# Coast Protection Act 1949, Section 4: General powers of coast protection authorities.

Extent: E+W+S

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Act, a coastal erosion risk management authority shall have power to carry out such coast protection work, whether within or outside their area, as may appear to them to be necessary or expedient for the protection of any land in their area.
A coastal erosion risk management authority may carry out coast protection work inside or outside the authority's area if Conditions 1 and 2 are satisfied.
(1A) Condition 1 is that the authority thinks the work desirable having regard to the national flood and coastal erosion risk management strategies under sections 7 and 8 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
(1B) Condition 2 is that the purpose of the work is to manage a coastal erosion risk, within the meaning of Part 1 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, in the authority's area.
(1C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(2) A coast protection authority may enter into an agreement with any other person for the carrying out by that person or by the authority, on such terms as to payment or otherwise as may be specified in the agreement, of any coast protection work which the authority have power to carry out under this Part of this Act.
(3) A coast protection authority coastal erosion risk management authority may acquire, whether by way of purchase, feu, lease or exchange, any land, whether within or outside their area, being land—
(a) required by them for the purpose of carrying out thereon any coast protection work which they have power to carry out under this Part of this Act, or
(b) for the protection of which they propose to carry out any such work as aforesaid, not being work of maintenance or repair.
(4) Without prejudice to the powers hereinafter conferred on coast protection authorities, the foregoing provisions of this section shall have effect only for the purpose of removing any limitation imposed by law on the capacity of such an authority by virtue of its constitution; and the said provisions shall not authorise any act or omission on the part of such an authority which apart from this section is actionable at the suit of any person on any ground other than such a limitation.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/74/section/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/coast-protection-act-1949/section-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.