[simonslady]

I do hope you can give us some advice 


We live on the side of a single track road near the top of a hill and the council have three drains at the side of the road just outside the house.
It seems that until 4 years ago there was only the one drain at the bottom.
The lowest drain actually is piped under our lawn away from the road and comes out into our field, not into a ditch or water coarse, it just floods down the middle of the field for 100 meters until it joins a stream, making the whole of the top of the field like a bog over the winter.

The council claimed it was put in by previous owners years ago (we purchased in Nov 2013) and they have a common law right to drain into any water coarse, when we pointed out that the water coarse was 100 meters down the field they said there must have been a boundary down the field when it was put in but we have looked at old maps and found out that the old boundary was further up the bank, over 4ft above road level (the field slopes to a v where the stream emerges) and water cannot flow uphill.

Not sure where to go from here with them, if anyone could point us in the right direction for help.
Should say we are in west wales.
Thank you
Jan

[HesterF]

Sounds like you could be in for a bureaucratic struggle  . If the drains on the roads round here block, it's definitely local council responsibility sort it. But quite how it works when it drains into your land, I have no idea. I've been trying to work out whether we can put a sign up above the school lane to point to the school - I've been through highways and the local council and both basically say no. So now we're going to put it up on private land, 2m back from the road and hope they don't notice! I think you have to escalate it with the council and get somebody out to look at the problem. Sorry! Otherwise you might need legal help.

[simonslady]

Thank you for your reply  HesterF   

It has been a nightmare so far, having to pester them all the time for an answer to anything.
What worries me now is being on a hill they put down plenty of salt which has now washed into my field 
What kind of effect is this having on my land and the horses ?

Getting anyone out to discuss/look at the problem is impossible, I guess we just keep on trying 

[midtown]

Try (emphasis on the word "try") to get hold of your county council plan showing the location of all utilities in your area. We got ours eventually, from the Highways department.
Apart from gas and electric services, it should also indicate the line of the sewer/drain and whether (by colour coding) if it is deemed to be 'Public' or 'Private'.

I've had to go through a long drawn out process on a similar issue regarding the line of a surface drain which the council deny exists - despite a new public road servicing some new builds, all with drains!

If it's a public drain emptying on your land, I would have thought there would be some kind of easement which should be lodged with the deeds to your property.