Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the role of the Environment Agency in ensuring that drainage ditches owned by riparian owners are maintained

Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, the Environment Agency has a strategic overview of the management of all sources of flooding and coastal change and are the lead authority for managing the risk of flooding from main rivers, estuaries and the sea.

Many different public and private bodies are involved in flood and coastal erosion risk management, each accountable for different aspects of risk management. The National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England (copy attached) sets out the different roles and responsibilities and describes how organisations and communities can work together to tackle flood and coastal risk in a co-ordinated and effective way.

Landowners are responsible, under common law, for maintaining the bed and banks of any watercourses that run through their land in a state which avoids flooding on their neighbours’ or other land. This common law duty also extends to keeping watercourses and culverts clear of anything that could cause an obstruction, either on their own land or downstream if it is washed away.

Drainage ditches are usually ordinary watercourses rather than main rivers, so the oversight of flood risk arising from unmaintained drainage ditches sits with other Risk Management Authorities (RMAs). Lead local flood authorities (county councils and unitary authorities), district councils, internal drainage boards, highways authorities and water and sewerage companies are collectively known as RMAs.

The Environment Agency has published guidance on owning a watercourse on GOV.UK, covering riparian landowners’ responsibilities and the rules to follow and the permissions needed. By March 2024, new engagement guidance will be published, to help RMAs, Environment Agency staff and landowners have more effective conversations on this matter.