Piglet John can you help?

[dontcallmelen]

Hi I cant get any sense out of Thames water, would you be able to clarify this for me?
We have replaced old leanto with a small extension (2x4mtr same footprint) the previous surface water pipe & new pipe in exactly same position went into the drains , which are combined as is a Victorian property, building control will sign off once pipe is re-attached to original drain or if we prefer a soak away, only wants a photo doesn't need to visit again.
soak away would prove problematic due to mostly concrete & garden goes uphill.
So phoned Thames water, they said at first would need to apply & pay 485.00 & road would have to be opened & connected in the drainage in the road, phoned again & was told no, need to apply for an indirect connection & pay 87.00 & produce drawings/plans I don't understand this, if no new pipes etc & going into exactly the same drain as before why do we have do this? It's just seem so overly complicated, so in my very long winded way do we have to comply or can we just reconnect?
Sorry that was long thanks for reading

If there was already a rainwater gully I don't know why you can't connect to it.

If it is a Victorian building there might be some manhole covers (unless someone has hidden them under paving or an extension. You can probably open them with a spade. They will give you an idea which route the drains take.

Why bother telling Thames water what you're doing? Can't the builder just do it, take a photo and send to the building inspector?

I know I wouldn't have bothered but the fecking building control chap said "oh just run it by Thames water so they know what's being done" wish to feck I hadn't😂
There is a manhole right next to it which the sewer pipes from bathroom above go into it, so just simply want too reconnect the surface water pipe back into the manhole/drain where it was previously, rather than leaving the pipe which drains rwater off roof & currently stops short of the ground by a couple of inches & is not connected to drainage, which would eventually probably cause damp, hence building control wanting it too be connected.

piglet - pipes then run down side of house out through onto drive where there is another manhole, then runs into street to join the main sewer pipes in the road.

Honestly I used to work for the sewerage side of the water board (not Thames though). I really can't imagine you need to pay, nor do I think you needed to tell them. I would just stop communicating with them and do it.

Or you could ask them to send an inspector out to site....make sure you ask for a sewage one though. Though from the sounds of it they'll charge you for that as well!

It just sounds like the people you've spoken to can't understand the situation.

Possumin that's it exactly, they can't seem to grasp the concept of the pipe isn't new it's always been in place, it's going back/reconnected where it was before, all we have done is have pipe renewed as it's on the extension rather than the old leanto.