Office of Public Sector Information

(9)For the purposes of subsection (4) of this section, a Minister shall be deemed to be a Minister concerned if he is the appropriate Minister or, in a case where the notice of objection was [F5served by the National Rivers Authority or any internal drainage board] and the appropriate Minister is not [F4the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food], if he is the appropriate Minister or [F4the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food].

(10)In the application of this section to Scotland, paragraph (b) of the last but one foregoing subsection shall have effect as if for the words from “to which the Fishery Harbours Act” to the end of the paragraph there were substituted the words “principally used by the fishing industry [F6or are a highway authority], means the Minister; and”

17 Notification to coast protection authority of coast protection work to be carried out by certain authorities

(1)Subsection (1) of section sixteen of this Act shall not apply to the carrying out of work—

(a)by a coast protection authority;

(b)by any body or person upon whom any powers or duties relating to the protection of land have been conferred or imposed by or under any enactment other than this Act;

(c)by a [F1roads authority] for the protection of a [F1road]

(d)by the British Transport Commission, or an Executive established by or under section five of the M1Transport Act 1947, for the protection of a railway; or

(e)by a harbour authority.

(2)Work excluded from the operation of the last foregoing section by virtue only of paragraphs (b) to (e) of the last foregoing subsection shall not be carried out except in accordance with the following provisions of this section; and any body or person who contravenes the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(3)Before carrying out any such work as aforesaid the body or person in question (in this section referred to as “the undertakers”) shall give to the coast protection authority in whose area the work is to be carried out, to any coast protection authority whose area adjoins that area, and to any river board or other drainage authority whose area comprises the whole or any part of that area, not less than twenty-eight days’ notice of their intention in that behalf, specifying the work to be carried out; and where notice is so given—

(a)the undertakers shall not carry out the work before the expiration of the notice; and

(b)if before the expiration of the notice any authority or board to whom the notice has been given serves notice of objection on the [F2Scottish Ministers] and on the undertakers, the undertakers shall not (unless the objection is withdrawn) carry out the work except in accordance with any direction given under the following provisions of this section.

(4)Where notice of objection has been served under the last foregoing subsection and has not been withdrawn, the [F3Scottish Ministers], after affording to the undertakers and to the objectors and, if the objectors are not the coast protection authority in whose area the work is to be carried out, to that authority, an opportunity of being heard by a person appointed by the [F4Scottish Ministers] for the purpose, shall determine the objection.

(5)Where an objection has been determined under the last foregoing subsection, the [F5Scottish Ministers] shall either direct that the undertakers shall be at liberty to carry out the work (whether as specified in the notice given by them under subsection (3) of this section or subject to such modifications or conditions as the [F5Scottish Ministers] may think fit, having regard to the determination of the objection as aforesaid) or shall direct the undertakers not to carry out the work.

(6)A coast protection authority in England or Wales shall have power to institute proceedings for a contravention of subsection (2) of this section.

(7)Nothing in this section shall prevent any body or person from carrying out, without the provisions of this section having been complied with, any coast protection work which appears to them or him to be urgently necessary for the protection of any land; but where any work is so carried out, being work to which subsection (2) of this section applies, the undertakers shall, before or as soon as possible after the commencement of the work, give to the coast protection authority in whose area the work is carried out notice of the nature of the work.

F6(8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F6(9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F6(10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18 Prohibition of excavation etc., of materials on or under the seashore

(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, and notwithstanding anything contained in any other enactment, it shall be unlawful to excavate or remove any materials (other than minerals more than fifty feet below the surface) on, under or forming part of any portion of the seashore to which the provisions of this section are applied.

(2)The provisions of the last foregoing subsection shall not affect the excavation or removal of any materials by the [F1Secretary of State] in the exercise of the powers conferred upon him by Part II of this Act, or the excavation or removal thereof by any other person in compliance with a notice served by that [F1Secretary of State] under the said Part II.

(3)A coast protection authority may make an order applying the provisions of this section to any such portion of the seashore within their area or [F2of the sea–shore lying to seaward of their area but within three nautical miles of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea adjacent to Great Britain is measured,] as may be described in the order:

(4)An order under this section shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act, and, subject to the provisions of Part II of that Schedule as to interim orders, shall not have effect unless confirmed by the Minister as therein mentioned.

(5)The authority by whom an order has been made under subsection (3) of this section may grant to any person a licence, as respects any portion of the seashore described in the order, to do anything which would otherwise be a contravention of subsection (1) of this section, and any such licence may be granted subject to such conditions as the authority may determine:

(6)An order under subsection (3) of this section may provide that this subsection shall have effect as respects any part specified in the order of the area to which the order relates, being a part of the area with which any drainage authority so specified is particularly concerned; and where an order so provides, the coast protection authority shall consult with the drainage authority before granting a licence under the last foregoing subsection relating to land in that part of the area.

(7)Any person who, without such a licence as aforesaid, excavates or removes any materials in contravention of subsection (1) of this section, or fails to comply with any condition subject to which any such licence was granted, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(8)It shall be the duty of a coast protection authority to enforce the provisions of this section as respects any portion of the seashore to which those provisions are applied by an order made by them.

(9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3

(10)Notwithstanding the repeal of the M1said Act of 1939 any order made, or deemed for the purposes of that Act to have been made, under section one of that Act, if in force immediately before the commencement of this Act, shall continue in force and have effect as if it had been made under this section by the appropriate coast protection authority and confirmed by the Minister in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act, or, if it is an interim order made by virtue of the proviso to subsection (1) of section one of the [said Act of 1939,] as if it had been made by the appropriate coast protection authority as an interim order in accordance with the provisions of Part II of the said Second Schedule; and any order continued in force as aforesaid may be amended or revoked accordingly.

In this subsection the expression “the appropriate coast protection authority” means the coast protection authority for the area which includes the portion of the seashore specified in the order continued in force, or, if that portion of the seashore includes the areas or parts of the areas of two or more coast protection authorities, means, as to so much of that portion of the seashore as falls within the area of any of the authorities, that authority.

(11)Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising a coast protection authority in Scotland to institute proceedings for any offence under this Act.

19 Provisions as to compensation

(1)Where on a claim being made under this section it is shown—

(a)that the value of an interest of any person in land has been depreciated, or that any person has suffered damage by being disturbed in his enjoyment of land, in consequence of the carrying out of coast protection work by a coast protection authority in the exercise of the powers conferred by this Part of this Act, or

(b)that the value of such an interest as aforesaid has been depreciated in consequence of the refusal of consent for which application has been made under section sixteen of this Act, or in consequence of the granting of such consent subject to conditions,

the coast protection authority shall pay to that person compensation equal to the amount of the depreciation or damage:

(2)A claim for compensation under this section shall be made to the coast protection authority within twelve months of the completion of the work, the refusal of consent, or the imposition of conditions, giving rise to the claim.

(3)Any dispute arising under this section shall be determined by arbitration.

(4)Where any interest in land is subject to a mortgage,—

(a)any compensation under this section which is payable in respect of depreciation of the value of that interest shall be assessed as if the interest were not subject to the mortgage;

(b)a claim for any such compensation may be made by any mortgagee of the interest, but without prejudice to the making of a claim by the person entitled to the interest;

(c)a mortgagee shall not be entitled to claim any such compensation in respect of his interest as such; and

(d)the compensation payable in respect of the interest subject to the mortgage shall be paid by the coast protection authority to the mortgagee or, where there is more than one mortgagee, to the first mortgagee, and shall in either case be applied by him as if it were proceeds of sale.

(5)In this section the expression “interest” includes any estate in or right over land.

(6)In the application of this section to Scotland,—

(a)for references to a mortgage, to a mortgagee and to the first mortgagee there shall be substituted respectively references to a heritable security, to a creditor in a heritable security, and to the creditor whose heritable security has priority over any other heritable securities secured on the land; and

(b)any reference to land shall include a reference to salmon fishings.

20 Contributions towards expenses of coast protection

(1)Where the Minister undertakes to make, or makes, a grant under the next following section towards expenditure incurred under this Act by the council of a [F1maritime district] in England F2. . ., the council of the county within which the [F1maritime district] is situated shall pay to the council of the [F1maritime district] a contribution towards that expenditure of such amount and payable at such time as may be agreed between the two councils, or as, in default of agreement, may be determined by the Minister subject to the following provisions of this section.

(2)The amount determined by the Minister under the last foregoing subsection of a contribution towards any expenditure shall not without the consent of the county council—

(a)exceed the amount of the grant which the Minister has made, or has undertaken to make, under the next following section towards that expenditure, or

(b)be such that the amount of the contribution, together with the amount of any other contributions which, by virtue of any agreement or determination made under the last foregoing subsection, the county council have paid or have become liable to pay (whether to the same [F1maritime district] council or to any other such council) in the same financial year, exceeds the product of a rate of [F3½p] in the pound levied over the whole county

[F4in respect of the financial year ending on 31st March 1990, increased or decreased in proportion to the difference between–

(a)the retail prices index for September of the financial year preceding that in which the contribution is payable and

(b)the retail prices index for September 1989.]

(3)So much of any contribution as is agreed between the county council and the [F1maritime district] council to be attributable to the protection of any highway for which the council was the highway authority when the relevant expenditure was incurred, or in default of such agreement so much thereof as is determined jointly by the Minister and the [F5Secretary of State] to be so attributable, shall be disregarded for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection.

(4)The council of a county in England F6. . . may pay such contributions as they think fit towards any expenses incurred by any person other than the council of a [F1maritime district] within the county in respect of coast protection work carried out within the county or appearing to the council to be work for the protection of any land in the county.

(5)The council of a [F1maritime district] in England [F7, the council of a county or county borough in Wales] or the council of a [F8district] in Scotland, not being a coast protection authority or a constituent authority of a coast protection board, may if they think fit defray, or contribute towards, the cost of carrying out any coast protection work which appears to the council to be necessary or expedient for the protection of any land in their area.

(6)A coast protection authority may defray, or contribute towards, the cost of carrying out any coast protection work, whether within or outside their area, which appears to the authority to be necessary or expedient for the protection of any land in their area.

(7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9

20 Contributions towards expenses of coast protection

(1)Where the Minister undertakes to make, or makes, a grant under the next following section towards expenditure incurred under this Act by the council of a [F1maritime district] in England F2. . ., the council of the county within which the [F1maritime district] is situated shall pay to the council of the [F1maritime district] a contribution towards that expenditure of such amount and payable at such time as may be agreed between the two councils, or as, in default of agreement, may be determined by the Minister subject to the following provisions of this section.

(2)The amount determined by the Minister under the last foregoing subsection of a contribution towards any expenditure shall not without the consent of the county council—

(a)exceed the amount of the grant which the Minister has made, or has undertaken to make, under the next following section towards that expenditure, or

(b)be such that the amount of the contribution, together with the amount of any other contributions which, by virtue of any agreement or determination made under the last foregoing subsection, the county council have paid or have become liable to pay (whether to the same [F1maritime district] council or to any other such council) in the same financial year, exceeds the product of a rate of [F3½p] in the pound levied over the whole county

[F4in respect of the financial year ending on 31st March 1990, increased or decreased in proportion to the difference between–

(a)the retail prices index for September of the financial year preceding that in which the contribution is payable and

(b)the retail prices index for September 1989.]

(3)So much of any contribution as is agreed between the county council and the [F1maritime district] council to be attributable to the protection of any [F5roads] for which the council was the [F5roads authority] when the relevant expenditure was incurred, or in default of such agreement so much thereof as is determined jointly by the Minister and the [F6Secretary of State] to be so attributable, shall be disregarded for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection.

(4)The council of a county in England F7. . . may pay such contributions as they think fit towards any expenses incurred by any person other than the council of a [F1maritime district] within the county in respect of coast protection work carried out within the county or appearing to the council to be work for the protection of any land in the county.

(5)The council of a [F1maritime district] in England [F8, the council of a county or county borough in Wales]F9. . ., not being a coast protection authority or a constituent authority of a coast protection board, may if they think fit defray, or contribute towards, the cost of carrying out any coast protection work which appears to the council to be necessary or expedient for the protection of any land in their area.

(6)A coast protection authority may defray, or contribute towards, the cost of carrying out any coast protection work, whether within or outside their area, which appears to the authority to be necessary or expedient for the protection of any land in their area.

(7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10