Skip to content

Renewal of London Port Health Order

Date updated: 28/01/2023

Renewal of London Port Health Order

The City of London Corporation has conducted an informal consultation before making an application to the Department of Health and Social Care to renew the London Port Health Order.

An updated version of the London Port Health Order will be available to download and view soon.
Renewal of London Port Health Order PDF (214KB)
Renewal of London Port Health Order
Date submitted: 19/07/22

This web page provides some background to the reasons for the renewal and links to documents and an interactive map showing the boundary.

Background

The City of London Corporation is the Port Health Authority for the tidal Thames and certain tributaries flowing into the Thames and the Thames estuary.

The existing Port Health Order was made in 1965 and is in urgent need of renewal to reflect changes in legislation.

Most Port Health Authorities are constituted under Section 2 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984; however, London Port Health Authority is set up under Section 7 of the Act; this means that the legislation enforced through the London Port Health Order is somewhat different to that enforced by other Port Health Authorities. The legislation that may be included in the Order is specified in section 7 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984.

In addition to the legislation enforced through the Port Health Order, some enactments give Port Health Authorities power to act directly, for example the Food Safety Act.

The extent of the London port health district is provided for in sections 6 and 7 of the 1984 Act. This provides that the London port health district is the Port of London (as defined in section 6) together with so much of “the district or districts of one or more riparian authorities as….may be specified in an order made by the Secretary of State.” The order does not therefore contain a full description of the extent of the jurisdiction as it only includes specific reference to the areas of other districts which are to be included in addition to the Port of London as described in the 1984 Act. To see the full extent of the proposed jurisdiction please have regard to the online map (link above).

Consultation

The official six week consultation ended on 9 September 2022. However if you have any comments or questions please email Port Health Order.