Maintaining watercourses and ditches

If you have a watercourse within or adjacent to the boundaries of your property you are by law a riparian owner. If the watercourse is the boundary of your property, you will normally be responsible up to the centre of the channel.

We provide local arrangements for water management under the North Worcestershire Water Management shared service arrangement across the Redditch, Bromsgrove and Wyre Forest areas hosted by Wyre Forest District Council.

Things to consider

1. You must get consent for any works which will alter the flow of a watercourse, irrespective of whether works are permanent or temporary.
2. We recommend that all planning applications where water will be used and/or disposed of include a Water Management Statement. This will help you to ensure that when you apply for planning permission you have all the flood risk and water management issues covered.

Reporting an issue

You can report any issues with a watercourse, such as a blockage or maintenance requirement by completing this form. The Water Management team can then investigate and where necessary notify the relevant land owner(s). 

Please note that pollution in a watercourse should be reported to the Environment Agency by calling 0800 80 70 60.

More information

For more information about the management of land drainage and flooding go to the North Worcestershire Water Management website.