Watercourses Within or Abutting Land or Property.

If there is a drain or watercourse running through your land, adjacent to your land and/or abutting your property (even with a fence between it and your garden) then it is highly likely that you are a riparian owner of that drain or watercourse and have associated responsibilities.

If you are looking to purchase or develop either land and/or property that has a drain or watercourse running through or abutting it then we strongly recommend doing due diligence within any conveyancing. Please do not assume your solicitor or conveyancer will cover this as standard. All too often people only find out about their responsibilities after they have purchased a property. The Environment Agency has published useful information and a guide and Cambridgeshire County Council has also published a useful guide.

You must get permission BEFORE doing works in, under, over or around a watercourse. If you are within the Middle Level catchment and/or an IDB area that we administer please refer to our Consents & Byelaws page.