Statutory guidance

Yorkshire region flood defence and land drainage byelaws

Published 28 September 2022

The former Yorkshire Water Authority established these byelaws in 1980. They transferred to the National Rivers Authority in 1989, and to the Environment Agency in 1995. The Environment Agency continue to operate these byelaws.

In 2016, some byelaws were transferred to the environmental permit regulations (EPR). The byelaws that transferred to the EPR are now disapplied. They have not been legally repealed but, due to other legislation, are not used any more.

This document only details the byelaws still in use – this means the numbered byelaws are not sequential.

These byelaws manage activities that are not covered by the EPR for flood risk. They apply to activities around main rivers, flood and sea defences and flood plains.

Map: Yorkshire region

These byelaws cover an area from the east coast of Yorkshire through to the Pennines in the west. This is roughly bounded by Whitby, Kingston Upon Hull, Chesterfield, Todmorden, and Richmond.

If you need help to understand how and where the byelaws apply contact your local Environment Agency office.

Flood defence and land drainage byelaws

Yorkshire Water Authority, by virtue of the powers vested in them under the Land Drainage Act 1976 and of every other power enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following byelaws which they consider necessary for securing the efficient working of the drainage system in their area or for securing the proper defence against sea or tidal water of any part of their area.

These byelaws were later enforced by the Yorkshire Region of the Environment Agency. These byelaws are now enforced by the Environment Agency: all references to Yorkshire Water Authority, Water Authority or Authority should now read Environment Agency.

1. Citation

These byelaws may be cited as the Yorkshire Land Drainage Byelaws 1980.

2. Interpretation

In these byelaws unless the context otherwise requires-

‘animal’ includes any livestock;

‘the Authority’ means Yorkshire Water Authority; ‘the Authority’s area’ means the area of the Authority for the purpose of their functions relating to land drainage;

‘bank’ (except in the expression ‘sea bank’) means a bank, wall or embankment adjoining or confining a river, or constructed for the purposes of preventing or alleviating flooding from or otherwise in connection with a river, and includes also:

(a) all land between the bank and low water mark of the river, and (b) any embankment constructed or maintained by the Authority in the sea or an estuary for the purposes of or in connection with a river;

‘flood plain’ means land which lies adjacent to the normal channel of a river and over which flood water may flow; ‘master’ when used in relation to a vessel means any person having command or charge of the vessel for the time being;

‘the Minister’ means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;

to ‘moor’ a vessel includes anchoring or otherwise securing the vessel;

‘owner’ when used in relation to land, means the person for the time being receiving the rack-rent of the premises, whether on that person’s own account or as agent or trustee for any other person, or who would so receive the same if the premises were let at a rack-rent;

‘protected bankside land’ means any land lying landward within the following distances measured horizontally from the bank of a river:

(a) if the bank includes a wall or embankment, eight metres from the landward foot thereof, and (b) in other cases, eight metres from the landward limit of the bank;

‘river’ means a watercourse shown as a main river on a main river map (as defined in section 9 of the Land Drainage Act 1976) of the Authority’s area and includes any water flow control work constructed or maintained for the purposes of or in connection with such a watercourse;

‘sea bank’ means a wall or embankment constructed for the purpose of preventing tidal water from inundating land, not being waters in a river;

‘vessel’ includes a hovercraft within the meaning of the Hovercraft Act 1968 and the remains of any vessel;

‘water flow control work’ means any sluice, gate, lock, valve, weir, dam, pipe, culvert, pump or other structure or appliance whereby the flow of water in, into or out of a river may be measured, controlled or affected or whereby water may be drawn from or discharged into a river, being a structure or appliance situated in a river or the bank of a river, other than a structure or appliance vested in or controlled by an internal drainage board or other drainage authority.

3. Prohibitions and restrictions

Where by or under these byelaws the doing of any act is prohibited or restricted the same prohibition or restriction shall extend to causing or knowingly permitting the act to be done.

4. Limitation

Nothing in these byelaws shall-

(1) authorise the Authority to require any person to do any act the doing of which is not necessary for securing the efficient working of the drainage system of the Authority’s area or to refrain from doing any act the doing of which does not adversely affect the efficient working of the drainage system of the Authority’s area;

(2) prejudice or affect the provisions of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 or sections 18, 20 and 22 of the Water Act 1973 (which relate respectively to the Authority’s duties in relation to fisheries, their powers and duties in regard to the use for the purposes of recreation of water and land associated with water, and their duties with regard to nature conservation and amenity) or any rights, powers or duties conferred or imposed thereby; or

(3) require any person to do any act or to refrain from doing any act which would contravene the provisions of any statutory order, regulation or notice made or given pursuant to the provisions of any Act of Parliament.

5. Interference with water flow control work

No person without lawful authority or excuse shall interfere with a water flow control work.

6. Operation of flow control work

(1) No person, except within the reasonable needs of meeting an emergency, shall operate a water flow control work so as to reduce or retain water in a river, or so as to draw water from or discharge water into a river, contrary to the directions of a notice served on him by the Authority.

(2) A person who in emergency has so operated a water flow control work shall forthwith give notice to the Authority of having done so.

10. Unstable structures beside rivers

(1) This byelaw applies to a building or other structure in or over a river or on the bank of a river or on protected bankside land, the whole or any part of which structure is in such condition of decay or instability that it causes or is in imminent danger of causing by movement or collapse-

(a) damage to the channel or a bank of the river or any drainage work or any water flow control work, or (b) danger or obstruction to the execution of drainage work, or (c) obstruction or impediment to the flow of water in, into or out of the river.

(2) A person upon whom the Authority serve notice under this byelaw shall comply with any directions of the notice for remedying or preventing any such damage, danger, obstruction or impediment which the said structure is causing or is in imminent danger of causing.

(3) A notice under this byelaw may be served on-

(a) any person who is the owner or the occupier of the said structure, or (b) any person to whose act or default the said condition is due. but a notice directing a person to carry out work on land of which he is not the owner or the occupier shall not be served without the consent of the owner or the occupier of the land, except in a case where it is not practicable, after reasonable enquiry, to ascertain the name and address of the owner or the occupier of the land.

15. Driving and riding on banks

No person shall on the bank of a river-

(a) propel any vehicle or vehicles, or any machine or machines, or (b) ride, drive or lead any animal or animals so as to cause damage to the bank or to affect the stability of the bank.

16. Grazing and watering of animals

No person shall use the bank of a river or land which includes such bank or any drainage work for the purpose of grazing or keeping any animal thereon or watering any animal at the river without taking such steps as are necessary and reasonably practicable to prevent the bank or channel of the river from being damaged by such use to the prejudice of the drainage system:

Provided that nothing in this byelaw shall be deemed to affect or prevent the use of a bank for the purpose of enabling animals to drink at any place made and maintained

17. Infestation of banks

The occupier of the bank of a river or any part thereof shall comply with the directions of any notice served on him by the Authority for preventing the bank from becoming infested by coypu, foxes, mink, moles, muskrats, rabbits or rats:

Provided however that in so complying he shall not do anything of such a nature as to cause damage to or affect the stability of the bank

19. Unstable structures on sea banks

(1) This byelaw applies to a building or other structure in, over or on a sea bank the whole or part of which structure is in such a condition of decay or instability that it causes or is in imminent danger of causing by movement or collapse damage to the bank.

(2) A person upon whom the Authority serve notice under this byelaw shall comply with any directions of the notice for remedying or preventing any such damage which the said structure is causing or is in imminent danger of causing.

(3) Paragraph (3) of number 10 of these byelaws shall apply as if set out herein.

20. Protection of sea banks

Numbers 11 to 18 (inclusive) of these byelaws shall apply to a sea bank

(a) as if references therein to a bank of a river and to any embankment adjoining or confining a river included references to a sea bank and as if ‘the low water mark of the river’ referred to that of the sea, (b) as if ‘protected bankside land’ meant land lying within eight metres measured horizontally from either foot of the sea bank, and (c) as if references to the channel of a river were omitted.

21. Bridges and culverts

(1) This byelaw applies to any bridge or culvert which is maintainable or maintained by the Authority in the discharge of their functions under the Land Drainage Act 1976

(2) No person shall cause to be at any one time upon a bridge or culvert to which this byelaw applies any one or more animals or vehicles of such gross weight as to damage that bridge or culvert.

22. Compliance with notices while authority carries out work

The occupier of any land in or adjoining which any drainage work is being or is about to be executed by the Authority in connection with a river or a sea bank shall comply with the directions of any notice served by the Authority for securing that during the execution of that work any dangerous dog and any horse, ass, mule, cattle, sheep, goat, swine, goose or poultry is or are restrained from access to that work or otherwise kept under reasonable control and supervision.

23. Mooring of vessels

(1) No person, except within the reasonable needs of meeting an emergency, shall moor or beach a vessel, or leave a vessel unattended, in such place or manner in a river that she causes or is likely to cause-

(a) damage to the channel or a bank of the river or any drainage work or any water flow control work, or (b) obstruction or danger to the execution of drainage work, or (c) obstruction or impediment to the flow of water in, into or out of the river.

(2) A person who in emergency has so moored or beached a vessel or left a vessel unattended shall as soon as practicable remove any such moored or beached vessel or take any such unattended vessel under control and where such damage has been caused give notice thereof to the Authority.

(3) An owner or master of a vessel which is moored, beached or left unattended as aforesaid, on whom the Authority serve notice requiring him to remove the vessel, shall comply with the directions of the notice.

24. Mooring of houseboats

(1) No person shall moor a houseboat in a river or to the bank of a river or to protected bankside land: Provided that this byelaw shall not apply to any houseboat mooring in the ordinary course of navigation or with the Authority’s consent or lawfully lying at a wharf.

(2) In this byelaw ‘houseboat’ means any vessel fitted with or used as living accommodation, but does not include any vessel bona fide used to a substantial extent for navigation.

25. Turning propeller of moored vessel

No person shall turn the propeller of a vessel while moored or lying alongside the bank of a river in such manner as is likely to damage that bank.

26. Navigation of vessels

No person shall navigate a vessel in a river in such manner or at such speed that she causes or is likely to cause

(a) damage to the channel or a bank of the river or any drainage work or any water flow control work, or (b) obstruction or danger to the execution of drainage work.

27. Speed of vessels

Where the Authority, by a notice conspicuously displayed at any place in or beside a river, specify a speed limit and direct that limit to be observed by vessels or any specified category of vessels passing that place no person shall navigate a vessel on the river in contravention of that direction:

Provided that except in emergency the Authority shall not exercise their powers under this Byelaw to limit the speed of vessels on a river except after consultation with any navigation authority for that river or on any tidal waters except after consultation with the Secretary of State for Trade.

28. Removal of vessel obstructing drainage works

Where a vessel is moored or lying in such a position as interferes or is likely to interfere with any lawful operation of the Authority her owner shall within seven days after service of notice to that effect by the Authority remove her for such length of time as the Authority may reasonably require for the completion of that work

29. Sunken, stranded, drifting and abandoned vessels

No person who is the owner of a vessel sunk, stranded, damaged or adrift in the river, or in the case of a sunken vessel which is abandoned who was her owner immediately before the abandonment, shall after service of notice by the Authority that she is causing obstruction permit her to remain in the river in such a manner as to impede or harmfully divert the flow of water into, in or out of the river or to endanger the stability of any drainage work.

33. Notices

(1) A notice under these byelaws shall be in writing. The requirements of a notice served by the Authority shall be expressed therein as directions and shall be reasonable and shall state any period for compliance.

(2) A notice under these byelaws may be served in the manner provided in section 108 of the Land Drainage Act 1976.

34. Determination of disputes

(1) Where by or under these byelaws any person is required by a notice served by the Authority to do anything to the satisfaction of the Authority or to comply with any directions of the Authority, that person may within twenty-one days after the service of such notice serve on the Authority a counter-notice objecting to either the reasonableness of or the necessity for such requirement or directions, and in default of agreement between that person and the Authority the dispute shall, if that person is a drainage authority or local authority, be referred to the Minister whose decision shall be final and shall in any other case be referred to the arbitration of a single arbitrator to be appointed in default of agreement by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers on the application of either party. Where such a counter-notice has been served on the Authority in relation to a notice served under numbers 11 (3) 17, 23 (3) or 30 (3) of these byelaws the operation of the notice shall be suspended until either agreement has been reached or the dispute has been determined by the Minister or by arbitration in accordance with the provisions of this byelaw.

(2) Where by or under these byelaws any person is required by a notice served by the Authority to do anything to the satisfaction of the Authority or to comply with any directions of the Authority and any dispute subsequently arises as to whether such thing has been done satisfactorily or such directions have been complied with, the dispute shall if that person is a drainage authority or local authority be referred to the Minister whose decision shall be final, and shall in any other case be referred to the arbitration of a single arbitrator to be appointed in default of agreement by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers on the application of either party.

(4) In the making of every determination by an arbitrator under this byelaw regard shall be had to those matters to which the Authority is required by section 22 (‘duties with regard to nature conservation and amenity’) of the Water Act 1973 to have regard.

35. Savings for other byelaws and statutory functions

Nothing in these byelaws shall

(a) interfere with the operation of any byelaw made by a local authority, an internal drainage board or other drainage authority, or a navigation, harbour, pilotage or conservancy authority, but no person shall be liable to more than one penalty or in the case of a continuing offence more than one daily penalty in respect of the same offence;

(b) prevent, restrict, interfere with or prejudice the exercise of any statutory powers or duties which are now or hereafter may be exercisable by-

(i) an internal drainage board or other drainage authority; (ii) a local authority; (iii) any other highway authority; (iv) a navigation, harbour, pilotage or conservancy authority; (v) The British Waterways Board; (vi) The British Gas Corporation; (vii) The Central Electricity Generating Board or any Area Board established under the Electricity Acts 1947 and 1957; (viii) The British Railways Board or any Regional Railways Board established under the Transport Act 1962 with respect to the construction, use or maintenance of any railway bridge or any other work connected with their railways, or so as to interfere with the traffic thereon; (ix) The Post Office; (x) The British Airports Authority; (xi) The Civil Aviation Authority;

(c) restrict the introduction by a highway authority into a watercourse of surface water from any highway or other road, or

(d) affect any liability arising otherwise than under and by reason thereof.

36. Application to Crown

Nothing in these byelaws shall operate to prevent the removal of any substances on, in or under or the erection of any structure, building or machinery or any cable, wire or pipe on, over, or under lands belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Crown by any person thereunto authorised by the Crown Estate Commissioners.

37. Revocation of byelaws

(1) The byelaws made by the Yorkshire River Authority and confirmed by the Minister on 24 July 1969 are hereby revoked.

(2) The byelaws made by the Authority and confirmed by the Minister on 15 February 1980 are hereby revoked.