The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011

In this Schedule—

“application” means the spreading, spraying, incorporating or injecting into or onto land;

[F1“bed width” means the straight line distance that is between the opposite bank toes of a river burn or ditch, and which spans the bed of the river, burn or ditch, including any exposed bars and vegetated islands,]

[F2“buffer zone” means an area of land, where no storage or application of fertiliser or pesticide takes place, which intercepts (or would intercept) run-off from the storage or application of fertiliser or pesticide to prevent it from entering the water environment;]

“channel width” means the straight line distance that is between opposite bank tops of a river, burn or ditch and which spans the bed of a river, burn or ditch, including any exposed bars and vegetated islands;

[F1“constructed farm wetland” means a series of ponds for the treatment of slurry or silage effluent consisting mainly of rainwater, which have been constructed in such a manner that any discharge from the ponds does not pollute the water environment,]

[F3“container” means a single or double skinned fixed tank, a drum, a mobile bowser or (even if not connected to fixed pipe or fixed pipework) an intermediate bulk  container;]

“crop” includes any plant grown for a commercial purpose;

“cultivation” includes the preparation of land prior to planting, and the harvesting of any crop;

[F4“dewatered” in relation to digestate or sewage sludge means digestate or sewage sludge which—

“ditch” means an open channel which collects and conveys drainage water from surface or subsurface drainage to the wider surface water environment;

[F1“domestic sewage” has the same meaning as in section 59 of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968,]

[F1“draff” means the residue of grain after fermentation of the grain in a brewing or distilling process,]

[F1“draw off pipe” means a pipe used to withdraw oil from a container,]

[F5“drum” means an oil drum or similar container used for storing oil;

“eroding bank” means any bank of a river, ditch or burn which is being eroded by the action of the river, ditch or burn;]

[F1“farm” means land occupied as a unit for agricultural purposes,]

“farm yard manure” means a mixture of bedding material and animal excreta in solid form arising from the housing of livestock (excepting such arising from the keeping of birds for the production of food) [F6and includes digestate fibrous residue];

“fertiliser” means any substance containing nutrients which is utilised on land to enhance plant growth, but excludes forestry brash;

[F1“fill pipe” means a pipe used to deliver oil into a container,]

[F7“fixed tank” includes an intermediate bulk container which is connected to fixed pipework;]

[F1“forage crop” means any crop grown as food for livestock or for use in energy production,]

“forest” means land of an area of more than 0.5 hectares—

“forestry operations” means operations carried out on land with a tree canopy cover of more than 10 per cent over an area of more than 0.5 hectares;

[F1“housed” means kept permanently or overwintered, indoors or outside, on a collection based slurry system,]

[F1“impermeable sheet material” means—

[F8“invasive species of plant outwith its native range” has the same meaning as in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981;]

[F1“liquid digestate” means—

resulting from an anaerobic digestion process of a consistency that allows it to be pumped or discharged by gravity at any stage in the handling process,]

[F1“liquid digestate storage system” means—

[F1“liquid digestate tank” includes a lagoon or tower used for the storage of liquid digestate,]

[F1“livestock” means any animal kept for use or profit as part of a commercial  enterprise,]

“minor bridge” means a bridge having no part of its structure within the channel of a river, burn or ditch and constructed for the purpose of supporting a footpath, cycle route or single track road;

“moling” means a cultivation method if an implement is used to open a conduit within the soil along which water may flow;

[F9“oil” means any kind of oil other than solid products such as uncut bitumen and includes fuel oil, waste oil, biofuel mixtures, vegetable oil, plant oil, lubricant oil and hydraulic oil;]

“pesticide” has the same meaning as in section 16 of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (control of pesticides etc.) M1;

[F10“plant protection products” means products, in the form in which they are supplied to the user, consisting of, or containing, active substances, safeners or synergists, and intended for one of the following uses:

[F1“precision equipment” means equipment capable of low emission, accurate application techniques including a dribble bar or band spreader, trailing hose, trailing shoe or direct injection,]

[F1“private dwelling” means any part of a building used or intended to be used as a dwelling,]

[F1“radioactive substance” has the same meaning as in paragraph 4 of schedule 8 of the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018,]

[F1“reception pit” means a pit used for the collection of slurry before it is transferred into a slurry storage tank or for the collection of slurry discharged from such a tank,]

“revetment” means a modification to a bank of a river, burn or ditch that increases the resistance of the bank to lateral erosion;

“rip rap” means irregular shaped stones placed along a bank of a river, burn or ditch for the purpose of increasing the resistance of the bank to erosion;

“rural land use activities” means agricultural, forestry or leisure activity;

[F11“secondary containment system” means a drip tray, an area surrounded by a bund or catchpit, or any other system for preventing oil which is no longer in its container from escaping from the place where it is stored;]

“sewage” has the same meaning as in section 59 of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 (interpretation) M2;

[F1“silage” means any forage crop (including draff) which is being, or has been, conserved by fermentation or preservation (including the use of additives), or both, ]

[F1“silage effluent” means—

[F1“silo” means any structure used for making or storing silage,]

[F1“slurry” includes—

[F1“slurry storage system” means—

[F1“slurry storage tank” includes a lagoon, pit (other than a reception pit) or tower used for the storage of slurry,]

“SUD system” has the same meaning as in the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968;

“surface water drainage system” means a system, such as a SUD system that is used to collect and drain water run off from one or more premises and transport it to, and discharge it into, the water environment, and may include, among other things, any surface water sewers and associated inlets, outfalls, gullies, manholes, oil interceptors, silt traps, and attenuation, settlement and treatment facilities;

“temporary bridge” means any bridge which will be removed within a period of 12 months beginning with the date on which its construction commences;

“trade effluent” has the same meaning as in section 59 of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968;

[F12“trees or parts of trees” includes any root wads, brash, stakes made of live willow and willow spiling but does not include timber products or wood prepared for use in building or carpentry;]

[F1“trunk road” has the same meaning as in section 151 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984];

“uncultivated land” means land which has not been ploughed, rotovated or improved by management practices, but excludes land mounded for the purpose of planting riparian woodland);

“water for human consumption” means water that may be ingested by humans, used in the preparation of food or drink, or used in the cleaning of materials involved in the storage or consumption of food or drink;

[F13“water run-off” means any water from rainfall or any meltwater from ice or snow flowing over or horizontally through the surface of the ground and any matter picked up by that water as it does so;]

“waterbound road” means a road [F14or track] constructed of coarse stone and fine aggregate to form a tightly bound semi-impervious surface;F15...

“waterlogged” means soil which is at water retaining capacity, except in a forest where it means where water is visible on the soil surface.

[F16“well” includes a permeable underground collection tank; and

“willow spiling” means live willow rods woven between live willow uprights driven into the bank or bed of a watercourse.]