Milford Haven Conservancy Act 1958
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Milford Haven Conservancy Act , 1958
(6 & 7 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 23
An Act to make provision with respect to the maintenance, improvement, protection and regulation of the navigation of Milford Haven; and for purposes connected therewith.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Establishment and general duty and powers of Milford Haven Conservancy Board
1 Establishment and duty of Conservancy Board.
(1) There shall be a Milford Haven Conservancy Board (in this Act referred to as ‘the Board’) who shall be charged with the duty of taking such steps as the Board may from time to time consider necessary or expedient to maintain, improve, protect and regulate the navigation, and in particular the deep-water facilities, in the area bounded by—
(a ) a straight line drawn from the south-western extremity of St. Anne's Head to the southern extremity of Studdock Point; and
(b ) high water mark on the shores of Milford Haven and the approaches thereto within the straight line aforesaid, including all bays, creeks, pools, inlets and rivers, as far as the tide flows,
which area is in this Act referred to as ‘the haven’.
(2) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Board.
(3) The Board shall not, except with the express consent of the Admiralty and in compliance with any condition or restriction attached to any such consent, exercise any of their powers in any part of the haven falling within the limits for the time being established by Order in Council under the Dockyard Ports Regulation Act, 1865, of any dockyard port, and—
(a ) shall not elsewhere in the haven exercise or continue in the exercise of any of their powers in such manner as to contravene any direction with respect to the exercise of those powers which the Admiralty may from time to time deem it necessary or expedient to give to the Board in the interests of national defence; and
(b ) generally in performing their functions under this Act shall have regard to any representations made to them by the Admiralty with respect to the requirements of national defence.
(4) Without prejudice to any restriction imposed by any other provision of this Act, the Board shall not exercise any of their powers within the limits for the time being established by or under any enactment of any harbour, pier or dock undertaking carried on wholly or partly within the haven by any person other than the Board without the prior agreement of the undertakers except so far as may be necessary or expedient for the purpose of maintaining, improving, protecting or regulating the navigation within the haven outside, or between points outside, those limits, and any dispute arising under this subsection shall be referred to and determined by the Minister, whose decision shall be binding on all parties.
(5) The Milford Docks Acts, 1874 to 1957, shall have effect with the substitution for subsection (1) of section four of the Milford Docks Act, 1957 (which defines the limits of the Milford Docks Company's undertaking) of the subsection set out in the Second Schedule to this Act.
(6) For the avoidance of doubt, the Board are hereby declared to be a harbour authority within the meaning of the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act, 1928, and a harbour undertaking within the meaning of the Transport Charges &c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1954, and to be statutory undertakers within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, by virtue of carrying on a harbour undertaking; and for the purposes of this Act all parts of the haven shall be treated as forming part of the county of Pembroke.
2 Protection of amenities.
2. In formulating or considering any proposals relating to their functions under this Act, the Board shall have regard to the desirability—
3 Powers with respect to land.
(1) The Board may—
(a ) acquire by agreement, whether by way of purchase, lease or exchange, or by gift, any land, whether within or outside the haven, which they may require for the purposes of their functions under this Act;
(b ) retain any land acquired by them for such time as they think fit; and
(c ) sell, lease, exchange, whether with or without paying or receiving any money for equality of exchange, or otherwise dispose of any land acquired by them which is no longer required for the purposes aforesaid:
Provided that the Board shall not without the consent of the Minister dispose of any land otherwise than for a consideration worth not less than the current market value of that land, so, however, that a person acquiring any land from the Board shall not be concerned to inquire whether that consent is necessary or has been obtained.
(2) Any capital money received by the Board in respect of any transaction under this section shall be applied in or towards the repayment of moneys borrowed by the Board or for other purposes of the Board for which capital money may properly be applied.
(3) For the purposes of their incorporation with this Act, the Lands Clauses Acts shall have effect as if sections one hundred and twenty-seven to one hundred and thirty-one of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, were omitted therefrom and as if the expression ‘lands’ in the said Acts included any interest in lands and any easement or right in, to or over lands.
4 Powers with respect to works and cables.
(1) The Board may construct, whether within or outside the haven, any works required for the purposes of their functions under this Act, including any moorings, and from time to time alter or extend any such works:
Provided that—
(a ) no works below high water mark shall be constructed, altered or extended except in accordance with plans and sections approved by the Minister and subject to any conditions or restrictions imposed by the Minister before the works are begun;
(b ) the Board shall not exercise their powers under this subsection within such limits of such an undertaking as are mentioned in subsection (4) of section one of this Act without the consent of the undertakers unless, on an application made to him for the purpose, the Minister certifies that in his opinion that consent has been unreasonably withheld.
(2) Notwithstanding any powers conferred, and without prejudice to any other restrictions imposed, by or under any other enactment, no person other than the Board shall construct, alter or extend any works within the haven below high water mark, including any moorings, or lay any submarine cable in or across the bed or foreshore of the haven, except after giving not less than fourteen days' notice in writing to the Board, and the Board may by instrument in writing—
(a ) at any time before the notice expires, require the carrying out of the operations in question to be postponed until the Board notify the person by whom the notice was given whether or not they propose to exercise their powers under the next following paragraph;
(b ) at any time before the notice expires or, where they have made a requirement under the foregoing paragraph, in giving the notification referred to in that paragraph, prohibit or impose conditions or restrictions with respect to those operations:
Provided that—
(i) this subsection shall not apply to any operations specifically authorised by any enactment passed before this Act, or to any operations carried out by the South West Wales River Board upstream of a straight line across the River Daucleddau drawn due east from Black Tar Point or in any part of the River Cresswell;
(ii) any person aggrieved by any requirement, prohibition, condition or restriction imposed under this subsection may appeal against it to the Minister, whose decision shall be binding on both parties.
(3) Any works which are constructed, altered or extended, and any cable which is laid, in contravention of, or of any prohibition imposed under, this section or in respect of which any condition or restriction imposed under this section is not complied with may be abated and removed and the site thereof restored to its former condition—
(a ) in a case arising under subsection (1) of this section, by the Minister;
(b ) in a case arising under the last foregoing subsection, by the Board,
and any expenditure incurred by the Minister or, as the case may be, by the Board in any such abatement, removal or restoration shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt from the Board or, as the case may be, from the person by whom the operations in question were carried out.
(4) So much of any works constructed by the Board under subsection (1) of this section as is not within the area of any county district within the meaning of the Local Government Act, 1933, shall be deemed to be within such of the adjacent county districts as is nearest thereto or, in case of dispute, as the Minister may determine.
5 Powers with respect to dredging, etc.
(1) The Board may from time to time deepen, dredge, scour and improve the bed and foreshore of the haven and the bed of the sea in or near any approach to the haven, and blast any rock within the haven and any rock in the sea in or near any approach to the haven, and any...
To continue reading
Request your trial