Gas and Water Works Facilities Act, 1870

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GAS AND WATER WORKS FACILITIES ACT 1870

CHAPTER LXX.

An Act to facilitate in certain cases the obtaining of powers for the construction of Gas and Water Works and for the supply of Gas and Water. [9th August 1870.]

Preliminary.

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as “The Gas and Water Works Facilities Act, 1870.”

Interpretation of terms.

8 & 9 Vict. cc. 18, 19.

23 & 24 Vict. c. 106.

2. For the purposes of this Act the terms herein-after mentioned shall have the meanings herein-after assigned to them; that is to say,

The term “local authority” shall mean the bodies of persons named in the table in the Schedule (A) to this Act annexed;

The term “road” shall mean any carriageway being a public highway, and any bridge forming part of the same :

The term “road authority” shall mean any local authority, board, town council, body corporate, commissioners, trustees, vestry, or other body or persons in whom a road as defined by this Act is vested, or who have the power to maintain or repair such road :

The term “district,” in relation to a local authority, shall mean the area within the jurisdiction of such local authority:

The term “The Lands Clauses Acts” means, so far as the Provisional Order in which that term is used relates to England or Ireland, the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845; and, so far as the same relates to Scotland, the Lands Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845; together with, in each case, the Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts Amendment Act, 1860.

Description of Cases within this Act.

Act to apply to certain cases.

3. This Act shall apply where powers are required for all or any of the purposes following:—

(1.) To construct or to maintain and continue gasworks and works connected therewith, or to manufacture and supply gas in any district within which there is not an existing company, corporation, body of commissioners, or person empowered by Act of Parliament to construct such works or to manufacture and supply gas:

(2.) To construct or to maintain and continue waterworks and works connected therewith, or to supply water in any district within which there is not an existing company, corporation, body of commissioners, or person empowered by Act of Parliament to construct such works and to supply water:

(3.) To raise additional capital necessary for any of the purposes aforesaid:

(4.) To enable two or more companies or persons duly authorized to supply gas or water in any district or in adjoining districts to enter into agreements jointly to furnish such supply, or to amalgamate their undertakings :

(5.) To authorize two or more companies or persons supplying gas or water in any district or in adjoining districts to manufacture and supply gas or to supply water, and to enter into agreements jointly to furnish such supply and to amalgamate their undertakings:

and such purposes, or any one or more of them, as the case may be, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be included in the term “gas undertaking” or “water undertaking,” according as the same relate to the supply of gas or water; provided that any gas or water company empowered as aforesaid may apply for and avail themselves of the facilities of this Act within their own districts respectively.

Provisional Orders authorizing Gas and Water Undertakings.

By whom provisional orders authorizing undertakings may be obtained.

4. Provisional Orders authorizing any gas undertaking or water undertaking under the authority of this Act may be obtained in any district by any company, companies, or person; and in the construction of this Act the term “the undertakers” shall be deemed to include any such company, companies, or person.

Where the undertakers require powers for the purpose of constructing gasworks or waterworks, or works connected therewith within any district, the consent of the local authority of such district shall be necessary before any Provisional Order can be obtained; and where in such district there is a road authority distinct from the local authority, the consent of such road authority shall also be necessary in any case where power is sought to break up any road of such road authority, before any Provisional Order can be obtained, unless the Board of Trade in any case in which the consent of the local authority or road authority is refused are of opinion, after inquiry, that, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, such consent ought to be dispensed with, and in such case they shall make a special report, stating the grounds upon which they have dispensed with such consent.

Notices and deposit of documents by promoters as in schedule.

7 Will. 4. and 1 Vict. c. 83.

5. The undertakers intending to make an application for a Provisional Order in pursuance of this Act shall proceed as follows :—

(1.) On or before the first of November next before their application they shall give notice in writing of their intention to make the same to every company, corporation, or person (if any) supplying gas (if the proposed application relates to gasworks) or water (if the proposed application relates to waterworks) within the district to which the proposed application refers:

(2.) In the months of October and November next before their application, or in one of those months, they shall publish notice of their intention to make such application by advertisement, according to the regulations contained in Part One of the Schedule (B.) to this Act; and where it is proposed to abstract water from any stream for any waterwork, they shall give notice in writing of their intention to make such application to the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed lessees, and occupiers of all mills and manufactories or other works using the waters of such stream for a distance of twenty miles below the point at which such water is intended to be abstracted, such distance to be measured along the course of such stream, unless such waters shall within a less distance than twenty miles fall into or unite with any navigable stream, and then only to the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed lessees, and occupiers of such mills and manufactories as aforesaid which shall be situate between the point at which such water is proposed to be abstracted and the point at which such water shall fall into or unite with such navigable stream; and such notice shall state the name (if any) by which the stream is known at the point at which such water shall be immediately abstracted, and also the parish in which such point is situate, and the time and place of deposit of the plans and sections required by this Act to be deposited:

(3.) On or before the thirtieth day of the same month of November they shall deposit the documents described in Part Two of the same schedule, according to the regulations therein contained :

(4.) On or before the twenty-third day of December in the same year they shall deposit the documents described in Part Three of the same schedule, according to the regulations therein contained.

All maps, plans, and documents required by this Act to be deposited for the purposes of any Provisional Order may be deposited with the persons and in the manner directed by the Parliamentary Documents Deposit Act, 1837; and all the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly.

Board of Trade to consider application and objection.

6. The Board of Trade shall consider the application, and also any objection thereto that may be lodged with them on or before such day as they from time to time appoint, and shall determine whether or not the undertakers may proceed with the application.

Board of Trade to make Provisional Order.

Form and contents of Provisional Order.

Costs of Order.

7. Where it appears to the Board of Trade expedient and proper that the application should be granted, with or without addition or modification, or subject or not to any restriction or condition, and it has been proved to their satisfaction that all the requisitions of section five of this Act have been in all respects complied with, the Board of Trade may settle and make a Provisional Order accordingly.

Every such Provisional Order if it relates to gasworks shall expressly restrict the undertakers from manufacturing gas or any residual products arising in the manufacture of gas on any land except such as is specified in that behalf in the order; and shall also expressly restrict them from storing gas on any land except such as is specified in that behalf in the order within three hundred yards from any dwelling-house existing at the time when the undertakers propose to store gas on such land, without the consent in writing of the owner, lessee, and occupier of such dwelling-house.

Every such Provisional Order shall contain such other provisions as, according to the nature of the application and the facts and circumstances of each case, the Board of Trade thinks fit to submit to Parliament for confirmation in manner provided by this Act; but so that any such Provisional Order shall not contain any provision for empowering the undertakers or any other person to acquire lands otherwise than by agreement, or to acquire any lands, even by agreement, except to an extent therein limited.

The costs of and connected with the preparation and making of each Provisional Order shall be paid by the undertakers, and the Board of Trade may require the undertakers to give security for such costs before they proceed with the Provisional Order.

Publication of Provisional Order.

8. When a Provisional Order has been made as aforesaid and delivered to the undertakers, the undertakers shall forthwith deposit and publish the same by advertisement according to the regulations contained in Part Four of the Schedule (B.) to this Act.

Confirmation of Provisional Order by Act of Parliament.

9. On proof to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade of the completion of such publication as aforesaid, the Board of Trade shall, as soon as they conveniently can after the expiration of seven days from the completion of such publication in relation to any Provisional Order which shall have been published as aforesaid, not later than the twenty-fifth of April in any year procure a Bill to be introduced into either House of Parliament for an Act to confirm the Provisional Order, which shall be set out at length in the schedule to the Bill; but until confirmation by Act of Parliament a Provisional Order under this Act shall not have any operation.

If while any such Bill is pending in either House of Parliament a petition is presented against any Provisional Order comprised therein, the Bill, so far as it relates to the order petitioned against, may be referred to a select committee, and the petitioner shall be allowed to appear and oppose as in the case of a Bill for a special Act.

The Act of Parliament confirming any Provisional Order under this Act shall be deemed a Public General Act.

Incorporation of general Acts in Provisional Order.

10 & 11 Vict. c. 15.

10 & 11 Vict. c. 17.

26 & 27 Vict. c. 93.

10. The provisions of the Lands Clauses Acts shall be in corporated with every Provisional Order under this Act, save where the same are expressly varied or excepted by any such Provisional Order, and except as to the following provisions, namely,—

(1.) With respect to the purchase and taking of lands otherwise than by agreement:

(2.) With respect to the entry upon lands by the promoters of the undertaking.

Where a Provisional Order authorizes a gas undertaking the provisions of the Gasworks Clauses Act, 1847, shall be incorporated with such Provisional Order, save where the same are thereby expressly varied or excepted.

Where a Provisional Order authorizes a water undertaking the provisions of the Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847, and of the Waterworks Clauses Act, 1863, shall be incorporated with such Provisional Order, save where the same are thereby expressly varied or excepted.

For the purposes of such incorporation a Provisional Order under this Act shall be deemed the special Act.

Cesser of powers at expiration of prescribed time.

11. If any undertakers empowered by any Provisional Order under this Act to make works do not, within three years from the date of such Provisional Order, or within any shorter period prescribed therein complete the works; or,

If within one year from the date of the Provisional Order, or within such shorter time as is prescribed in the Provisional Order, the works are not substantially commenced; or,

If the works are commenced, but whilst the powers to carry them on exist are suspended without a reason sufficient in the opinion of the Board of Trade to warrant such suspension;

the powers given by the Provisional Order to the undertakers for executing such works, or otherwise in relation thereto, shall cease to be exercised, except as to so much of the same as is then completed, unless the time be prolonged by the special direction of the Board of Trade.

A statement in writing by the Board of Trade to the effect that such works have not been completed, or that the works have not been substantially commenced, or that they have been suspended without sufficient reason, shall be conclusive evidence for the purposes of this section of such non-completion, non-commencement, or suspension.

Gas rents and water rates.

12. The undertakers empowered by any Provisional Order under this Act may demand and take, in respect of gas or water supplied by them under the authority of such Provisional Order, rents and rates respectively not exceeding the sums specified in such Provisional Order, subject and according to the regulations therein specified.

Company not exempt from provisions of general Act.

13. Nothing in any Provisional Order, or Act confirming the same, shall exempt the undertaking, or the company, corporation, or person to whom it belongs, from the provisions of any general Act of Parliament relating to gasworks or waterworks, passed after the passing of this Act, or from any revision or alteration under the authority of Parliament of the maximum rents and rates allowed to be taken under the Provisional Order.

Queen in Council may substitute any department for Board of Trade for the purposes of this Act.

14. For the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty at any time after the passing of this Act, by Order in Council, to substitute for the Board of Trade any other department of Her Majesty's Government, and from and after such time as may be specified for the purpose in any such order, or if no time be specified therein from and after the date of such order, all matters to be done in pursuance of this Act by or in connexion with the Board of Trade shall be done by or in connexion with such substituted department.

Act not to apply to Metropolis.

18 & 19 Vict. c. 120.

15. This Act shall not apply to any place within the Metropolis, as the same is defined in the Metropolis Management Act, 1855.

SCHEDULE A.

Sect. 2 .

SCHEDULE B.

Provisional Orders.

Part I.

Sect. 5 .

Advertisement in October or November of intended application.

(1.) Every advertisement is to contain the following particulars :

1. The object of the intended application.

2. A general description of the nature of the proposed new works, if any.

3. The names of the townlands, parishes, townships, and extra-parochial places in which the proposed new works, if any, will be made.

4. The times and places at which the deposit under Part II. of the schedule will be made.

5. An office, either in London or at the place to which the intended application relates, at which printed copies of the draft Provisional Order, when deposited, and of the Provisional Order, when made, will be obtainable as herein after provided.

(2.) The whole notice is to be included in one advertisement, which is to be headed with a short title descriptive of the undertaking.

(3.) The advertisement is to be inserted once at least in each of two successive weeks in some one and the same newspaper published in the district affected by the proposed undertaking, where the proposed works (if any) will be made; or if there be no such newspaper, then in some one and the same newspaper published in the county in which every such district, or some part thereof, is situate; or if there be none, then in some one and the same newspaper published in some adjoining or neighbouring county.

(4.) The advertisement is also, in every case, to be inserted once at least in the London, Edinburgh, or Dublin Gazette, accordingly as the district is situate in England, Scotland, or Ireland.

Part II.

Sect. 5 .

Deposit on or before 30th November.

(1.) The undertakers are to deposit—

1. A copy of the advertisement published by them.

2. If the application relates to gas, a map showing the land proposed to be used for the manufacture of gas, or of residual products arising in the manufacture of gas.

3. A proper plan and section of the proposed new works, if any, such plan and section to be prepared according to such regulations as may from time to time be made by the Board of Trade in that behalf.

(2.) The documents aforesaid are to be deposited for public inspection—

In England or Ireland, in the office of the clerk of the peace for every county, riding, or division; in Scotland, in the office of the principal sheriff clerk for every county, district, or division which will be affected by the proposed undertaking, or in which any proposed new work will be made.

(3.) The documents aforesaid are also to be deposited at the office of the Board of Trade.

Part III.

Sect. 5 .

Deposit on or before 23rd December.

(1.) The undertakers are to deposit at the office of the Board of Trade—

1. A memorial signed by the undertakers, headed with a short title descriptive of the undertaking (corresponding with that at the head of the advertisement), addressed to the Board of Trade, and praying for a Provisional Order.

2. A printed draft of the Provisional Order as proposed by the undertakers, with any schedule referred to therein.

3. An estimate of the expense of the proposed new works, if any, signed by the persons making the same.

(2.) They are also to deposit a sufficient number of such printed copies at the office named in that behalf in the advertisement; such copies to be there furnished to all persons applying for them at the price of not more than one shilling each.

(3.) The memorial of the undertakers (to be written on foolscap paper, bookwise, with quarter margin) is to be in the following form, with such variations as circumstances require :—

[Short title of undertaking.]

To the Board of Trade,

The memorial of the undertakers of [short title of undertaking] :

Showeth as follows ;

1. Your memorialists have published, in accordance with the requirements of the Gas and Water Works Facilities Act, 1870, the following advertisement:

[Here advertisement to be set out verbatim.]

2. Your memorialists have also deposited, in accordance with the requirements of the said Act, copies of the said advertisement and [Here state deposit of the several matters required by Act].

Your memorialists, therefore, pray that a Provisional Order may be made in the terms of the draft proposed by your memorialists, or in such other terms as may seem meet.

A.B.,

C.D.,

Undertakers.

Part IV.

Sect. 8 .

Deposit and advertisement of Provisional Order when made.

(1.) The undertakers are to deposit printed copies of the Provisional Order, when settled and made, for public inspection in the offices of clerks of the peace and sheriff clerks, where the documents required to be deposited by them under Part II. of this schedule were deposited.

(2.) They are also to deposit a sufficient number of such printed copies at the office named in that behalf in the advertisement, such copies to be there furnished to all persons applying for them at the price of each.

(3.) They are also to publish the Provisional Order as an advertisement once in the local newspaper in which the original advertisement of the intended application was published.