The Environment Agency has updated the information about riparian ownership and created a leaflet called “Your watercourse: rights and roles”. This new leaflet ( .pdf – 1Mb – 56 pages) is printable, which may be useful for people wishing to share this information with their communities. The ” Your watercourses….” leaflet can be found here
If there are issues with this link the leaflet is also available to download from this webpage – Your watercourse: rights and roles | Engage Environment Agency (engagementhq.com)
THE SMALL PRINT
Within this leaflet, the precise problem associated with the lack of maintenance of urbanised ordinary watercourses is identified on Page 55 as follows: – Permissive Powers: when an organisation has statutory powers to carry out works but these powers are discretionary in nature with no legal duty to exercise them.
In other words – although RBWM (as designated lead local flood authority) is responsible – they have no duty to take any action. This policy also appears to apply to the Environment Agency. I am concerned that although the Floods and Water Management Act 2010 clearly defines responsibility for ordinary watercourses and main rivers – the legislation fails to impose a duty to ensure that the individual elements of land drainage infrastructure are maintained in a condition fit-for-purpose. So we now spend £billions on new flood defences but ignore the existing decaying and sub-standard infrastructure that exacerbates flooding?