Utilities

View Planning by content type:

Practice notes

Precedents

Q&As

Featured Planning content

Declaratory relief of planning decisions

A declaratory judgment is a judgment identifying the rights, duties or obligations of one or more parties in a dispute. It is legally binding, but...

Grounds of appeal—introducing new evidence

Coronavirus (COVID-19): The guidance detailing normal practice set out in this Practice Note may be affected by measures concerning process and...

Planning conditions—the six tests

Coronavirus (COVID-19): This Practice Note contains guidance on subjects potentially impacted by the government’s response to the coronavirus...

Section 215 notice requiring maintenance of land

IntroductionThe purpose of section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) is to give a local planning authority (LPA) power to take...

Practice notes

Operational development

Control of developmentPursuant to section 57 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990), planning permission is required for ‘the carrying...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Judicial review time limits—extensions and urgent cases

When a public body receives a claim form for judicial review, the first step is to consider whether the claim has been brought in time. For further...

Produced in partnership with Morayo Fagborun Bennett of Hardwicke Chambers 9th Nov

Practice notes

Costs for judicial review—general principles

General rule on costs in judicial reviewThe general rule in relation to costs in judicial review, as in other proceedings, is that costs follow the...

Produced in partnership with Morayo Fagborun Bennett of Hardwicke Chambers 9th Nov

Practice notes

Material change of use

Control of developmentPursuant to section 57 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990), planning permission is required for ‘the carrying...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Oversailing

TrespassTrespass is the unlawful presence of a person on land in the possession of another. The ownership of land includes the airspace above it....

9th Nov

Practice notes

Introduction to retained EU law

This Practice Note provides an introduction to retained EU law, which is an entirely new legal concept introduced to UK domestic law in preparation...

9th Nov

Brexit

Practice notes

Defining the planning unit

Why is it important to establish the planning unit?Planning permission is required where there has been a material change of use (see Practice Note:...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Permission to appeal—the application

Coronavirus (COVID-19): The guidance detailing normal practice set out in this Practice Note may be affected by measures concerning process and...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Highways—ownership and creation

Meaning of ‘highway’In the broadest sense, a highway is a way (ie a defined route, such as a road, bridleway or footpath) over which the public have...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Keeping planning permission alive

Coronavirus (COVID-19): This Practice Note contains guidance on subjects potentially impacted by the government’s response to the coronavirus...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Overview of the EU legal system

Brexit: This Practice Note contains guidance on subjects impacted by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. As of 31 January 2020 (exit day), the UK is no...

Produced in partnership with Laura Bolado 9th Nov

Brexit

Practice notes

Presumption in favour of sustainable development

Policy contextThe original version of the National Planning Policy Framework (2012 NPPF) was published on 27 March 2012, taking immediate effect. It...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Local Development Orders

What is a Local Development Order (LDO)?An LDO is a local development order, made at local authority level by a local planning authority (LPA). Once...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Purchase notices

What is a purchase notice?The purchase notice procedure provides landowners with a means of having land acquired by a local planning authority (LPA)...

9th Nov

Practice notes

Compulsory purchase—compensation

Coronavirus (COVID-19): This Practice Note contains guidance on subjects potentially impacted by the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak...

Produced in partnership with Stephen Morgan of Landmark Chambers 9th Nov

Most recent Utilities content

Q&As

Where a main sewer runs under a private unadopted highway, does the person seeking to connect to the sewer need an easement to pass under that unadopted highway to the point of connection or only the land to the point of the unadopted highway?

A person who, without the consent of the owner, connects their drains to a sewer, whether public or private, will commit a trespass and be liable to...

29th Nov

Q&As

Where a private sewer connects to a public sewer, is the water authority under a duty not to adversely affect the private system when they carry out works to the public system?

In essence, private properties normally drain sewage and other waste water through a private sewer which connects to the public sewer. The relevant...

Produced in partnership with Helen Galley of XXIV Old Buildings 29th Nov

Q&As

Would planning permission be required for a sustainable drainage system and is there a mechanism for deciding who would have the ongoing maintenance requirements, in the absence of Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 being brought into force in England?

Sustainable drainage systems (SuDs) are alternatives to traditional piped drainage, which seek to manage water run-off and flood risk, often through...

Produced in partnership with Rosalind Andrews of Harrison Clark Rickerbys 29th Nov

Q&As

A notice has been served on a landowner from a statutory undertaker to allow access and install monitoring and associated equipment. Can the landowner require the statutory undertaker to enter into a licence to regulate the works to be carried out?

For the purposes of this Q&A we have assumed that the statutory undertaker is a sewerage undertaker. This Q&A is relevant where the apparatus is in...

29th Nov

Q&As

How do you find out who owns a culvert located under a highway? Is a culvert under a road a highway drain? Does a highway authority own it/have power to grant rights to drain into it?

According to Environment Agency guidance on riparian ownership (EA guidance) p 31, a culvert is a covered channel or pipe designed to prevent the...

29th Nov

Q&As

A client owns land which is subject to a wayleave agreement. The client intends to develop the land and served notice to terminate the wayleave. In response, the electricity company applied for a 'necessary wayleave'. Since this, development has gone ahead around the existing apparatus. However, the electricity company has sought to obstruct development works which has resulted in the owner incurring loss over and above that which they would have incurred. Are these losses likely to be recoverable under the disturbance compensation provisions of paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989?

Paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989 (EA 1989) states that:‘Where in the exercise of any right conferred by such a wayleave any...

29th Nov

Q&As

Is an electricity generator that is exempt from holding a licence under Section 6(1) of the Electricity Act 1989 by virtue of Section 4 of the EA 1989 a deemed statutory undertaker for the purposes of the TCPA 1990?

Section 262 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) states that any holder of a licence under section 6 of the Electricity Act 1989 (EA...

29th Nov

Q&As

A garden at a residential property is subject to a lease granted in 1978 to the gas board for gas governor kiosk. The lease contains a provision ‘The tenancy hereby created may be determined by either party giving to the other six months previous notice in writing expiring at any time’. If the owner of the garden exercises the break option, are there statutory powers protecting the gas board (now National Grid/Cadent Gas) that would override this and prevent the garden owner obtaining vacant possession?

The statutory powers of gas providers are governed by the Gas Act 1986 (GA 1986) which was enacted after the lease in question here.If the successor...

29th Nov

Q&As

Is there a limitation period for water authorities to require a build over agreement to be entered into (for example, if a building had been in existence for 12 years without a relevant build over agreement in place)? Are there any specific powers to require a build over agreement to be entered into retrospectively (if the authority owned the sewer prior to the 2011 transfer)?

Statutory basis for requiring build over agreementBuild over agreements are agreements entered into between developers and the relevant sewerage...

29th Nov

Q&As

Where there is a utility provider telephone cable across land, can the landowner move it provided they don’t damage it?

It is often the case that a utility provider will require access over private land in order to facilitate the supply of electricity, gas, water,...

29th Nov

Q&As

Can a mast operator validly covenant not to exercise their code rights under the 1984 Act?

Schedule 2, paragraph 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 (TA 1984) prevents parties from contracting out of certain rights conferred by the...

29th Nov

Q&As

Do you know whether a water undertaker has a statutory power to order a property owner to connect to a public sewer (if it isn’t connected already)?

We presume that in the current situation the powers to lay sewers on private land covered by Part VI of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991) and...

29th Nov

Q&As

Does a power company need consent from the local authority (LA), prior to serving a notice under paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989, to place a power cable under the LA’s private road?

Do power companies’ rights under paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989 apply to private roads?Section 10 and paragraph 1 of Schedule 4...

29th Nov

Q&As

Do statutory water undertakers have the power to lay foul sewers on private land?

Companies in the privatised water industry in England and Wales operate under the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA 1991) and the Water...

Produced in partnership with Christopher Snell of New Square Chambers 29th Nov

Q&As

Is a build over agreement necessary for a drain over which a garage was built in 1975?

The Water Industry (Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/1566 provided that on 1 October 2011, most private sewers and...

29th Nov

Q&As

Do electricity wayleaves automatically come to an end upon the sale of the land by the grantor?

Wayleaves: what they are and how they ariseThe legal nature of a wayleave is that it is a ‘consent’—or licence—given by the owner of land to another...

Produced in partnership with Jonathan Edwards of Radcliffe Chambers 29th Nov

Q&As

What happens to private drainage easements when the drain is transferred to the statutory undertaker pursuant to the Water Industry (Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/1566? Are the formal rights of the private easement extinguished as a result of the adoption?

Are private drainage easements extinguished a result of the Water Industry (Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers) Regulations 2011?Under the Water...

Produced in partnership with Joanne Hannah of Winkworth Sherwood LLP 29th Nov

Q&As

Where does the authority come from which requires developers to enter into an agreement with water companies when they want to develop land which is close to a public sewer as per the 2011 Transfer regulations? In other words, where does the statutory power come from that gives water companies the right to ask for permission to develop on the land?

For the purposes of this Q&A, it has been assumed that reference is to build over agreements, which are agreements entered into between developers and...

29th Nov

Q&As