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Living on the Edge 3 1 Introduction A guide to your rights and responsibilities of riverside ownership We are the Environment Agency. It’s our job to look after your environment and make it a better place – for you, and for future generations. Your environment is the air you breathe, the water you drink and the ground you walk on. Working with business, Government and society as a whole, we are making your environment cleaner and healthier. The Environment Agency. Out there, making your environment a better place. Published by: Environment Agency Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 5AH Tel: 03708 506506 Email: [email protected] www.gov.uk/environment-agency © Environment Agency All rights reserved. This document may be reproduced with prior permission of the Environment Agency. October 2014 5th edition, 2014 Watercourses enhance our lives in so many ways and yet they can also pose a threat when in flood. They need to be respected, protected and improved for our benefit and for future generations. That is why there is a significant amount of legal safeguards that we all need to comply with. Contents 1 Introduction 4 11 Tidal watercourses 23 2 Your rights and responsibilities 6 12 Erosion of river banks 24 3 Flood risk management 10 13 Land management 25 4 Understanding flood risk 12 14 The role of other organisations 28 5 Flood defence/ordinary 15 Explanation of terms 30 watercourse consents 13 6 Planning permission 16 Appendices 7 Other consents and licences 17 1 The role of the Environment Agency 34 8 Water Framework Directive 20 2 The role of your local 9 Culverts 21 authority and Internal 10 Mills and weirs 22 Drainage Board 36 Environment Agency Living on the edge 3 1 Introduction If you own land or property next to a river, stream or ditch you are a ‘riparian landowner’ and this guide is for you. It has been updated with new information on who to contact for guidance on watercourses. Your rights as a riparian landowner have been established in common law for many years, but they may be affected by other laws. You may need permission for some activities from a third party, such as your local authority (unitary, county or district council), Internal Drainage Board or the Environment Agency. These organisations are known as risk management authorities, and their role is described in Appendices 1 and 2. 4 Environment Agency Living on the edge Introduction This guide explains: mill stream or culvert. • your rights and responsibilities Your risk management authority can as a riparian landowner. It also give you advice and guidance on explains the roles of your risk managing your watercourse. However, management authority and other depending on the situation, they organisations you may need to will not approve or consent to work work with. that would harm the environment • who is responsible for flood risk or increase flood risk, even if the management and flood defences, works are structurally sound. They and what that means in practice. will discourage culverting, diverting • how you can work with your risk or channelling watercourses and management authority and other building into watercourses, known organisations to protect and as encroachment. They will promote improve the natural environment of ‘soft engineering’ methods to control our rivers and streams. erosion (see section 12). Your risk management authority If you are not sure who to contact has powers and responsibilities please visit the Environment Agency to manage flood risk and work website: www.gov.uk/environment- with others to improve the river agency or call 03708 506 506. environment in England and Wales. A watercourse is any natural or artificial channel above or below ground through which water flows, such as a river, brook, beck, ditch, For help and information during a flood call Floodline on 0345 988 1188. Environment Agency Living on the edge 5 2 Your rights and responsibilities If you own land adjoining, above or with a watercourse running through it, you have certain rights and responsibilities. In legal terms you are a ‘riparian owner’. If you rent the land, you should agree with the owner who will manage these rights and responsibilities. 6 Environment Agency Living on the edge Your rights and responsibilities Your rights • If your land boundary is next to a downstream. It also means that a watercourse it is assumed you own person cannot carry out activities the land up to the centre of the that could lead to pollution of watercourse, unless it is owned the water and therefore reduce by someone else. the natural water quality within a watercourse. More information on • If a watercourse runs alongside the permissions required to abstract your garden wall or hedge you water from a watercourse (section should check your property deeds 7) and what to do if you spot to see if the wall or hedge marks pollution in your local watercourse your boundary. If the watercourse is included in this booklet. marks the boundary, it is assumed you own the land up to the centre • You have the right to protect your of the watercourse. property from flooding, and your land from erosion. However, you • If you own land with a watercourse must get your plans agreed with running through or underneath it, the risk management authority it is assumed you own the stretch before you start work (see section of watercourse that runs through 5). your land. • You usually have the right to fish • Occasionally a watercourse, in your watercourse using a legal especially an artificial one, will be method. Anyone aged 12 or over the responsibility of a third party. must have a valid Environment This should be noted in your deeds. Agency rod licence. It is important • Water should flow onto or under to check what your rights are, your land in its natural quantity because fishing rights can be and quality. This means that sold or leased. water should not be taken out of These rights are affected by your duty a watercourse if it could lead to a to other riparian landowners, the lack of water for those who need it community and the environment. Environment Agency Living on the edge 7 Your rights and responsibilities Your responsibilities • You must let water flow through animal carcasses. your land without any obstruction, • You should always leave a pollution or diversion which development-free edge on the banks affects the rights of others. Others next to a watercourse. This allows also have the right to receive water for easy access to the watercourse in in its natural quantity and quality case any maintenance or inspection as explained in the Your Rights is required. In some areas local Section. You should be aware that byelaws exist which explain what all riparian owners have the same you can and cannot do within rights and responsibilities. certain distances of a watercourse. • You must accept flood flows For more information on works near through your land, even if these watercourses you should contact are caused by inadequate capacity your risk management authority. downstream. A landowner has no • You must keep any structures, such duty in common law to improve the as culverts, trash screens, weirs and drainage capacity of a watercourse mill gates, clear of debris. Discuss he/she owns. the maintenance of flood defences, • You should keep the banks clear such as walls and embankments, of anything that could cause an on your property with your risk obstruction and increase flood risk, management authority. They may either on your land or downstream be vital for flood protection. if it is washed away. You are • You should not cause obstructions, responsible for maintaining the bed temporary or permanent, that would and banks of the watercourse and stop fish passing through. the trees and shrubs growing on the banks. You should also clear any • You have a legal obligation to notify litter and animal carcasses from the Environment Agency and the the channel and banks, even if they relevant risk management authority did not come from your land. You if you would like to build or alter a may need your risk management structure that acts as an obstruction authority’s consent for these works to a watercourse. Under the Eel (see section 5). Your local authority Regulations in some cases it may be can advise you on the removal of an offence if you do not notify the 8 Environment Agency Living on the edge Your rights and responsibilities Environment Agency of the above. nature conservation. • Please help to protect water If you are not sure what you have quality. Do not use riverbanks to to do and/or are new to living dispose of garden or other waste, near a watercourse, ask your risk where it could be washed into the management authority for advice. river. This includes grass cuttings, Your property may include a which pollute the water. watercourse that runs in a culvert. • You are responsible for protecting You have the same responsibilities your property from water that for the upkeep of the culvert as if it seeps through natural or artificial was an open watercourse. banks. Where this damages a flood If you do not carry out your defence, your risk management responsibilities, you could face authority may require you to pay legal action. for repairs. If you see any activity that could • You must control invasive damage the environment or increase alien species such as Japanese flood risk, please report it to your risk knotweed. Your local risk management authority as soon as management authority can advise possible. Water and land pollution you on how to manage and or blockages which increase the risk control these species.
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