Foul Drainage

Officers of the Environment Team will investigate any issues relating to difficulties with foul drainage systems. Where a problem arises with a mains or public sewer any maintenance including removing blockages will be dealt with by Severn Trent Water PLC who can be contacted on Tel. 0800-7834444.

Where the problem exists on a private rural drainage system, e.g. septic tank or package treatment system and is affecting land in the ownership of another person or persons the responsibility lies with the owner(s) of the system to put matters right. Officers can assist in investigation work and if necessary securing the resolution of the problem by service of legal notices.

Similarly where the defect exists on a private sewer, (one not adopted by Severn Trent Water PLC), or a drain, (pipe work serving only one property ), officers can advise or take formal action to resolve problems which are either a hazard to public health or causing a nuisance. In this type of situation, Officers would normally visit the site to determine which properties were connected upstream of a blockage. They would then serve Notices on all the affected households, requiring the owners to arrange for the sewer to be unblocked. This would be at the owners’ and not the Council’s expense. Should the blockage remain, the Council would arrange unblocking of the sewer after two working days had elapsed from date of the service of the Notice. The cost of employing a contractor to do this work would be added to the Council’s own administrative and supervisory costs, which would subsequently be passed on to the affected owners.

Note: the whole process from notification of a blockage to the Council to the time the blockage is actually cleared can take from three to four days (typically), longer if a weekend is involved. However, there is also the option for householders to get together to organize clearance of a blockage themselves, although in practice this is often difficult to achieve, especially if there are a large number of dwellings involved.

If you wish to know more about drainage matters, including septic tanks, click on the relevant link(s) below.

• Care of your sewers  (30.52 KB)
• Sewer unblocking - Questions and Answers  (10.32 KB)
• Septic tank systems - a user's guide  (109.17 KB)
• Percolation test notes  (192.09 KB)
• Percolation tests and calculations form  (131.39 KB)
• Building Control Regulations (Drainage and Waste Disposal)  (2.08 MB)

For further information or clarification about these issues, please contact Customer Services:

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