Part 5: Water Section 94: Valuation of other land in drainage district: England
Section 94 amends section 37 of the Land Drainage Act 1991 ("the LDA"), enabling the Secretary of State to make regulations, by the affirmative procedure, that establish the valuation calculation for the value of other land in an internal drainage district in England. Subsection (3) makes the main changes by inserting new subsections (5ZA) to (5ZH) into the LDA.
	Setting out the valuation calculation in regulations is appropriate and proportionate, because these provisions deal with details of a subsidiary and technical matter and, accordingly, it is anticipated that these details will need to be updated again in future. By enabling the technical implementation of this policy to be set out in secondary legislation, future governments will be better able to make any future necessary updates in a timely manner.
	New subsection (5ZA) provides the power for the Secretary of State to make such regulations.
	New subsection (5ZB) sets out the provisions that the regulations may include when setting out the new valuation calculation. Paragraphs (a) to (g) detail the different components of calculations for the different types of land that comprise other land under the LDA, ensuring that the Secretary of State has the necessary powers to stipulate a comprehensive valuation calculation in secondary legislation.
	New subsection (5ZC) sets out which internal drainage boards (IDBs) the Secretary of State can decide to apply the regulations to. Linked to this, new subsection (5ZD) enables the regulations to allow for an IDB to elect that the regulations apply to them, and for the regulations to specify a procedure for that election. These provisions mean that, where an issue associated with the existing valuation calculation only affects certain IDBs in England, the Secretary of State may provide an alternative calculation that other IDBs may elect to make use of, if they so choose. This is currently necessary because certain data referred to within existing subsection (5) is either missing or incomplete in some areas. However, the provisions also reflect the fact that, in future, the calculation may need to be updated for all IDBs (were an issue within the calculation to affect all IDBs). New subsection (5ZC) therefore enables a calculation stipulated in secondary legislation to be applied to all English IDBs in such cases.
	Subsection (5ZE)(b) enables the Secretary of State to make changes, as a consequence of these new provisions being added to the LDA. This includes amending, repealing or revoking provisions in the LDA (pursuant to new subsection (5ZF)).
	New subsection (5ZG) places a duty on the Secretary of State to consult such persons (if any) as are considered appropriate, taking into account the extent to which the regulations are likely to affect the valuation of other land.