Land Drainage

Land Drainage - Riparian Ownership

The rivers, streams and ditches are the responsibility of the 'riparian' landowners who own land on either bank. If your property is adjacent to a watercourse of any description you are a riparian owner and should be maintaining it regularly. This will have the benefit of reducing the risk of flooding from the watercourse at times of wet weather - both for you and your neighbours. So in the diagram below, even if the Title Deeds for Owner A's property show the boundary to be the fence, they have riparian rights and responsibilities to the centre of the watercourse.

As a riparian owner you have certain rights and responsibilities in relation to the watercourse flowing through or adjacent to your property. These 'riparian rights' are based on common law and have been defined as a result of legal cases over many years. These rights are not absolute and you may in any event have to obtain consent for work from the Environment Agency or the Council.

Your Rights

• You may own land up to the centre of the watercourse
• You have the right to receive flow of water in its natural state, without undue interference in quantity or quality
• You have the right to protect your property from flooding, and your land from erosion
• You have the right to fish in your watercourse, although this must be by legal methods and with an Environment Agency rod licence
• You can abstract a maximum of 20 cubic metres per day of water for the domestic purposes of your own household or for agricultural use, excluding spray irrigation, from a watercourse at a point which directly adjoins your land without the need for a licence. Most other types of abstraction will require a licence from the Environment Agency.

These rights are modified by your duty of care to other riparian owners, the rest of the community and to the environment - that is, you mustn't do anything which harms or affects others.

Before starting any work on, in or adjacent to a watercourse, you must submit the plans of any work to the Environment Agency and the Council to determine whether you require a land drainage consent, discharge licence and/or planning permission. Environmental issues, including flood risk, wildlife conservation, fisheries, reshaping of the river and landscape, must all be considered.

Your Responsibilities

• You have the responsibility to pass on flow without obstruction, pollution or diversion affecting the rights of others
• You have the responsibility to accept flood flows through your land, even if caused by inadequate capacity downstream, as there is no common law duty to improve a watercourse
• You have the responsibility for maintaining the bed and banks of the watercourse (including trees and shrubs growing on the banks) and for clearing any debris, natural or otherwise, including litter and animal carcasses, even if it did not originate from your land.
• You must not cause any obstructions to the free passage of fish
• You are responsible for keeping the bed and banks clear from any matter that could cause an obstruction either on your land, or by being washed away by high flow to obstruct at a structure downstream. Watercourses and their banks should not be used for the disposal of any form of garden or other waste.
• You have the responsibility for protecting your property from seepage through natural or man-made banks. Where such seepage threatens the structural integrity of a flood defence, it may become the concern of the Environment Agency.

Reproduced from the Environment Agency publication 'Living on the Edge'

The role of the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency has statutory powers to require main rivers to be maintained and if necessary can enforce the required work at the expense of the owner(s).

The role of the Internal Drainage Board (IDB)

The IDB has statutory powers to require drainage board areas to be maintained and if necessary can enforce the required work at the expense of the owner(s).

The role of the Highways Agency

The Highways Agency has a statutory duty to remove excessive surface water from the highway to prevent accidents.

The Role of North Norfolk District Council

The Council has statutory powers to require land drainage to be maintained and if necessary can enforce the required work at the expense of the owner(s). This action is currently taken by the Environmental Health Service. It is always preferable for residents to resolve drainage matters themselves as referring investigations to the Environmental Health Service may incur additional administration costs.

Environmental Health Officers will determine the extent of the problem, the action required to resolve the problem, and who is responsible. This usually results in either informal or formal action being taken.

Informal action:
Environmental Health will try to advise riparian owners of the most appropriate action to take.

Formal action:
A legal Notice would require the riparian owners to maintain or cleanse the land drainage system within a minimum of seven days. If the notice is not complied with, the work can be completed by the Council and the cost for the works, plus any administrative fees, will be charged to those responsible.

Please be aware that sometimes it is not possible to identify the location of drainage defects and who is responsible until any blockage has been cleared. Often detailed surveys, using closed circuit television or other equipment, is necessary to trace the drain and identify defects.

Still Unsure who to Contact?

Where residents are unsure which agency to contact, they should speak with the Environmental Health Service at the Council in the first instance. Please contact 01263 516085.

Financial Assistance with Land Drainage Works

In some circumstances it is not possible to take enforcement action yet a land drainage problem still occurs. In these circumstances and where actual flooding of property occurs or the properties have been close to flooding on regular occasions it is desirable to undertake works to alleviate the flooding risk. Where the case meets the Council's criteria then it is possible to offer some financial assistance.

Drainage schemes are not always essential or desirable and can have detrimental environmental effects. If the land in its natural state can accept and recover from occasional flooding it is in many instances left alone.

Executive Committee - 8 October 2001

Criteria:

• More than one unit of living accommodation has been flooded or put at risk of imminent risk of flooding because of drainage problems.
• The assistance offered will not exceed £2000 and will not exceed 70% of the total cost of the work proposed.
• At least two other individuals or organisations are contributing towards the cost of the overall scheme.

Need to be satisfied that:

• That it is a "regular" occurrence i.e. not 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 year event.
• There is a feasible engineering solution with a positive outfall point.
• That improving the drainage at this point will not cause flooding problems downstream.
• Start at the outflow point and work upstream.

In some cases land drainage problems cannot be solved by an individual land owner but require the co-operation of many owners to arrange for surface water to be collected, channeled and conveyed away to an outfall.
A copy of the application form for financial assistance for flood prevention works can be found here (PDF, 68KB).