Public Health Act 1961
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1961 c. 64 |
| Year | 1961 |
Public Health Act, 1961
(9 & 10 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 64
An Act to amend the provisions of the Public Health Act, 1936, relating to building byelaws, to make such amendments of the law relating to public health and the functions of county councils and other local authorities as are commonly made in local Acts, to amend the law relating to trade effluents and to amend section two hundred and forty-nine of the said Act of 1936.
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
General
1 Construction.
(1) Part II of this Act shall be construed as one with Part II of the Public Health Act, 1936.
(2) Part III of this Act shall be construed as one with Part V of the Public Health Act, 1936.
(3) Part V of this Act shall be construed as one with the Public Health (Drainage of Trade Premises) Act, 1937, and references in Part V of this Act to that Act of 1937 are references to that Act as extended by orders under section twenty-two of the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1953 (under which the Act of 1937 may be applied to areas outside London served by the London sewerage system).
(4) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the provisions of the Public Health Act, 1936, set out in the following table shall apply in relation to Part IV and Part VI of this Act as if the said Part IV and the said Part VI were contained in that Act.
Table
Section |
Subject Matter |
275 |
Power of local authority to execute certain work on behalf of owners or occupiers. |
283 |
Form of notices. |
284 |
Authentication of documents. |
285 |
Service of notices. |
288 |
Penalty for obstructing execution of Act. |
304 |
Judges' and justices' liability to rates. |
305 |
Protection of members and officers of local authorities. |
341 |
Power to apply provisions of Act to Crown property. |
343 |
Interpretation. |
2 Interpretation.
(1) In this Act ‘the Minister’ means the Minister of Housing and Local Government.
(2) Any reference in this Act to a parish council shall include a reference to the council of a borough included in a rural district.
(3) In this Act the expression ‘local authority’, except where the context otherwise requires, means the council of a borough or urban or rural district, and includes the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
(4) Any reference in this Act to the medical officer of health, or to a public health inspector, or to the surveyor, shall, in relation to premises in the district of a local authority, mean the medical officer of health, or a public health inspector, or the surveyor, of that local authority.
(5) Any reference in this Act to any enactment shall be taken as a reference to that enactment as amended by or under any other Act, including this Act.
3 Extent.
3. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland or, save as otherwise expressly provided, to the administrative county of London.
Part II
Sanitation and Buildings
Building regulations
4 Power to make building regulations.
(1) The Minister shall have power to make regulations for all or any of the matters set out in sections sixty-one and sixty-two of the Public Health Act, 1936 (being the matters which local authorities can now regulate by building byelaws), and local authorities shall no longer have power to make building byelaws.
Regulations under this section shall be known as building regulations.
(2) Any provision contained in building regulations may be made so as to apply generally, or in an area specified in the regulations, and the regulations may make different provision for different areas.
(3) It shall be the function of every local authority to enforce building regulations in their district.
(4) Local authorities shall, in relation to building regulations, have all such functions under sections sixty-four and sixty-five of the Public Health Act, 1936 (which confer power to pass plans, and to enforce building byelaws), as they have in relation to building byelaws; and building regulations shall provide in appropriate cases for the deposit of plans with local authorities, and for the giving of notices to local authorities.
(5) Building regulations may include such supplemental and incidental provisions as appear to the Minister to be expedient.
(6) If a person contravenes or fails to comply with any provision contained in building regulations he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and to a further fine not exceeding ten pounds for each day on which the default continues after he is convicted.
(7) The power of making building regulations shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
5 Application to building regulations of statutory provisions concerning building byelaws.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, for any reference—
(a ) to building byelaws as defined in section three hundred and forty-three of the Public Health Act, 1936, or
(b ) to byelaws made under Part II of that Act with respect to buildings, works and fittings,
which occurs in that Act or in any other Act, or in any instrument having effect under any Act, there shall be substituted a reference to building regulations.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the definition of building byelaws in section one hundred and eighty-nine of the Housing Act, 1957, but in subsection (4) of section twelve, subsection (2) of section twenty-nine and subsection (2) of section fifty-nine of that Act references to building byelaws shall include references to building regulations.
(3) References to building regulations shall be included in any references to byelaws in any of the following enactments, that is to say—
(a ) Part XII of the Public Health Act, 1936, except section three hundred and twelve; and
(b ) section seventeen of the Restriction of Ribbon Development Act, 1935 (which authorises a local authority as a condition of approving building plans to require the provision of means of entrance and egress from buildings),
and in subsection (2) of section ninety of the Public Health Act, 1936, for the references to byelaws there shall be substituted references to building regulations.
6 Relaxation of building regulations.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, if the Minister, on an application made in accordance with the provisions of this Act, considers that the operation of any requirement in building regulations would be unreasonable in relation to the particular case to which the application relates, he may, after consultation with the local authority, give a direction dispensing with or relaxing that requirement.
(2) If building regulations so provide as regards any requirement contained in the regulations, the power to dispense with or relax that requirement under subsection (1) of this section shall be exercisable by the local authority (instead of by the Minister after consultation with the local authority):
Provided that any building regulations made by virtue of this subsection shall except applications made by local authorities and may except applications of any other description.
(3) Building regulations may provide as regards any requirement contained in the regulations that the foregoing subsections of this section shall not apply.
(4) An application under this section shall be in such form as may be prescribed by building regulations and shall contain such particulars as may be so prescribed.
(5) The application shall be made to the local authority and, except where the power of giving the direction is exercisable by the local authority, the local authority shall at once transmit the application to the Minister and give notice to the applicant that it has been so transmitted.
(6) An application by a local authority shall be made to the Minister.
(7) The provisions of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect as regards any application made under this section for a direction which will affect the application of building regulations to work which has been carried out before the making of the application.
(8) Section sixty-three of the Public Health Act, 1936 (which is superseded by this section), shall cease to have effect.
7 Appeal against refusal by local authority to relax building regulations.
(1) If a local authority refuse an application to dispense with or relax any requirement in building regulations which they have power to dispense with or relax, the applicant may by notice in writing appeal to the Minister within one month from the date on which the local authority notify...
To continue reading
Request your trial