Blocked drain on an unadopted road

[Sexykitten2005]

The drain/rain gulley at the front of my house Is blocked. I called the council who sent a highways inspector who confirmed it was blocked but because we live on an unadopted road said it was not their responsibility and to call the water company as it was the rain runoff drain so their responsibility. I did this and southern water have said it is not and gave my the highways number again. I've been going round in circles.

I was under the impression everything up to my boundary was my responsibility but anything in the road would be the water company (that's what those leaflet they put through the door trying to sell insurance indicate) does anyone know where I stand and if I do have to pay has anyone got a rough cost? My neighbours aren't great so I am scared to go and ask them to split the costs even though if we are responsible it will be as a road.

Sorry to ask, but to be clear, did you tell the water company it's an unadopted road or were you relying on their records showing this?

Water companies generally only have the responsibility to maintain adopted sewer networks.

It could be that neither the road nor the sewers / storm water drains have been adopted, in which case it is the responsibility of the houses fronting the road to maintain.

You need to determine if the storm water drains have been adopted.

There is no requirement for a public utility to improve the road. Sewers and drains are particularly difficult as drains usually belong to the private householder and in a private road, the sewer often does too. The local authority and the sewerage authority should be able to say whether a sewer is a public sewer and hence the duty of the sewerage authority to repair, or whether it is the responsibility of those who live in the road.

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00402/SN00402.pdf

More reference to the surface water drainage of unadopted roads being the responsibility of frontagers here.

We live on an unadopted road. The water company have told us that anything outside of the boundaries of the houses is their responsibility. Push the water company again. They tend to argue to toss and pass the buck to the council frequently.

The 2011 Regulations which required water companies to adopt private sewers excluded highway drainage:

“private sewer” means the whole or part of a foul, combined or surface water private sewer(7), but does not include a highway drain or sewer;

So you really do need to check whether the water authority will accept responsibility for surface water drainage on an unadopted road.

So to clarify and answer questions. The highways agency told me it was an Unadopted road and didn't show on their records.
It is a rainwater drain but looking at it their is a pipe that comes from house and runs into it and as it is the only one on our road I would assume everyone else's drains also link to this pipe. Would that mean as a private sewer they would have had to adopt it.
I'm going to rephone southern water but want to try and make sure I have the correct regs to throw at them

You need to establish if your sewer has been adopted.

Do you pay sewerage charges?

I pay metered wastewater charges?

You need to establish for certain if your own waste water goes into the same drain as the surface water from the road. If it it does then you should be able to argue that as you pay sewerage charges it must be an adopted sewer.