Responsibility for Cleaning the River Irk

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Environment Agency should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Concerned Citizen

Dear Environment Agency,

Please can you confirm your responsibilities in relation to the River Irk that runs by the green quarter in Manchester (approximate postcode = M44AQ).

I ask as I have unsuccessfully been attempting to track down who is responsible for removing fly tipped material and rubbish from the river that has the potential to cause a flood risk and both yourselves and the local council have denied responsibility.

Yours faithfully,

Martin Lyons

Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

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Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

6 Attachments

Good morning Martin

 

I have mapped out the area, based on the address information you have
provided, and I can confirm that the watercourse you mentioned is classed
a main river, this means that we would carry out maintenance, improvement
or construction work on main rivers to manage flood risk.

 

Other rivers are called ‘ordinary watercourses’. Lead local flood
authorities, district councils and internal drainage boards carry out
flood risk management work on ordinary watercourses.

 

If you think that the fly tipped waste is likely to block the main river
causing flooding, it is reportable to us through our incident hotline on
0800 80 70 60.

 

However, if it is not likely to block the flow of the river, anyone who
owns a property or land alongside a natural watercourse has rights and
responsibilities. They relate to the stretch of the watercourse which
falls within or adjacent to the boundaries of their property. It is the
land owner’s responsibility to decide how to deal with the waste that has
been dumped and pay for the cost of disposal.

 

Information on owning a watercourse is available on GOV.UK.

 

[1]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/owning-a-wat...

                                                                                                                      

To establish who the land belongs to, you may want to consult land
registry.

 

[2]https://www.gov.uk/search-property-infor...

 

Fy-tipping on a small scale is also reportable to your local council while
fly-tipping on a large scale is reportable to us

 

We investigate fly tipping if it is classified as "Big, Bad and Nasty"

•           Big refers to large scale fly-tipping involving 20 tons of
waste or more

•           Bad refers to  fly-tipping by organised gangs

•           Nasty refers to fly-tipped hazardous waste, 75 litres or more
which has the potential to damage the environment

 

Further guidance is also available on GOV.UK.

 

[3]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fly-tipping-...

 

If you think that the fly-tipped waste fits the category reportable to us,
you can report it through our incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

 

 

Regards

 

Environment Agency - National Customer Contact Centre

Part of National Operations Services

 

Tel: 03708 506 506

Web Site: [4]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

 

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