Flood management and drainage—responsible bodies

Produced in partnership with Michael Barlow of Burges Salmon and Simon Tilling of Pennon Group plc

Practice notes

Flood management and drainage—responsible bodies

Produced in partnership with Michael Barlow of Burges Salmon and Simon Tilling of Pennon Group plc

Practice notes

Responsibility for flood management and drainage in England and Wales has a complex history. A Royal Commission on land drainage in 1927 reported that ‘the administration of arterial drainage is conducted by a confused tangle of authorities, established by piecemeal legislation of five hundred years… Liability for works is regulated by no common uniform system, and is frequently obsolete and obscure’. The legacy of this complex history is still evident today, although legislative reforms over the last 25 years have helped to rationalise the landscape of flooding regulation.

Primary responsibility for flood management historically rested with individual landowners and some duties remain relevant. For more information, see Practice Note: Flood management and drainage—landowner rights and responsibilities.

Today, public authorities hold key roles in preventing and managing flooding on behalf of communities.

Key legislation

The key legislation governing the responsibilities of public bodies for flood management and drainage in England and Wales is summarised in separate Practice Notes:

•
Flooding—UK policy and legislative framework
•
Land Drainage Act 1991—snapshot

For

Michael Barlow

Burges Salmon

Michael leads the environment team and the cross-firm water sector team. Michael covers contentious and non-contentious business for a range of clients from a variety of sectors.

He has substantial experience of running cases in criminal courts, tribunals and civil courts to the Supreme Court as well as other methods of dispute resolution including arbitration and mediation.

On the non-contentious side, Michael has particular expertise in energy efficiency, contaminated land and environmental permitting but has advised on a broad range of topics over the last 15 years.

Michael is a former editor of the Environmental Law Review, regularly lectures on environmental law and contributes articles to environmental journals.

Simon Tilling

Environmental Lawyer, Pennon Group plc

• I am an environmental lawyer with a background in both science and law.

• In January 2023 I joined Pennon Group to lead a new in-house environmental law team in support of its water and waste-water businesses.

• At university I studied chemistry and law, and since then I have sought to use both my training in the scientific method and my skills in legal analysis and advocacy to solve complex environmental issues.

• For nearly two decades I was in private practice. As a partner in UK law firm Burges Salmon, and then a partner in Washington D.C. headquartered Steptoe & Johnson, I practiced UK and EU environmental law and regulation for clients across many sectors, working alongside and learning from colleagues who are real experts and masters of environmental law.

• I now use my skills and expertise in England's water sector, working with South West Water, Bristol Water and Bournemouth Water. As a life-long resident of the West of England, I can use my abilities to have a real impact on the environment around me and support dedicated and hard-working colleagues in the water and waste-water sector providing the environmental services on which we all rely.

• I am a trustee of the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA).

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

authorities definition

What does authorities mean?

judicial decisions or opinions of authors of repute used as grounds of statements of law;

Flood management and drainage—responsible bodies

Produced in partnership with Michael Barlow of Burges Salmon and Simon Tilling of Pennon Group plc