Harbours Act 1964

1964 CHAPTER 40

Contents

Go to Preamble

1. The National Ports Council

   1. 1—8... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. Control of harbour Development

   1. 9.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   2. 10.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3. Exchequer Assistance for Execution of harbour Works, &c

   1. 11. Loans for execution of harbour works, &c

   2. 12.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   3. 13. Maximum amount of loans and grants under sections 11 and 12, and cesser of certain other powers to give financial assistance

4. Harbour Revision and Empowerment Orders

   1. 14. Ministers’ powers, on application of harbour authorities, or others, to make orders for securing harbour efficiency, &c

   2. 15. Ministers’ powers to make, of their own motion, orders for limited purposes for securing harbour efficiency, &c

   3. 15A. Ministers’ powers to make orders about port appointments

   4. 16. Ministers’ powers, on application of intending undertakers, or others, to make orders conferring powers for improvement, construction, &c., of harbours

   5. 17. Procedure for making harbour revision and empowerment orders, and substitution thereof, in general, for provisional orders

5. Harbour Reorganisation Schemes

   1. 18. Harbour reorganisation schemes

6. Compensation for Loss of Office, &c

   1. 19. Compensation for loss of office, &c., in consequence of orders and schemes under foregoing provisions

7. Control of Movement of Ships in Harbours

   1. 20—25... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8. Harbour Charges

   1. 26. Repeal of provisions limiting discretion of certain harbour authorities as to ship, passenger and goods dues charged by them

   2. 27. Certain charges of certain harbour authorities to be reasonable (E+W)

   3. 27. Certain charges of certain harbour authorities to be reasonable (S)

   4. 27A. Combined charges

   5. 28. Repeal of provisions limiting discretion of nationalised transport bodies as to ship, passenger and merchandise dues chargeable at certain harbours owned or managed by them

   6. 29. Repeal of provisions limiting discretion of local lighthouse authorities as to local light dues

   7. 30. Duty of harbour and local lighthouse authorities to make available for inspection, and to keep for sale, copies of lists of certain charges

   8. 31. Right of objection to ship, passenger and goods dues

   9. 32—34.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   10. 35.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   11. 36.

   12. 37. Special provisions with respect to certain aviation charges

   13. 38. Repeal of certain enactments relating to harbour charges

   14. 39. Amendments of Acts consequential on sections 26 to 37

9. Conditions as to Use of harbour Services and Facilities provided by certain harbour Authorities

   1. 40. Conditions as to use of harbour services and facilities provided by certain harbour authorities

10. Furnishing of Information

    1. 41. Power of Council to obtain information and forecasts

    2. 42. Accounts and reports relating to harbour activities and associated activities

11. Miscellaneous and General

    1. 43. Provisions with respect to loans made under this Act by the Minister

    2. 44. Limitation of right to challenge harbour revision orders, &c., in legal proceedings

    3. 45. Penalisation of furnishing false information

    4. 46. Restriction of disclosure of information

    5. 47. Provisions as to inquiries and hearings

    6. 48. Service of documents

    7. 48A. Environmental duties of harbour authorities

    8. 49. Provisions as to ecclesiastical property

    9. 50. Reckoning of periods

    10. 51. Modification of Harbours, Piers and Ferries (Scotland) Act 1937

    11. 52. Application of Act to Crown

    12. 53. Saving for telegraphic lines

    13. 54. Orders and regulations

    14. 55. Offences by corporations

    15. 56.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    16. 57. Interpretation

    17. 59.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    18. 60. Power to amend Acts of local application

    19. 61. Expenses

    20. 62.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    21. 63.†Short title, extent, repeal and commencement

12. SCHEDULE 1

13. SCHEDULE 2

    Objects for whose Achievement Harbour Revision Orders may be made

14. SCHEDULE 3

    PROCEDURE FOR MAKING HARBOUR REVISION AND EMPOWERMENT ORDERS

15. SCHEDULE 4

    Procedure for Confirming and Making Harbour Reorganisation Schemes

16. SCHEDULE 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17. SCHEDULE 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An Act to establish a National Ports Council; to provide for the control of harbour development and for giving financial assistance for the improvement of harbours; to make other provision respecting the construction, improvement, maintenance and management of harbours; to make provision with respect to charges of certain harbour authorities and lighthouse authorities; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[10th June 1964]

The National Ports Council

1—8.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

Control of harbour Development

9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

Exchequer Assistance for Execution of harbour Works, &c

11 Loans for execution of harbour works, &c

(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, the Minister, with the approval of the Treasury . . . F1 may, out of moneys which, by virtue of the following provisions of this Act, are issued to him for the purpose out of the [F2National Loans Fund,] give to a harbour authority assistance by way of loan—

(a)in respect of expenses incurred by them—

(i)in executing, at a harbour which in the exercise and performance of statutory powers and duties they are engaged in improving, maintaining or managing, works for the improvement, maintenance or management of the harbour;

(ii)in acquiring plant or equipment required for the carrying out at the harbour of harbour operations;

(iii)in acquiring land required for the purposes of the harbour or an extension thereof;

(b)to enable them to repay the whole or part of the principal of, or to pay the whole or part of a sum due by way of the payment of interest on, a loan made to them by virtue of the foregoing paragraph,

provided that, in the case of assistance in respect of expenses incurred, he is satisfied that the expenses are such as ought properly to be regarded as being of a capital nature.

(2)Assistance given under the foregoing subsection in respect of expenses incurred in the execution of any works may include a sum in respect of costs in, or in connection with, the preparation of plans and specifications of the works, reports with respect thereto and estimates of the expenses to be incurred for the purposes of the execution thereof and a sum in respect of the remuneration of any architect, engineer or other person employed in an advisory or supervisory capacity in connection with the execution of the works.

(3)No assistance shall be given under subsection (1) of this section for the repayment of any such part of the principal of a loan as falls due for repayment more than five years from the date on which the loan was made or for the payment of interest on a loan for any period beginning more than five years from that date.

(4)No assistance shall at any time be given under subsection (1) of this section by the Minister to a harbour authority in respect of expenses incurred by them in relation to a harbour or to enable them to repay the principal of, or to pay interest on, a loan unless at that time the harbour is neither a fishery harbour nor a marine work.

12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

13 Maximum amount of loans and grants under sections 11 and 12, and cesser of certain other powers to give financial assistance

(1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

(2)No advance shall be made after the passing of this Act under section 17(1) of the M1Ministry of Transport Act 1919 by the Minister for the construction, improvement or maintenance of a harbour, dock or pier, and no advance or loan shall be made—

(a)under section 3 of the M2Harbours and Passing Tolls, &c. Act 1861 . . . F2by the Public Works Loan Commissioners for carrying any shipping purpose into effect at a harbour which is not for the time being a fishery harbour or marine work;

(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3

unless those Commissioners have agreed before the passing of this Act to make it.

Harbour Revision and Empowerment Orders

14 Ministers’ powers, on application of harbour authorities, or others, to make orders for securing harbour efficiency, &c

(1)Subject to the provisions of this section and to the following provisions of this Act, there may, in relation to a harbour which is being improved, maintained or managed by a harbour authority in the exercise and performance of statutory powers and duties, be made by the appropriate Minister an order (in this Act referred to as a “harbour revision order”) for achieving all or any of the objects specified in Schedule 2 to this Act.

(2)Subject to the next following section, a harbour revision order shall not be made in relation to a harbour by the appropriate Minister—

(a)except upon written application in that behalf made to him by the authority engaged in improving, maintaining or managing it or by a person appearing to him to have a substantial interest or body representative of persons appearing to him to have such an interest; and

(b)unless the appropriate Minister is satisfied that the making of the order is desirable in the interests of securing the improvement, maintenance or management of the harbour in an efficient and economical manner or of facilitating the efficient and economic transport of goods or passengers by sea [F1or in the interests of the recreational use of sea-going ships].

[ F2(2A)The objects for achieving all or any of which a harbour revision order may be made in relation to a harbour include repealing superseded, obsolete or otherwise unnecessary statutory provisions of local application affecting the harbour, or consolidating any statutory provisions of local application affecting the harbour; and subsection (2)(b) of this section does not apply to an order in so far as it is made for objects mentioned in this subsection.]

[ F3(2B)Nothing in subsection (2)(b) of this section shall prevent the making of an order for facilitating—

(a)the closing of part of the harbour,

(b)a reduction in the facilities available in the harbour, or

(c)the disposal of property not required for the purposes of the harbour,

if the appropriate Minister is satisfied that the making of the order is desirable on grounds other than those specified in that subsection.]

(3)A harbour revision order may include all such provisions as appear to the appropriate Minister to be requisite or expedient for rendering of full effect [F4any other provision of the order]and any [F5supplementary, consequential or incidental] provisions appearing to him to be requisite or expedient for the purposes of [F6, or in connection with,] the order, including, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing words, penal provisions and provisions incorporating, with or without modifications, any provision of the Lands Clauses Acts or any other enactment and provisions for [F7excluding or modifying any provision of any Act or of any instrument made under any Act (including this Act) and for repealing] any statutory provision of local application affecting the harbour to which the order relates; but no penal provision of a harbour revision order shall be so framed as to permit of a person’s being punished otherwise than on his conviction or as to permit—

(a)on his being summarily convicted, of the infliction on him of a penalty other than a fine or of [F8 —

(i)in the case of an offence triable either summarily or on indictment, the infliction on him of a fine exceeding the prescribed sum within the meaning of section 32 of the M1Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 or section 289B of the M2 Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975;

(ii)in the case of an offence triable only summarily, the infliction on him of a fine exceeding [F9level 4 on the standard scale] or, in the case of a continuing offence, a daily fine exceeding £50 for each day on which the offence continues after conviction;]

(b)on his being convicted on indictment, of the infliction on him of [F10 a penalty other than a fine].

(4)In the case of a harbour revision order that provides for the establishment of a body as the harbour authority for the harbour to which the order relates in lieu of the existing one, references in paragraphs 2 to 17 of Schedule 2 to this Act to the authority (except in the case of the reference in paragraph 3 the references, other than the second, in paragraph 5 and the second reference in paragraph 11) shall be construed as referring to the body established by the order as the harbour authority, and in the said excepted case shall be construed as referring to the existing one.

[ F11(4A)Where two or more harbours are being improved, maintained or managed by the same harbour authority or by harbour authorities which are members of the same group, a harbour revision order may relate to more than one of the harbours; and for this purpose two authorities are members of the same group if one is a subsidiary (within the meaning of the Companies Act 1985) of the other or both are subsidiaries of another company (within the meaning of that Act).]

(5)Where a harbour revision order includes provision for the compulsory acquisition of land, there must, in the case of each parcel of land proposed to be acquired compulsorily, be annexed to the order a [F12map of a scale not less than 1:2500] on which the boundaries of that parcel are plainly delineated.

[ F13(5A)Where a harbour revision order includes provision for extinguishing or diverting a public right of way over a footpath or bridleway, there must be annexed to the order a map of a scale not less than 1:2500 on which the path or way concerned, and in the case of a diversion the new path or way, are plainly delineated.]

F14(6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(7)In this section and in Schedule 2 to this Act “the appropriate Minister”, in the case of an order to be made in relation to a harbour not being a fishery harbour or a marine work means the Minister, in the case of an order to be made in relation to a fishery harbour means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and in the case of an order to be made in relation to a marine work means the Secretary of State.

15 Ministers’ powers to make, of their own motion, orders for limited purposes for securing harbour efficiency, &c

(1)If, with respect to a harbour, the appropriate Minister is satisfied, . . . F1 that a harbour revision order ought to be made for the purpose of achieving, in relation to the harbour, either or both of the following objects, namely,—

(a)reconstituting the harbour authority by whom the harbour is being improved, maintained or managed or altering their constitution; and

(b)regulating (in whole or to a less extent) the procedure of, or of any committee of, the authority and fixing the quorum at a meeting of, or of any committee of, the authority;

he may, if he is satisfied as mentioned in subsection (2)(b) of the last foregoing section, make the order despite the fact that no application to him for the making of it is forthcoming from the authority engaged in improving, maintaining or managing the harbour or from any such person or representative body as is mentioned in subsection (2)(a) of that section.

(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

(3)In this section “the appropriate Minister”, in relation to a harbour not being a fishery harbour or a marine work means the Minister, in relation to a fishery harbour means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and in relation to a marine work means the Secretary of State.