Report unauthorised ordinary watercourse work

You can report suspected unauthorised work to an ordinary watercourse. Reports are registered and you should receive an acknowledgement within five working days.

You will receive:

• a reference number
• the name of the Enforcement Officer who is dealing with your complaint.

The Enforcement Officer will keep you up-to-date with any significant progress made. Your details are treated in confidence.

Enforcement action (not necessarily criminal sanction) may be taken where damaging or potentially damaging works have been undertaken without consent or are in contravention to an issued consent.

The aims of enforcement in flood risk management are to ensure the proper flow of water, control of water levels and security of existing assets:

• in a watercourse
• over the floodplain.

To achieve these aims, enforcement action will be used to rectify unlawful, damaging, or potentially damaging works. We always use a risk-based approach.