Worthing Borough Council

Riparian Rights - Living by a Watercourse

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pfm@adur-worthing.gov.uk

What are riparian rights?

The responsibility for the banks and bed of rivers, streams and ditches falls upon riparian landowners. Therefore living on the boundary of such a watercourse means you have certain rights and responsibilities to the watercourse flowing through or adjacent to your property. Maintaining these responsibilities will limit the risk of flooding during times of bad weather and will reduce the risk of any damage to your property together with your neighbours.

How do you distinguish whose responsibility it is?

Where a watercourse runs between two or more boundaries, each owner has equal rights and responsibilities. Even if there is a fence or other obstructions between your property and the watercourse, you may still have riparian rights and responsibilities to the centre of the watercourse.

What is a watercourse?

Any channel which water may flow, whether it be open or enclosed underground, can be defined as a watercourse. So it could be a flowing river or a dry channel under the ground either of which could become hazardous after long periods of heavy rain or stormy conditions. They usually occur entirely naturally to serve to drain the land and assist in supporting flora and fauna.

What are your rights and responsibilities?

Rights

• You have the right to protect your property from flooding and your land from erosion. 
• You are presumed to own the land up to the centre of the watercourse unless your land title otherwise precludes.
• You are able to receive the flow of water in its natural state, without undue interference in quantity and quality.
• You have the right to fish in your watercourse, although this must be by legal methods and with an Agency rod license.
• You can abstract a maximum of 20 cubic metres of water per day for domesticc purposes of your own household or for agricultural use, excluding spray irrigation, from a watercourse at any point that directly adjoins your land. Most other types of extraction require a license from the Environmental Agency.

Responsibilities:

• You are responsible for maintaining the bed and bank of the course (including trees and shrubs growing on the banks) and for cleaning any debris, natural or otherwise, including litter and animal carcasses, even if it did not originate from your land.
• You must not cause any obstructions to the free passage of fish.
• You are responsible for keeping the bed and banks clear of any matter that could cause an obstruction, either on your land or by being washed away by high flow to obstruct a structure downstream. Rivers and banks should not be used for the disposal of any form of garden or other waste.
• You are responsible for keeping clear any structures that you own such as culverts, trash screens, weirs and mill gates.
• You are responsible for protecting your property from seepage through natural or man- made banks.

Reproduced from the Environment Agency publication ‘ Living on the Edge’.

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