London Government Act 1963

Section 62.

SCHEDULE 14Functions as from 1st April 1965 with respect to Land Drainage, Flood Prevention, etc.

1Subject to the following provisions of this Schedule, the functions exercisable by the council of a county borough under the Land Drainage Act 1930 and the Land Drainage Act 1961 (hereafter in this Schedule respectively referred to as " the Act of 1930 " and " the Act of 1961 ") shall be exercisable as respects a London borough by the council of the borough and as respects the City by the Common Council, and accordingly references in those Acts to a county borough and the council thereof shall, without prejudice to paragraphs 2 and 4 of this Schedule, be construed as including references respectively to a London borough and the council thereof and the City and the Common Council.

2Subject as aforesaid, the functions exercisable by the council of a county borough under or by virtue of Part V and section 51 of the Act of 1930 and sections 28 and 34 of the Act of 1961 shall also be exercisable as respects the metropolitan watercourses by the Greater London Council, and accordingly references in those provisions to a county borough and the council thereof shall, in their application to the metropolitan watercourses, be construed as including references respectively to Greater London and the Greater London Council.

3The functions exercisable under the Acts of 1930 and 1961 by the council of a London borough or county district or by the Common Council shall, so far as concerns the main metropolitan watercourses, including the banks thereof and drainage works in connection therewith, be exercisable solely by the Greater London Council; and, without prejudice to the foregoing restriction, any provision of the Acts of 1930 and 1961 which precludes or restricts the exercise by a county borough council of any functions with respect to a main river shall apply to the exercise by the council of a London borough or county district or the Common Council of any functions with respect to a main metropolitan watercourse.

4References to a county borough and the council thereof in section 4(2), 6(4) and 54 of, and paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 2 to, the Act of 1930 and in section 17 of the Act of 1961 shall be construed as including references respectively to Greater London and the Greater London Council.

5Section 78 of the Land Drainage Act 1930 shall cease to have effect, but sections 10, 17 to 19 and 50(1)(a) and (4) of that Act shall not apply in relation to the metropolitan watercourses.

6The foregoing provisions of this Schedule shall not be construed as applying to any river board area or river authority area a provision of the Act of 1930 which is excluded by paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the River Boards Act 1948, or any corresponding provision of the Water Resources Act 1963.

7Subject to the provisions of paragraph 16 of this Schedule and to any provision made by an order under section 84 or 87 of this Act—

(a)the functions of the council of any county or county borough under the local enactments relating to the metropolitan watercourses shall instead of being exercisable by that council be exercisable by the Greater London Council, and references in any such enactment to any such council shall be construed accordingly ;

(b)the local enactments relating to so much of the tidal Thames as lies within the existing county of London shall apply to the whole of the tidal Thames (as described in the Table in paragraph 15(1) of this Schedule), and in those enactments references to, or which are to be taken as references to, the county of London shall be construed as references to the London excluded area ;

(c)no functions relating to land drainage, flood prevention and the like matters shall (subject to paragraph 16 of this Schedule) be exercisable with respect to the tidal Thames by any authority under any local statutory provisions other than the enactments mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph or by virtue only of section 83(3) of the Act of 1930.

8Subject to the provisions of section 21 of the Metropolis Management (Thames River Prevention of Floods) Amendment Act 1879 and to any provision made by an order under section 84 or 87 of this Act, the power of the Greater London Council under the said Act of 1879 and the other enactments relating to the tidal Thames to approve, require the execution of and execute flood works for the protection of land from flooding by the river Thames in the London excluded area shall be exercisable by them for the protection of land from flooding by such of the river's associated watercourses as lie within the flow and re-flow of its tides in the Lee catchment area.

9The River Boards Act 1948 shall have effect subject to the following modifications:—

(a)until the repeal of that Act by the Water Resources Act 1963 takes effect, any reference to a county borough, whether as such or as a local authority, shall be construed as including a reference to a London borough council and the Common Council;

(b)in section 9 (5) (so far as applicable by virtue of section 9 (10) to the Conservators of the River Thames and the Lee Conservancy Catchment Board), the reference to local authorities shall, without prejudice to the foregoing sub-paragraph, be construed as including a reference to the Greater London Council, London borough councils and the Common Council.

10In the Water Resources Act 1963, subject to any provision made by an order under section 84 of this Act—

(a)references to a county borough and the council thereof shall be construed as including references respectively to a London borough and the council thereof and the City and the Common Council;

(b)without prejudice to the foregoing sub-paragraph, references to local authorities shall be construed as including references to the Greater London Council, London borough councils and the Common Council;

and the transitional, incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions which may be included in an order under that Act altering the area of a river authority, or designating a new area and establishing a new river authority therefor, or conferring functions on the Conservators of the River Thames or the Lee Conservancy Catchment Board (being an order affecting Greater London or any part thereof) shall include provisions repealing or amending any of the provisions of this Schedule.

11The expenses incurred by the Greater London Council in the discharge of the functions conferred on them by virtue of this Schedule shall be chargeable on the London boroughs falling wholly or partly within the London excluded area and on the City and the Temples, and where part only of a London borough falls within that area those expenses shall be chargeable only on that part of the borough.

12The expenses so incurred shall be expenses for special London purposes.

13Where any expenses incurred by the Greater London Council in the discharge of their said functions are by virtue of paragraph 11 of this Schedule chargeable on part of a London borough, any payments made by the council of that borough for meeting precepts for defraying expenses incurred by some other body of persons in the discharge of the like functions with respect to another part of the borough shall be chargeable only on that other part of the borough or such part thereof as the council of that borough shall determine under section 23 of the Act of 1930 (whether as originally enacted or as applied by any other enactment).

14Paragraphs 11 to 13 of this Schedule shall have effect subject to section 67 of this Act.

15(1)Subject to the provisions of any order under the next following sub-paragraph, in this Schedule—

• " the metropolitan watercourses " means the watercourses described in column 1 of the following Table ;

• " the main metropolitan watercourses " means the tidal Thames and the watercourses mentioned by name in paragraphs 2 to 4 of that Table ;

• " the tidal Thames " means the watercourses described in paragraph 1 of that Table ;

• " local enactment " means, in relation to any watercourse, the enactments specified in relation thereto in column 2 of that Table:

  TABLE

  1. So much of the river Thames as lies within the London excluded area, including all its associated watercourses within the flow and re-flow of its tides in that area.	The Thames River (Prevention of Floods) Acts 1879 to 1962 and section 14 of the London County Council (General Powers) Act 1932.
  2. The river Ravensbourne, the Chaffinch Brook, the Beck River, the Pool River, the Quaggy River, the Kid Brook, the Kyd Brook and the Lower Kid Brook, and their associated watercourses.	The River Ravensbourne, &c. (Improvement and Flood Prevention) Act 1961.
  3. The Beverley Brook, the river Graveney, the Pyl Brook and the river Wandle, and their associated watercourses.	Part II of the Surrey County Council Act 1925, section 15 of the Surrey County Council Act 1931, Part II of the Surrey County Council Act 1936 and the London and Surrey (River Wandle and River Graveney) (Jurisdiction) Act 1960.
  4. The river Brent, the river Crane and the Duke of Northumberland's river, and their associated watercourses.	Part V of the Middlesex County Council Act 1944.

(2)The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food may, after consultation with the Greater London Council and the council of any London borough or county district appearing to him to be affected, by order provide that—

(a)the whole or any part of a watercourse within the London excluded area shall become a metropolitan watercourse ; or

(b)the whole or any part of a watercourse other than the tidal Thames shall cease to be a metropolitan watercourse ; or

(c)the whole or any part of a metropolitan watercourse shall become or cease to be a main metropolitan watercourse.

(3)In this Schedule—

• " associated watercourse " in relation to any river means a tributary or other watercourse the water from which ultimately flows into, or which is directly or indirectly connected with, that river ;

• " banks " has the same meaning as in the Land Drainage Act 1930;

• " flood works ", in relation to the tidal Thames, has the same meaning as in the local enactments relating thereto ;

• " London excluded area " means so much of Greater London, and of any area adjoining Greater London, as does not lie within the Thames catchment area, the Lee catchment area or the area of any river board or river authority ;

• " public sewer " has the same meaning as in the Public Health Act 1936 ;

• " watercourse " includes all rivers, streams, ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dykes, sluices, sewers and passages through which water flows, except that it does not include so much of any public sewer as lies outside the flow and re-flow of the tides ;

and any reference in this Schedule to a particular river does not include a reference to so much of the river as is a public sewer and lies outside the flow and re-flow of the tides, and any mention of a particular river shall not be construed as prejudicing the meaning of the expression " associated watercourse ".

16Paragraph 7(a) and (b) of this Schedule and so much of paragraph 15 thereof as relates to the said paragraph 7(a) and (b) shall not be construed as extending or restricting the application of any of the local enactments relating to the tidal Thames to property for the time being held for the purposes of their undertaking by the Port of London Authority or as extending or restricting the functions of that Authority ; and the other provisions of this Schedule shall not apply to any property for the time being so held or affect any functions of that Authority.