Buckinghamshire Council Land Drainage Enforcement Policy

In order for Buckinghamshire Council to prevent unnecessary flooding, causing unreasonable damage to a receptor due to blocked or altered ordinary watercourses the following policy statement will be adopted:

Buckinghamshire Council reserve the right to take enforcement action where we consider that an ordinary watercourse is in such a condition that the proper flow of water is impeded and that this impediment is causing, or is likely to cause, harm to a receptor’

“Ordinary Watercourse” means a watercourse that does not form part of a main river, as defined by the Land Drainage Act 1991. Where ‘watercourse’ includes all rivers, streams, and all ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dykes, sluices, sewers (other than public sewers) and passages, through which water flows, this also applies to channels that are dry other than at times of high rainfall. Consequently this policy cannot apply to main rivers, as these are regulated by the Environment Agency.

The policy does not apply to ordinary watercourses under the control of the Bedford Group of Internal Drainage Boards (IDB), a map showing the area covered by the IDB can be found in the Appendix.

“Impediment” means an obstruction, including a wilful act leading to a blockage or may be due to lack of maintenance or neglect of the watercourse.