The Parish Council attends the Wiltshire Council Operational Flood Working Group (North), details of which are available here: Flooding

Watercourse Owners

Watercourse owners, or ‘riparian’ owners, have a responsibility to maintain ordinary watercourses that run adjacent to, through or under their property. This applies to all types of watercourses including ditches, dykes, streams and culverts, apart from main rivers and the sea.

Riparian owners are responsible for reporting incidents such as flooding, and for letting water flow through the watercourse naturally by removing blockages that may cause flooding. However, the riparian owners are not responsible for proactively reducing the risk of flooding from the watercourse. See more information on owning a watercourse here:

Your watercourse: rights and roles

Ordinary Watercourses

An ordinary watercourse refers to any watercourse which is not a main river: including ditches, dykes, streams and culverts. Managing flood risk from these watercourses is the responsibility of the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), unless the watercourse in question runs adjacent to, through or beneath private land or properties. In which case, the responsibility lies with the landowner or property owner (the watercourse owner).

Wiltshire Council is the LLFA for this area and is responsible for managing the risk of flooding from surface water and groundwater, as well as ordinary watercourses. They are also responsible for investigating all flooding incidents where deemed necessary.

Flooding from ordinary watercourses should be reported to

Find more information on how your council works here: https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works.

For advice on owning a watercourse, you should contact your risk management authority which will be your LLFA or the Internal Drainage Board (IDB). IDBs are responsible for water level management in low lying areas and work in partnership with other authorities to manage and reduce the risk of flooding within their districts but are not responsible for main rivers.

Landowner Responsibilities

Landowner Responsibilities and Riparian Ownership

Flooding

During a flood event if it is a life-threatening emergency, please contact 999 to report flooding.

Emergency in or out of hours : Wiltshire Council tel: 0300 456 0100

The best portal for non-emergency reporting is FORT- Home (geowessex.com). This information provided is then shared with the risk management authorities to ensure it goes to the correct organisation depending on the source and impact of flooding.

Reporting flooding helps organisations work together to support those affected by flooding. By gathering information, specific issues impacting residents and communities are identified and recurring issues highlighted. The evidence from flood reporting is crucial in planning effective maintenance and justifying business cases for potential long-term solutions.

 

There are a number of other resources available for helping with and reporting flooding events:

Wiltshire Council Drainage and Flooding

Wiltshire Local Flood Risk Management Strategy

Flood Risk Map

The Flood Hub

 

 

[Information on Watercourses is taken from The Flood Hub]