Local Government Act 1972

The environmentE+W

180 Public health.E+W

(1)For the purposes of the enactments to which this section applies, the local authority and sanitary authority (whether urban or not) shall—

(a)for a district, be the district council;

(b)for a London borough, be the borough council;

(c)for the City, be the Common Council;

(d)for the Inner Temple and Middle Temple, be the Sub-Treasurer and the Under Treasurer thereof respectively;

[F1(e)for a Welsh county or county borough, be the county council or county borough council;]

but the foregoing provision shall have effect subject to the other provisions of this Act and, in particular, to Schedule 14 to this Act and, as respects any area in Greater London, to Part I of Schedule 11 to the 1963 Act.

(2)The M1Public Health Act 1936 shall have effect subject to the amendments and modifications specified in Part I of Schedule 14 to this Act and Part II of that Schedule shall have effect for making amendments and modifications to other enactments relating to public health, building control, public parks, lighting and related matters.

(3)This section applies to the following enactments:—

(a)the Public Health Acts 1875 to 1925;

[F2(b)the M2Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1906;]

(c)the M3Public Health Act 1936, except so much of it as falls within section 181(1) or (2) below;

[F3(d)section 8 of the M4Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953;]

(e)Part XIII of the M5Mines and Quarries Act 1954;

F4(f). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F3(g)section 1 of the M6Noise Abatement Act 1960;]

(h)the M7Public Health Act 1961, except so much of it as falls within section 181(2) below;

F5(i). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F6(j). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(k)section 6 of the M8Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

(4)Expressions used in this section and Schedule 14 to this Act and in the M9Public Health Act 1936 shall, except so far as the context otherwise requires, have the same meanings respectively in this section and that Schedule as they have in that Act.

181 Water and sewerage.E+W

(1)For the purposes of the following enactments, that is to say—

(a)Part IV of the M10Public Health Act 1936 and Part XII of that Act, so far as relating to the said Part IV;

(b)the M11Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Act 1944, so far as relating to water;

(c)section 12 of the M12Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953;

(d)the M13Water Acts 1945 M14 and 1948 and the M15Water Act 1958;

the local authority shall, for any district, be the district council, and for any London borough, be the borough council [F7and for any principal area in Wales, be the principal council].

(2)For the purposes of the following enactments, that is to say—

(a)[F8sections 15, 17–24, 27, 29–34, 36 and 42] of the M16Public Health Act 1936 and sections 90 and Part XII of that Act, so far as relating to those sections;

(b)the M17Public Health (Drainage of Trade Premises) Act 1937;

(c)the M18Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Act 1944, so far as relating to sewerage and the disposal of sewage;

(d)section 13 of the M19Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953;

(e)sections 12 to 15 and Part V of, and Schedule 2 to, the M20Public Health Act 1961;

the local authority shall for any area outside Greater London be the district council.

F9(3)—(8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(9)An order under section 6 of the M21Public Health Act 1936 or under subsection (3) above or an order amending any such order may confer on a joint board constituted for the exercise of sewerage functions any of the sewerage functions of the constitutent members and may confer such functions—

(a)subject to any limitation or condition specified in the order (whether or not the limitation or condition applies to the discharge of the functions by the constituent member); or

(b)free from any limitation or condition so specified which applies to the discharge of those functions by the constituent member.

X1(10)Schedule 15 to this Act shall have effect for making amendments and modifications to the enactments relating to water and sewerage.

(11)In this section—

• “sewerage functions” means functions under any of the enactments mentioned in subsection (2) above; and

• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10

182 Town and Country Planning.E+W

F11(1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F12(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3)In that Schedule—

F12(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b)Part II shall have effect with respect to the exercise by such authorities of functions under other enactments relating to town and country planning and for making minor amendments and modifications of such other enactments; and

F12(c). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F12(4)–(6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F13183. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W

184 National Park and countryside functions.E+W

[F14(1)The functions conferred on a local planning authority by or under the National Parks and Access to the M22Countryside Act 1949 and the M23Countryside Act 1968 shall—

(a)as respects England elsewhere than in the metropolitan counties, Greater London and the Isles of Scilly, be exercisable in accordance with the following provisions of this section; and

(b)as respects Wales, be exercisable in accordance with [F15subsections (7) and (8) below].]

(2)The following of the said functions, that is to say those conferred by—

(a)Part II and sections 61, 62, 63, 78, 90(5), 92 (so far as relating to parking places in a National Park), 99(3) and 101(3) of the said Act of 1949; and

(b)sections 12(5), 13 and 14 of the said Act of 1968;

shall, subject to subsection (3) below F16. . ., be functions of the county planning authority.

(3)The functions of a local planning authority under [F17section 9] of the said Act of 1949 shall as respects any area outside a National Park be exercisable both by county planning authorities and district planning authorities.

(4)All other functions conferred by or under any other provision of the said Acts of 1949 and 1968 on a local planning authority shall, F18. . ., be exercisable both by county planning authorities and district planning authorities.

(5)References in the said Acts of 1949 and 1968 to a local planning authority shall be construed accordingly.

F19(6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(7)Sections 27 to 38 of the said Act of 1949 and Parts II to IV of Schedule 3 to the said Act of 1968 (survey of public paths, etc.) shall have effect subject to the modifications specified in Part II of the said Schedule 17 and those Acts shall have effect subject to the further modifications specified in Part III of that Schedule.

(8)In that Schedule “the 1949 Act” and “the 1968 Act” mean the said Acts of 1949 and 1968 respectively.

185 Town development.E+W

(1)In the M24Town Development Act 1952 (in this section referred to as “the principal Act”) in section 1(1) (which defines the term “town development” as applying to development in a county district, the provision of which will relieve congestion or over-population elsewhere) for the word “elsewhere” there shall be substituted the words “ outside the county comprising the district or districts in which the development is carried out ”.

F20(2)(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)The principal Act shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in Schedule 18 to this Act, being—

(a)amendments consequential on this Part of this Act, and

(b)amendments incorporating provisions of section 34 of the M25Housing Act 1961 and subsections (1) and (2) of section 61 of the M26London Government Act 1963 (modification of principal Act in relation to counties and to Greater London).

(5)Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) above, any development carried out after the date on which that subsection comes into force as part of a scheme begun before that date, being a scheme of town development within the meaning of the principal Act as then in force, shall be treated as town development for the purposes of that Act.

186 Traffic and transportation functions.E+W

F21(1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F22(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F23(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F21(4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F24(5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(6)So much of section 6 of the M27Transport Charges &c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1954 as requires the making of an order by the Secretary of State for the revision of any charges in connection with a ferry undertaking shall cease to have effect in relation to an undertaking operated by a local authority or a Passenger Transport Executive, and accordingly a local authority or Passenger Transport Executive operating any such ferry undertaking as is referred to in subsection (1)(c) of that section—

(a)may from time to time make such revision of any of the charges which they are authorised to demand in connection with the undertaking as seems to them appropriate; and

(b)may, if they think fit, determine that any such charges shall no longer be made;

and so much of section 1(2) of the M28Ferries (Acquisition by Local Authorities) Act 1919 as requires the approval of the Secretary of State to any scale of tolls fixed by a local authority or to a determination by a local authority to free a ferry from tolls shall cease to have effect.

(7)In subsection (6) above, “local authority” includes any existing county borough or county district council and the Common Council.

187 Local highway authorities and maintenance powers of district councils.E+W

F25(1)(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3)With respect to footpaths [F26, bridleways and restricted byways] within their area a district council [F27or, where they are not the highway authority, a Welsh principal council] shall have—

(a)the like powers as a highway authority under section 57(3) of the National Parks and Access to the M29Countryside Act 1949 (prosecution of offences of displaying on footpaths notices deterring public use), and

F25(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F28(3A)“Restricted byway“ has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.]

F25(4)–(8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F29188. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E+W

189 Commons.E+W

(1)F30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2)F30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3)The references in section 12 of the M30Inclosure Act 1857 (prevention of nuisances in town and village greens, etc.,) to a churchwarden or overseer of the parish in which the town or village green or land is situated shall be construed—

(a)with respect to a green or land in a parish, as references to the parish council, or, where there is no parish council, the parish meeting;

(b)with respect to a green or land in a community where there is a community council, as references to the community council;

(c)with respect to any other green or land, as references to the council of the district [F31or Welsh principal area] in which the green or land is situated;

and where those references fall to be construed in accordance with paragraph (c) above, the reference in the said section 12 to highways in the parish shall be construed as a reference to highways in the district [F32or (as the case may be) area].

X2(4)In section 193(1) of the M31 Law of Property Act 1925 (right of the public over certain commons, including those situated within a borough or urban district) after the words “situated within” there shall be inserted the words “ an area which immediately before 1st April 1974 was ”.

190 Sites for gipsy encampments.E+W

F33. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

191 Ordnance survey.E+W

(1)In its application outside Greater London, the M32Ordnance Survey Act 1841 (in this section referred to as “the 1841 Act”) shall have effect subject to the following modifications.

(2)An application under section 1 of the 1841 Act shall be sent to the proper officer of either a county council or a district council [F34(or, in Wales, a principal council)] and, where such an application is made, the function of appointing a person to assist in examining, ascertaining and marking out reputed boundaries shall be exercisable by the council to whose proper officer the application was sent.

F35(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)References, in whatever terms, in the 1841 Act—

(a)to the justices by whom a person is appointed under section 1 of that Act shall be construed as references to the county council or the district council, as the case may require [F34or, in Wales, the principal council)], and

(b)to the clerk of the peace for a county shall be construed as references to the proper officer of the county council or the district council as the case may require [F34(or, in Wales, the principal council)].

(5)F36. . . References in that Act to a county include references to any [F37preserved county or] local government area within the meaning of this Act.