Section 33: Commutation of obligations., Land Drainage Act 1991

Where—

any person is under an obligation imposed on him by reason of tenure, custom, prescription or otherwise to do any work in connection with the drainage of land (whether by way of repairing banks or walls, maintaining watercourses or otherwise); and

without prejudice to section 107(4) of the Water Resources Act 1991 (application of this section to main rivers), that work is otherwise than in connection with a main river,

the relevant authority for the area where the work falls to be done may commute the obligation with the consent of the appropriate Minister.

Where the relevant authority proposes to commute any obligation to which this section applies, the authority shall give, in such manner as the appropriate Minister may direct, notice of—

the proposal;

the terms on which it is to be commuted; and

the period within which objection to the proposal may be made.

If within one month of any notice being given under subsection (2) above the person on whom the obligation is imposed gives notice to the relevant authority of his objection to the proposal, the question whether the relevant authority shall proceed to commute the obligation shall be referred to the appropriate Minister.

The decision of the appropriate Minister on a reference under subsection (3) above shall be final.

Nothing in this section shall apply to any obligation imposed by section 25 above.

In this section and section 34, references to the relevant authority for an area—

in relation to work in an area which forms part of an internal drainage district, are references to the drainage board for the district, and

in relation to work in any other area, are references to the lead local flood authority for the area.

"Lead local flood authority" has the meaning given by section 6 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.

In this section and section 34 below "the appropriate Minister"—

in relation to a lead local flood authority for an area in England, means the Secretary of State,

in relation to a lead local flood authority for an area in Wales, means the Welsh Ministers, and

in relation to an internal drainage board, means the relevant Minister.

Section 33: Commutation of obligations.

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