The future management of water in England and Wales : a report by the Central Advisory Water Committee.

  • Great Britain. Central Advisory Water Committee.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: The future management of water in England and Wales : a report by the Central Advisory Water Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Local authority undertakings 26. The three types of undertaker differ somewhat in their characteristics. The Public Health Act 1936 gives county borough and county district councils power to supply water within their own areas, subject to obtaining the minister’s approval. Before regrouping, these powers were widely used, the management of the undertaking normally forming part of the duties of the council’s Engineer and Surveyor. The typical post-regrouping local authority undertaker, however, is a county borough which has obtained powers by means of an Act or Order to supply water outside its own boundaries. The undertaking is usually administered by separate committee of the council and has its own chief officer, who is an engineer. Because water supply counts as a trading service and is financially self-supporting, the Water Committee tends to have more autonomy than other committees. (The relevant Act or Order often places restrictions on subsidising water supply or applying profits from it, and these practices are now rare). Occasionally a Water Committee has co-opted members to represent that part of the area of supply which lies outside the authority’s own boundaries, but this is unusual. Joint boards 27. A joint board is a separate legal entity, operating under a local Act or an Order under the Water Acts. The great bulk of its membership is ap- pointed by the county borough and county district councils in its area in rough proportion to their population or rateable value: but there are often also members appointed by the relevant county council or councils. Joint boards have normally been formed to take over a number of small undertak- ings, and have then had the task of welding these into an efficient system capable of meeting all the demands that will be made on it. A joint board generally has either two or three chief officers: an engineer-manager, and either a clerk and a treasurer or a clerk/treasurer. In some of the smaller boards the administrative and financial officers are part-time. Statutory companies 28. Companies operate under local Acts. Most of the earliest undertakers were companies, but apart from important individual examples on the north east coast, in the west Midlands and in the Bristol area, the surviving companies are heavily concentrated in south east England. There may be a general manager qualified as an engineer, as an accountant or company secretary, or as a chemist; alternatively, there may be an engineer and a secretary with equal status. The directors of a water company are usually drawn from the area which the company serves: a general manager is often a director. All share capital has to be issued by auction or tender, so as to ensure that it fetches the best price available. The rate of dividend payable on both ordinary and preference capital, and the rate of interest payable on loan capital, is controlled by the minister. The amounts which may be put to the reserve and contingency funds, and the amount of the carry forward, are limited by reference both to annual appropriations and to overall maxima. As a corollary to these limitations and the restrictions on dividends companies are required to apply any surplus income in the reduction of charges.