Clause 23 - Modification of impounding licences
Water Bill [Lords]
3:45 pm
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
Perhaps the hon. Lady misunderstands the intentions set out in the clause. The agency currently has no option but to revoke an impounding licence at the holder's request. That could allow conditions of such licences—for example, to maintain flows downstream for other river users—to be avoided. The owner of an impounding works that is expensive to maintain could say, ''I do not want this anymore, I want the licence to be revoked,'' and the licence would have to be revoked, even if the works were beneficial to the management of the watercourse.
The clause will allow the agency to attach conditions to the surrender of the licence. For example, it could ensure that, if necessary, the impounding works are removed—another reason that someone might want to revoke a licence—or modified to ensure that they cause no problems for the environment or other abstractors. If the licence holder is dissatisfied with the conditions for revocation, there is a provision for them to appeal. In setting such conditions, the agency will consider issues such as the impact on river flows, abstraction rights and the environment. In some cases it might be best to preserve impounding works to maintain flows, and in others the structure might be removed. It would depend on the circumstances, and the clause gives the agency flexibility to do that. Amendment No. 39 would remove the ability to apply those conditions and damage the agency's ability to respond.
Amendment No. 199 would introduce an unnecessary bureaucratic requirement for the Secretary of State to prescribe the form in which licence holders are notified of conditions to be met prior to a licence being revoked. It would also enable the Secretary of State to constrain the parameters of conditions that the agency must set. If the agency is perceived to be acting unreasonably, the licence holder will have a right of appeal, so the amendment is unnecessary and I hope that the hon. Member for Leominster (Mr. Wiggin) will not press it.