Explanatory note

This Order varies the Control of Pollution (Exemption of Certain Discharges from Control) (Variation) Order 1986.

Section 32(1) of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 makes certain discharges of trade or sewage effluent unlawful if made without consent.

The Control of Pollution (Exemption of Certain Discharges from Control) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/1182) permitted certain discharges authorised by earlier statutes to be continued without consent after section 32(1) came into force. The 1986 Order withdraws many of these exemptions from 15th October 1987.

This Order adds a further transitional provision to the 1986 Order dealing with discharges by water authorities which places them in a similar position to other dischargers to whom the existing transitional provision applies. If an application for consent is made to the Secretary of State by a water authority (in Scotland, a river purification board or an islands council) before 15th October 1987 and certain other conditions are satisfied, the discharge to which the application relates can lawfully be continued pending the determination of the application by the Secretary of State.