ABSTRACT
Section 20 of the Land Compensation Act 1973 enables the Secretary of State to make regulations imposing a duty or conferring a power on responsible authorities to insulate buildings against noise caused or expected to be caused by the construction or use of public works or to make grants in respect of the cost of such insulation. The distinction between a duty and a power is important. If an authority is under a duty to carry out noise insulation or to pay a grant, it is obliged to do that work or pay the grant; if it has a power, it has a discretion as to whether it will carry out the work and make grants. Thus a person will be entitled to noise insulation if there exists a duty, but cannot demand, as of right, noise insulation if the authority is only empowered to carry out the work or make grants. The present regulations impose certain duties and confer certain powers. The responsible authority is, in relation to a highway, the appropriate highway authority and, in relation to other public works, the person managing those works.
