a regional flood defence committee shall consist of the following, none of whom shall be a member of the Agency, that is to say—
(a) a chairman and a number of other members appointed by the relevant Minister;
(b) two members appointed by the Agency;
(c) a number of members appointed by or on behalf of the constituent councils.
(2) Any person who immediately before the transfer date is, by virtue of his appointment—
(a) by a Minister of the Crown,
(b) by or on behalf of any council, or
(c) by the National Rivers Authority,
the chairman or a member of an old committee which, by virtue of section 14 above, is replaced by a new committee shall be treated, on and after that date, for the remainder of the period for which he would, under the terms of his appointment, have held office in relation to the old committee, as if he had been appointed as the chairman or, as the case may be, a member of the new committee, and on the same terms, by that Minister or, as the case may be, by or on behalf of that council or, in the case of a person appointed by the National Rivers Authority, by the Agency.
(3) Subject to section 16 below and to any order under Schedule 4 to this Act amalgamating the areas of any two or more regional flood defence committees—
(a) the total number of members of a new committee for any area shall be the same as the total number of members of the old committee for that area immediately before the transfer date;
(b) the number of members to be appointed to a new committee for any area by or on behalf of each of the constituent councils or, as the case may be, jointly by or on behalf of more than one of them shall be the same as the number of members of the old committee for that area which fell to be so appointed immediately before the transfer date.
(4) In any case where—
(a) the appointment of one or more members of a regional flood defence committee is (by virtue of subsection (3) above or an order under section 16(5) below), to be made jointly by more than one constituent council, and
(b) the councils by whom that appointment is to be made are unable to agree on an appointment,
the member or members in question shall be appointed by the relevant Minister on behalf of those councils.
(5) In appointing a person to be the chairman or a member of a regional flood defence committee under subsection (1)(a) or (c) or (4) above the relevant Minister or, as the case may be, a constituent council shall have regard to the desirability of appointing a person who has experience of, and has shown capacity in, some matter relevant to the functions of the committee.
(6) The councils of every county, county borough, metropolitan district or London borough any part of which is in the area of a regional flood defence committee shall be the constituent councils for the regional flood defence committee for that area, and the Common Council of the City of London shall be a constituent council for the regional flood defence committee for any area which comprises any part of the City.
(7) In this section—
“old committee” has the same meaning as in section 14 above;
“new committee” means a regional flood defence committee established under section 14 above;
“the relevant Minister”—
in relation to the regional flood defence committee for an area the whole or the greater part of which is in Wales, means the Secretary of State; and
in relation to any other regional flood defence committee, means the Minister.
(1) The Agency may, in accordance with the following provisions of this section, from time to time make a determination varying the total number of members of a regional flood defence committee.
(2) The Agency shall submit any determination under subsection (1) above to the relevant Minister.
(3) For the purposes of this section—
(a) the total number of members of a regional flood defence committee shall not be less than eleven; and
(b) any determination by the Agency under subsection (1) above that a regional flood defence committee should consist of more than seventeen members shall be provisional and shall take effect only if the relevant Minister makes an order under subsection (4) below.
(4) If the Agency submits a provisional determination to the relevant Minister with respect to any regional flood defence committee and he considers that the committee should consist of more than seventeen members, he may by order made by statutory instrument—
(a) confirm it; or
(b) substitute for the number of members determined by the Agency some other number not less than seventeen.
(5) Subject to the following provisions of this section, whenever—
(a) the total number of members of a regional flood defence committee is varied under this section, or
(b) the relevant Minister considers it necessary or expedient to make an order under this subsection,
the relevant Minister shall by order made by statutory instrument specify the number of members to be appointed to the committee by each of the constituent councils.
(6) An order under subsection (5) above shall relate—
(a) where paragraph (a) of that subsection applies, to times after the coming into force of the variation; and
(b) where paragraph (b) of that subsection applies, to such times as are specified in the order.
(7) An order under subsection (5) above shall be so framed that the total number of members appointed under section 15(1)(a) and (b) above is one less than the number of those appointed by or on behalf of constituent councils.
(8) For the purpose of determining for the purposes of subsection (5) above the number of persons to be appointed to a regional flood defence committee by or on behalf of each constituent council, the relevant Minister—
(a) if he considers it to be inappropriate that that council should appoint a member of the committee, or
(b) if he considers that one or more members should be appointed jointly by that council and one or more other constituent councils,
may include provision to that effect in the order.
(9) In this section—
“member”, in relation to a regional flood defence committee, includes the chairman of the committee;
“the relevant Minister” has the same meaning as in section 15 above.
(1) A scheme, known as a local flood defence scheme, may be made by the Agency, in accordance with the following provisions of this section—
(a) for the creation in the area of a regional flood defence committee of one or more districts, to be known as local flood defence districts; and
(b) for the constitution, membership, functions and procedure of a committee for each such district, to be known as the local flood defence committee for that district.
(2) Any local flood defence scheme which was made under the 1991 Act or continued in force by virtue of paragraph 14(1) of Schedule 2 to the [1991 c. 60.] Water Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 and which, immediately before the transfer date, is in force in relation to the area of a regional flood defence committee, shall on and after that date have effect, and may be amended or revoked, as if it were a local flood defence scheme made under this section in relation to that area; and, accordingly, subject to any such amendment or revocation—
(a) any local flood defence district created by that scheme and in being immediately before that date shall be treated, on and after that date, as a local flood defence district created by a scheme under this section in relation to the area of that regional flood defence committee; and
(b) any local flood defence committee created by that scheme for any such district and in being immediately before that date shall be treated, on and after that date, as the local flood defence committee for that district.
(3) A regional flood defence committee may at any time submit to the Agency—
(a) a local flood defence scheme for any part of their area for which there is then no such scheme in force; or
(b) a scheme varying a local flood defence scheme or revoking such a scheme and, if the committee think fit, replacing it with another such scheme;
and references in the following provisions of this section and in section 18 below to local flood defence schemes are references to schemes under either of paragraphs (a) and (b) above.
(4) Before submitting a scheme to the Agency under subsection (3) above, a regional flood defence committee shall consult—
(a) every local authority any part of whose area will fall within the area to which the scheme is proposed to relate; and
(b) such organisations representative of persons interested in flood defence (within the meaning of Part IV of the 1991 Act) or agriculture as the regional flood defence committee consider to be appropriate.
(5) It shall be the duty of the Agency to send any scheme submitted to it under subsection (3) above to one of the Ministers.
(6) A local flood defence scheme may define a local flood defence district—
(a) by reference to the districts which were local land drainage districts immediately before 1st September 1989;
(b) by reference to the area of the regional flood defence committee in which that district is situated;
(c) by reference to a map;
or partly by one of those means and partly by another or others.
(7) A local flood defence scheme may contain incidental, consequential and supplementary provisions.
(8) Either of the Ministers may approve a local flood defence scheme with or without modifications; and any scheme approved under this subsection shall come into force on a date fixed by the Minister approving it.
(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, a local flood defence scheme shall provide that any local flood defence committee to which it relates shall consist of not less than eleven and not more than fifteen members.
(2) A regional flood defence committee may include in a local flood defence scheme which they submit to the Agency a recommendation that a committee to which the scheme relates should consist of a number of members greater than fifteen; and a scheme so submitted shall be taken to provide for the number of members of a committee if it contains a recommendation under this subsection relating to that committee.
(3) The power conferred on each of the Ministers by section 17(8) above shall include power to direct that a committee to which a recommendation under subsection (2) above relates shall consist either of the recommended number of members or of some other number of members greater than fifteen.
(4) A local flood defence committee shall consist of—
(a) a chairman appointed from among their own members by the regional flood defence committee;
(b) other members appointed by that committee; and
(c) members appointed, in accordance with and subject to the terms of the local flood defence scheme, by or on behalf of constituent councils.
(5) The number of members appointed to a local flood defence committee by or on behalf of constituent councils shall be one more than the total number of members appointed by the regional flood defence committee.
(6) In appointing a person to be a member of a local flood defence committee, the regional flood defence committee shall have regard to the desirability of appointing a person who has experience of, and has shown capacity in, some matter relevant to the functions of the committee to which he is appointed.
(7) Any person who, immediately before the transfer date is, by virtue of an appointment by an old regional committee or by or on behalf of any council, the chairman or a member of a local flood defence committee which is continued in force by virtue of section 17(2) above shall be treated, on and after that date, for the remainder of the period for which he would, under the terms of his appointment, have held office in relation to the local flood defence committee—
(a) as if he had been appointed as such under this section by the regional flood defence committee or, as the case may be, by or on behalf of that council; and
(b) in the case of the chairman, as if he were a member of the regional flood defence committee.
(8) The councils of every county, county borough, metropolitan district or London borough any part of which is in a local flood defence district shall be the constituent councils for the local flood defence committee for that district, and the Common Council of the City of London shall be a constituent council for the local flood defence committee of any local flood defence district which comprises any part of the City.
(9) In this section “old regional committee” means a regional flood defence committee for the purposes of section 9 of the 1991 Act.
Schedule 5 to this Act shall have effect in relation to regional flood defence committees and local flood defence committees.
(1) There shall be a body to be known as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (in this Act referred to as “SEPA”), for the purpose of carrying out the functions transferred or assigned to it by or under this Act.
(2) Schedule 6 to this Act shall have effect with respect to SEPA.
(1) On the transfer date there shall by virtue of this section be transferred to SEPA—
(a) the functions of river purification authorities, that is to say—
(i) their functions with respect to water resources under or by virtue of Part III of the [1951 c. 66.] Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1951 (in this Part referred to as “the 1951 Act”) and Part II of the [1991 c. 28.] Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991;
(ii) their functions with respect to water pollution under or by virtue of Part III of the 1951 Act, the [1965 c. 13.] Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) (Scotland) Act 1965 and Part II of the [1974 c. 40.] Control of Pollution Act 1974;
(iii) their functions as enforcing authority, in relation to releases of substances into the environment, under or by virtue of Part I of the 1990 Act;
(iv) their functions with respect to flood warning systems under or by virtue of Part VI of the [1970 c. 40.] Agriculture Act 1970; and
(v) the functions assigned to them by or under any other enactment apart from this Act;
(b) the functions of waste regulation authorities, that is to say, the functions conferred or imposed on them by or under—
(i) the [1989 c. 14.] Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989; or
(ii) Part II of the 1990 Act,
or assigned to them by or under any other enactment apart from this Act;
(c) the functions of disposal authorities under or by virtue of sections 3 to 10, 16, 17(1)(a) and 17(2)(b) to (d) of the [1974 c. 40.] Control of Pollution Act 1974;
(d) the functions of the chief inspector for Scotland constituted under section 16(3) of the 1990 Act, that is to say, the functions conferred or imposed on him by or under Part I of that Act or assigned to him by or under any other enactment apart from this Act;
(e) the functions of the chief inspector for Scotland appointed under section 4(2)(b) of the [1993 c. 12.] Radioactive Substances Act 1993, that is to say, the functions conferred or imposed on him by or under that Act or assigned to him by or under any other enactment apart from this Act;
(f) the functions conferred or imposed by or under the [1906 c. 14.] Alkali, &c, Works Regulation Act 1906 (in this section referred to as “the 1906 Act”) on the chief, or any other, inspector (within the meaning of that Act), so far as exercisable in relation to Scotland;
(g) so far as exercisable in relation to Scotland, the functions in relation to improvement notices and prohibition notices under Part I of the [1974 c. 37.] Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (in this section referred to as “the 1974 Act”) of inspectors appointed under section 19 of that Act by the Secretary of State in his capacity as enforcing authority responsible in relation to Scotland for the enforcement of the 1906 Act and section 5 of the 1974 Act;
(h) the functions of local authorities as enforcing authority, in relation to releases of substances into the air, under or by virtue of Part I of the 1990 Act; and
(i) the functions of the Secretary of State specified in subsection (2) below.
(2) The functions of the Secretary of State mentioned in subsection (1)(i) above are, so far as exercisable in relation to Scotland—
(a) the functions conferred or imposed on him by virtue of his being, for the purposes of Part I of the 1974 Act, the authority which is by any of the relevant statutory provisions made responsible for the enforcement of the 1906 Act and section 5 of the 1974 Act;
(b) his functions under, or under regulations made by virtue of, section 9 of the 1906 Act (registration of works), other than any functions of his as an appellate authority or any function of making regulations;
(c) his functions under section 19 of the [1993 c. 11.] Clean Air Act 1993 with respect to the creation of smoke control areas by local authorities; and
(d) his functions under section 30(1) of the [1993 c. 12.] Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (power to dispose of radioactive waste).
(3) River purification boards shall be dissolved on the transfer date.
(1) On the transfer date—
(a) the property, rights and liabilities of every river purification board shall, by virtue of this paragraph, be transferred to and vested in SEPA;
(b) any property, rights and liabilities which are the subject of a scheme under this section—
(i) made by the Secretary of State; or
(ii) made by a local authority and approved by the Secretary of State,
shall be transferred to and vested in SEPA by and in accordance with the scheme.
(2) The Secretary of State may, before the transfer date, make a scheme for the transfer to SEPA of such of—
(a) his property, rights and liabilities; or
(b) the property, rights and liabilities of any of the inspectors or chief inspectors mentioned in subsection (1) of section 21 above,
as appear to the Secretary of State appropriate to be so transferred in consequence of the transfer of any functions to SEPA by virtue of that subsection.
(3) It shall be the duty of every local authority to make a scheme, after consultation with SEPA, for the transfer to SEPA of—
(a) such of the authority’s property and rights as are held by it for the purposes of its functions as—
(i) a waste regulation authority;
(ii) a disposal authority under or by virtue of the provisions mentioned in section 21(1)(c) above;
(iii) enforcing authority, in relation to releases of substances into the air, by virtue of Part I of the 1990 Act; and
(iv) in the case of an islands council, a river purification authority; and
(b) such of its liabilities as are liabilities to which it is subject by virtue of its being an authority mentioned in paragraph (a)(i) to (iv) above,
and to submit that scheme to the Secretary of State for his approval before such date as he may direct.
(4) Any local authority preparing a scheme in pursuance of subsection (3) above shall take into account any guidance given by the Secretary of State as to the provisions which he regards as appropriate for inclusion in the scheme.
(5) Where a scheme under subsection (3) above is submitted to the Secretary of State, he may—
(a) approve the scheme;
(b) approve the scheme subject to such modifications as he considers appropriate; or
(c) reject the scheme;
but the power conferred on the Secretary of State by paragraph (b) above shall be exercisable only after consultation with the local authority which submitted the scheme to him and with SEPA.
(6) The Secretary of State may, in the case of any local authority which is required to make a scheme under subsection (3) above, himself make a scheme for the transfer to SEPA of such of the body’s property, rights or liabilities as are mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection, if—
(a) the authority fails to submit a scheme under that subsection to him for his approval before the due date; or
(b) the Secretary of State rejects a scheme under that subsection submitted to him by the authority;
but nothing in this subsection shall prevent the Secretary of State from approving any scheme which may be submitted to him after the due date.
(7) Where the Secretary of State makes a transfer scheme under subsection (6) above, he may recover his reasonable expenses in doing so, or such proportion of those expenses as he thinks fit, from the local authority in question by such means as appear to him to be appropriate including, without prejudice to that generality, setting off the expenses payable by the local authority against revenue support grant or non-domestic rate income payable by the Secretary of State to the local authority under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12 to the [1992 c. 14.] Local Government Finance Act 1992.
(8) The Secretary of State may, at any time before the transfer date, modify any scheme made or approved by him under this section but only after consultation with SEPA and, in the case of a scheme which was approved by him (with or without modifications), after consultation with the local authority which submitted the scheme to him for approval.
(9) Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect in relation to transfers by or under this section.
The functions of the staff commission established under section 12 of the [1994 c. 39.] Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 shall include—
(a) considering and keeping under review the arrangements for the transfer to SEPA, in consequence of this Act or of any scheme made under it, of staff employed by local authorities;
(b) considering such staffing problems arising out of, consequential on or connected with any provision of, or scheme made under, this Act as may be referred to them by the Secretary of State or by any local authority;
(c) advising the Secretary of State as to the steps necessary to safeguard the interests of the staff referred to in paragraph (a) above.
Environment Act 1995