Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991
| Year | 1991 |
Coal Mining Subsidence Act1991
1991 CHAPTER 45
An Act to repeal and re-enact with amendments the Coal-Mining (Subsidence) Act 1957 and, in the Coal Industry Act 1975, section 2(4) and paragraphs 1 to 4 of Schedule 1; to make provision for imposing further obligations on the British Coal Corporation, including obligations corresponding to those voluntarily accepted by them under their code of practice concerning compensation for subsidence damage; and for connected purposes.
[25th July 1991]
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:—
Part I
Preliminary
1 Subsidence damage to which Act applies.
(1) In this Act ‘subsidence damage’ means any damage—
(a) to land; or
(b) to any buildings, structures or works on, in or over land,
caused by the withdrawal of support from land in connection with lawful coal-mining operations.
(2) An alteration of the level or gradient of any land not otherwise damaged which does not affect its fitness for use for the purposes for which, immediately before the alteration occurred, it was used, or might reasonably have been expected to be used, shall not be regarded as damage for the purposes of subsection (1) above.
(3) In subsection (1) above ‘lawful coal-mining operations’ means the lawful working and getting of coal, or of coal and other minerals worked with coal, or the lawful getting of any product from coal in the course of working it.
(4) References in this Act to subsidence damage shall not apply—
(a) to damage caused in connection with the working and getting of coal and other minerals—
(i) where the working and getting of the coal was ancillary to the working of the other minerals; or
(ii) where the coal was worked or gotten by virtue of the grant of a gale in the Forest of Dean or any other part of the Hundred of St. Briavels in the county of Gloucester; or
(b) to damage occurring underground in a mine of coal (being a mine within the meaning of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 ).
Part II
Remedial Action
General
2 Duty to take remedial action.
(1) Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Part, it shall be the duty of the British Coal Corporation (‘the Corporation’) to take in respect of subsidence damage to any property remedial action of one or more of the kinds mentioned in subsection (2) below.
(2) The kinds of remedial action referred to in subsection (1) above are—
(a) the execution of remedial works in accordance with section 7 below;
(b) the making of payments in accordance with section 8 or 9 below in respect of the cost of remedial works executed by some other person; and
(c) the making of a payment in accordance with section 10 or 11 below in respect of the depreciation in the value of the damaged property.
(3) References in this Act, in relation to any subsidence damage, to the Corporation's remedial obligation are references to their obligation under subsection (1) above.
(4) Where emergency works are executed by any other person, the Corporation shall also be under a duty, subject to the provisions of this Part, to make a payment in accordance with section 12 below in respect of the cost of the works.
(5) In this Act—
(a) references to payments in lieu are references to payments in accordance with section 8 or 9 below; and
(b) references to depreciation payments are references to payments in accordance with section 10 or 11 below.
3 Notice of subsidence damage.
(1) The Corporation shall not be required under section 2(1) or (4) above to take any remedial action or make any payment in respect of the cost of emergency works, unless the owner of the property or some other person who is liable to make good the damage in whole or in part—
(a) has given to the Corporation the required notice with respect to the damage within the period allowed by this section; and
(b) has afforded the Corporation reasonable facilities to inspect the property, so far as he was in a position to do so.
(2) The required notice with respect to any subsidence damage is a notice stating that the damage has occurred and containing such particulars as may be prescribed; and references in this Act, in relation to any subsidence damage, to a damage notice are references to such a notice with respect to the damage given within the period allowed by this section.
(3) The period allowed by this section for giving a damage notice with respect to any subsidence damage is the period of six years beginning with the first date on which any person entitled to give the notice had the knowledge required for founding a claim in respect of the damage.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) above, the knowledge required for founding a claim in respect of any subsidence damage is knowledge—
(a) that the damage has occurred; and
(b) that the nature of the damage and the circumstances are such as to indicate that the damage may be subsidence damage;
and a person's knowledge includes knowledge which he might reasonably have been expected to acquire from the facts mentioned in subsection (5) below.
(5) Those facts are—
(a) any facts which were observable or ascertainable by him; and
(b) any facts which would have been ascertainable by him with the help of any expert advice which it was reasonable for him to seek.
(6) In this Act—
‘the claimant’, in relation to any subsidence damage, means the person who gave or, as the case may be, was the first person to give a damage notice to the Corporation in respect of the damage, and includes any successor in title of his;
‘any other person interested’, in relation to any such damage and any time, means any person other than the claimant who, not less than 7 days before that time, gave such a notice to the Corporation in respect of the damage, and includes any successor in title of any such person.
4 Initial response to damage notice.
(1) As soon as reasonably practicable—
(a) after receiving a damage notice; or
(b) where they receive two or more such notices in respect of the same damage, after receiving the first of them,
the Corporation shall give to the claimant, and to any other person interested, a notice indicating whether or not they agree that they have a remedial obligation in respect of the whole or any part of the damage specified in the damage notice.
(2) Where the Corporation give a notice under subsection (1) above indicating their agreement that they have such an obligation, they shall also give to the claimant, and to any other person interested, a notice—
(a) stating the kind or kinds of remedial action available for meeting that obligation and, if more than one, which of them the Corporation propose to take; and
(b) in the case of a notice stating that the Corporation propose to execute remedial works with respect to any damage, informing the claimant or that person that, if he makes such a request as is mentioned in section 8(3) below, the Corporation may elect to make a payment in lieu instead of executing the works.
(3) Where the Corporation accede to any such request, they shall give to the claimant and any other person interested a revised notice under subsection (2) above stating that they propose to elect to make a payment in lieu instead of executing the works.
(4) In this Act references, in relation to any damage, to a notice of proposed remedial action are references to a notice under subsection (2) above (whether as originally given or as revised under subsection (3) above).
5 Determination of appropriate remedial action.
(1) Subject to sections 9 and 11 below (obligatory payments in lieu and obligatory depreciation payments), where the Corporation have given a notice of proposed remedial action with respect to any damage, they shall meet their remedial obligation in respect of that damage by taking the appropriate remedial action (and not in any other way).
(2) Subject to subsections (4) and (6) below, the appropriate remedial action in relation to any damage is that stated in the notice of proposed remedial action with respect to that damage.
(3) Where—
(a) the Corporation have power under section 8 or 10 below to elect to make a payment in accordance with that section in respect of any damage; and
(b) they have not exercised that power by stating in the notice of proposed remedial action with respect to that damage that they propose to make such a payment,
the Corporation may exercise that power at any time subsequent to the date of that notice, but only with the agreement of the claimant and any other person interested.
(4) Where after the date of that notice the Corporation elect under either of those sections to take in respect of any damage any remedial action other than that stated in the notice (‘the substituted action’), so long as the election is effective the appropriate remedial action in relation to that damage is the substituted action.
(5) An election by the Corporation under either of those sections may at any time be revoked by the Corporation, but only with the agreement of the claimant and any other person interested.
(6) Where the Corporation revoke such an election made in respect of any damage by a notice of proposed remedial action, this section shall apply as if the execution of remedial works had been specified in that notice as the Corporation's proposed remedial action with respect to that...
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