Flood prevention (clearing gullies and ditches)

MKCC is responsible for cleaning and maintaining the road gullies on adopted highway. You might expect MKCC would similarly be responsible for clearing ditches running alongside the adopted highway, but this is likely not to be the case – normally, ditches running alongside the highway are the responsibility of the adjacent landowner under the common law “hedge and ditch” rule. Landowners have a legal obligation to keep their watercourses, whether rivers, streams, ditches or culverts, clear of anything (eg trees, shrubs, brambles) that could cause an obstruction or increase flood risk, on their own land or elsewhere. The maintenance and clearance of ordinary watercourses is important to local flood risk management. Some works to watercourses may require prior consent from the lead local flood or drainage authority. The Environment Agency have produced the guide “Living on the Edge” which sets out the responsibilities of watercourse ownership in more detail.