The Minister may direct a risk management authority to exercise a flood or coastal erosion risk management function on behalf of another risk management authority (the "defaulting authority").
The Minister may give a direction under subsection (1) only if satisfied that the defaulting authority—
has failed to exercise the function, or
has failed to exercise the function in accordance with the national strategies under sections 7 and 8 or the local strategies under sections 9 and 10.
A direction under subsection (1) may include provision about the recovery of costs of compliance from the defaulting authority.
The Minister must—
send a copy of the direction to the defaulting authority, and
publish the direction.
But the Minister may decide not to publish a direction if it appears that to do so would be contrary to the interests of national security.
In this section "the Minister" means—
the Secretary of State in relation to risk management authorities that exercise functions only in England,
the Welsh Ministers in relation to risk management authorities that exercise functions only in Wales, and
the Secretary of State and the Welsh Ministers acting jointly in relation to risk management authorities that exercise functions in both England and Wales.