Who is responsible?
The council has no responsibilities for land drainage, except when it is the land owner.
We, along with other public bodies, only have permissive powers to act in certain circumstances, to mitigate the effects of flooding. We do not own any land drainage ditches, unless they are adjacent or abut Council Land. We may be able to take limited action, in line with our land drainage policy (PDF) [138KB].
If you own land located immediately adjacent to or abutting a drainage ditch, river or any other inland body of water then in legal terms you are a Riparian Owner and have certain common law rights and responsibilities. View guidance on Riparian Ownership (PDF) [39KB]
If you have surface water flowing onto your land you are responsible for installing suitable drainage to accommodate this flow of water. Therefore, if an adjacent property installs land drains or hard surfaces their land, resulting in more water flowing onto your land, you cannot take action against that person, and must carry out your own works as required, even if that pushes the problem onto your neighbour. This is because no one owns the water, which will always find its own path. View more information on our land drainage policy (PDF) [138KB].
Even if the Title Deeds for your property show the boundary to stop at your fence, you still have riparian rights and responsibilities to the centre of the watercourse if the ditch is located between two properties. However, if the ditch joins a highway then you are responsible for maintaining the whole ditch.