Apply for land drainage consent
You’ll need to apply for land drainage consent if you’re planning on carrying out work on an ordinary watercourse.
Ordinary watercourses are passages of water that do not form part of a main river. They can include:
- streams
- ditches
- drains
- mills
- dams
- culverts
- weirs
Identify a watercourse
Get pre-application advice from us
We offer a pre-application advice service for proposed works to ordinary watercourses.
This is an efficient and cost-effective approach to undertaking works on an ordinary watercourse because it prevents unnecessary delays to the formal land drainage consent application process.
You can request the following services:
- a virtual meeting, followed by written advice
- a site visit, followed by written advice
- a hydraulic modelling review
Pre-application advice is a charged service.
View more in our Terms and Conditions.
Submit your application
Apply for pre-application advice online:
How to apply
You can apply online for land drainage consent. It costs £50 per structure to apply.
With your application you will need to upload:
- a location plan
- a general arrangement or site plan
- structure specific details and drawings (such as construction drawings) showing how the structure fits into the watercourse
Details and drawings should include:
- cross-sections of the watercourse, showing the existing and proposed invert, bed, bank top, or road levels upstream, downstream and on structure location - the cross-sections should clearly show the profile of the watercourse
- a long-section of the watercourse, showing existing and proposed levels - this should begin upstream of the structure and finish downstream of the structure, and cross-section locations should be clearly shown
- method statement for the construction of the proposed structure, inclusive of ecological details
- photographs of the structure location and surrounding areas
Depending on the proposal, we may also require drainage calculations to demonstrate no increase in water levels upstream or downstream of the structure.
More information about detailed drawings can be found in our land drainage consent guidance notes.
We’ll grant or refuse consent within 2 months of receiving your application.
If you want to culvert an ordinary watercourse
A culvert is a covered structure that allows water to flow from one area to another. Buckinghamshire Council is the consenting authority for erecting a culvert in an ordinary watercourse.
If you are planning to culvert an ordinary watercourse, read our Culvert Policy before applying for land drainage consent.
This policy has been adopted to prevent the unnecessary culverting of Buckinghamshire's ordinary watercourses due to the adverse effects culverting can have on the environment. This includes:
- exacerbated risk of flooding
- increased maintenance requirements
- difficulty detecting pollution
- destruction of wildlife habitats
- damage to natural amenity
Carrying out work on other types of watercourse
If you'd like to carry out work:
- on a main river, you should speak to the Environment Agency
- within an Internal Drainage Board area, you should speak to the Buckingham and River Ouzel Internal Drainage Board - you can also view a map of the Board’s area on their website.
If work has been carried out on a watercourse without consent
We have enforcement powers if work has been carried out on a watercourse without consent.
For more information, read our Land Drainage Enforcement Policy.
Help with your application
If you’d like to contact us before making an application for land drainage consent to discuss your requirements, email [email protected].