Help - my garden keeps flooding!

My problem is as follows:
Over a decade ago I bought a site from a farmer with planning permission to build what is now my retirement home. There is what we Dubliners call a stream and what farmers call a ditch running along my side boundary.

It flows into the farmer's field immediately below mine and he hasn't done any maintenance on it (the ditch) for years. This means that most of his field regularly floods after heavy rain and his part of the ditch is now so badly silted up that the the bottom corner of my site is also flooding. Every winter the problem is getting worse and an increasing area of my lower garden is now waterlogged for about four or five months.

Each autumn I employ a man with a digger to clear out my part of the stream but he won't allow the digger into his field to clear out his part even though I'm quite happy to pay. We are on good terms and I have discussed this with him, but he is a stubborn man - quite likely aspergerish - and won't (or can't) acknowledge my problem. Although his field is marginal land and he doesn't have much use for it, other than grazing sheep for a couple of months in the spring, he has refused to sell it to me as he hopes to get planning permission for it some day no matter how improbable that is for a field that regularly floods - (I have plenty of photos of the flooded field which will be provided to the Council should he ever apply!)

My question is have I any legal entitlement to force him to take remedial action in these circumstances? I wouldn't dream of starting a legal battle, but I would like to be in a situation where I could tell him gently that I do have certain rights and that I might be obliged to take the matter further if we can't resolve it amicably.

Any advice welcome - but please believe me when I write that he isn't open to persuasion!

Trying to visualise it but I can't. What about filling your ditch with stone and treat it as a soakaway, would it help?

This is worth a read I think - http://mcmahonsolicitors.ie/water-drainage/

Gosh, I hope the man with the digger doesn't "accidentally" go into the wrong field and clear out the ditch there. Could happen very easily, you know, people get confused, mistakes are made. Chances are he'd have the entire ditch cleared out before anyone realised the mistake.

Oh, dear.

@Shirazman - is there anything downstream of the neighbour's field that could be done to improve it?

No offence here, you're a blow in and a Jackeen to boot. Neither might be plus points for a country farmer.

Could you have a word with one of his family or offer to pay for it or failing that, and this may sound a bit daft, but, ask the local Parish Priest or county counciller to have a quiet word. Especially if the counciller could say he hadn't a hope of getting planning with the flooding.

An alternative might be to contact Teagasc and see if they have an agricultural advisor who could offer some advice to him. Also to see if there was any "bio-diversity" or other grants available for the drainage. Farmers love a grant, makes them feel like they have got one over on the system (I'm a farmers son myself before anyone piles on me)

Baby boomer said:

Gosh, I hope the man with the digger doesn't "accidentally" go into the wrong field and clear out the ditch there. Could happen very easily, you know, people get confused, mistakes are made. Chances are he'd have the entire ditch cleared out before anyone realised the mistake.

Oh, dear.

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We've tried that. Managed to drive the digger down the ditch for about 10 metres into his part which improved things for a year or two. But he has since put up a fence that spans the ditch and makes repeating this well nigh impossible.

NoRegretsCoyote said:

@Shirazman - is there anything downstream of the neighbour's field that could be done to improve it?

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It goes under the county council road through a culvert then runs rapidly downhill through more of his fields - the problem is that our garden and the adjoining field are both relatively flat, with very little gradient, so the water backs up rapidly from the culvert.

Zenith63 said:

This is worth a read I think - http://mcmahonsolicitors.ie/water-drainage/

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It sure is, thanks. It includes exactly what I was hoping to discover about my 'drainage rights'.

Thanks to other posters for their inputs too. I have deliberately restricted myself from giving a more detailed picture of the individual involved, but suffice to say that he is a troubled person who is not amenable to rational discussion. (He has also fallen out with the farmer who owns the land on the opposite side of the ditch whose lands are also flooded in the winter because of the silting up. He is notorious in the neighbourhood for being disagreeable!)

Shirazman said:

It goes under the county council road through a culvert then runs rapidly downhill through more of his fields

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I wonder if you could try having this widened?

NoRegretsCoyote said:

I wonder if you could try having this widened?

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As it only affects me and the neighbouring farmer, this would be a very expensive, sledgehammer - nut solution and I doubt that the Council would oblige. All that is required is for the uncooperative neighbour to come to his senses and being informed of the legal situation may well bring him to his senses - especially when he remembers that I'm willing to pay for the required work.

By you paying for it ,are you not leaving yourself open for "things" to go wrong?

I cant provide legal advice but I want to caution against entering somebody's farmland without permission especially to do work on their drains. The farm could be part of a multitude of different environmental schemes that could include it's waterways, and your interference could cost them a pretty penny.

Hmmm, would putting a drain of your own, under your garden into the ditch be an idea? While it won't prevent the flooding it could drain your land the soil that little bit faster, limiting the period its waterlogged. Coupled with ensuring no plants are there encouraging the retention of water (moss, willow, rushes etc.)

Also, I know you havent mentioned.... Would you consider converting that area into a pond? Take advantage of the wet corner and have a pretty interesting garden feature and doing your part for biodiversity. Obviously not suitable if children are about.

Shirazman said:

We've tried that. Managed to drive the digger down the ditch for about 10 metres into his part which improved things for a year or two. But he has since put up a fence that spans the ditch and makes repeating this well nigh impossible.



It goes under the county council road through a culvert then runs rapidly downhill through more of his fields - the problem is that our garden and the adjoining field are both relatively flat, with very little gradient, so the water backs up rapidly from the culvert.



It sure is, thanks. It includes exactly what I was hoping to discover about my 'drainage rights'.

Thanks to other posters for their inputs too. I have deliberately restricted myself from giving a more detailed picture of the individual involved, but suffice to say that he is a troubled person who is not amenable to rational discussion. (He has also fallen out with the farmer who owns the land on the opposite side of the ditch whose lands are also flooded in the winter because of the silting up. He is notorious in the neighbourhood for being disagreeable!)

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If it's backing up from the culvert that suggests that the culvert is undersized and clearing your neighbours drain won't have much of an impact.

Peanuts20 said:

No offence here, you're a blow in and a Jackeen to boot. Neither might be plus points for a country farmer.

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He was happy enough to take his money though

Peanuts said:

If it's backing up from the culvert that suggests that the culvert is undersized and clearing your neighbours drain won't have much of an impact.

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Yes it will! Once his silted up ditch is cleared then the water won't back up into my garden, meaning that his field will flood even more and mine won't! The flooding will then overflow onto the public road before it reaches the level of my garden! (You'll have to trust me on this one!)