Water Resources Act 1991

35Restrictions on persons who may make applications for abstraction licences

(1)No application for a licence under this Chapter to abstract water shall be entertained unless it is made by a person entitled to make the application in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2)In relation to abstractions from any inland waters, a person shall be entitled to make the application if, at the place (or, if more than one, at each of the places) at which the proposed abstractions are to be effected, either—

(a)he is the occupier of land contiguous to the inland waters; or

(b)he satisfies the Authority that he has, or at the time when the proposed licence is to take effect will have, a right of access to such land.

(3)In relation to abstractions from underground strata, a person shall be entitled to make the application if either—

(a)he is the occupier of land consisting of or comprising those underground strata; or

(b)the following two conditions are satisfied, that is to say—

(i)the case is one in which water contained in an excavation into underground strata is to be treated as water contained in those strata by virtue of the level of water in the excavation depending wholly or mainly on water entering it from those strata; and

(ii)that person satisfies the Authority that he has, or at the time when the proposed licence is to take effect will have, a right of access to land consisting of, or comprising, those underground strata.

(4)Any reference in this section to a person who is the occupier of land of any description—

(a)includes a reference to a person who satisfies the Authority that he has entered into negotiations for the acquisition of an interest in land of that description such that, if the interest is acquired by him, he will be entitled to occupy that land; and

(b)without prejudice to the application of paragraph (a) above to a person who is or can be authorised to acquire land compulsorily, also includes any person who satisfies the Authority that by virtue of any enactment, the compulsory acquisition by that person of land of that description either has been authorised or can be authorised and has been initiated.

(5)In subsection (4) above the reference to initiating the compulsory acquisition of land by a person is a reference to—

(a)the submission to the relevant Minister of a draft of an order which, if made by that Minister in the form of the draft, will authorise that person to acquire that land compulsorily, with or without other land; or

(b)the submission to the relevant Minister of an order which, if confirmed by that Minister as submitted will authorise that person to acquire that land compulsorily, with or without other land.

(6)In subsection (5) above “the relevant Minister”, in relation to the compulsory acquisition of land by any person, means the Minister who, in accordance with the enactment mentioned in subsection (4)(b) above, is empowered to authorise that person to acquire land compulsorily.