Water Bill must address flood liability, says CLA

The Country, Land & Business Association (CLA) is lobbying the government to introduce an important clause in its planned Water Bill to address landowners’ flood liability.

The CLA said it was “vital” that a clause limiting the liability in private nuisance for landowners situated on land next to watercourses or rivers is introduced in the bill, which is currently going through parliament.

The CLA has discovered that in certain situations, if riparian owners or farmers fail to take responsibility for maintaining flood defences – which could run into millions of pounds – the legal opinion suggests they could face legal claims from other adjoining landowners, such as homeowners.

But the association said it was “massively unfair” that landowners must foot the bill for flood defences where the Environment Agency and other authorities have withdrawn from long-standing maintenance commitments.

CLA president Henry Robinson said: “Landowners should not have to stump up huge sums to pay for a shortfall resulting from the Environment Agency withdrawing from flood defence commitments.

“We have discovered that landowners along a river bank, who may not benefit from flood defences, could face legal claims in private nuisance if they do not pay up once these flood defences are no longer maintained.”

He added: “A provision must be added to the Water Bill to allow landowners to satisfy any liability in private nuisance from an affected third party. This may be possible by inviting neighbouring landowners to carry out any necessary upkeep of existing former flood defences themselves.”