Replacing water supply pipe, will it help pressure?

[leew2]

At the moment the mains pressure in my house is quite low. We currently have about 15 meters of 3/4 inch lead supply pipe running from the property boundary to the water meter, and then another meter or so of pipe to the stopcock. The pipe is about 80 years old assuming it is original to the house. I was wondering, would replacing this pipe with MDPE bring a noticable increase in pressure? I live in a very hard water area so the bore maybe reduced by limescale. I belive the pipe is shared by at least one other house as I while doing other work I discovered a lead pipe running from near where the meter is towards a neighbours house. Also explains why the meter is up the driveway and not in the street (there is a stop tap in the street at the end of the drive).

A few Questions:
Who actually owns this bit of pipe, an I correct thinking it is me, or is it the water board?
If the pipe is mine, is there any red tape involved in replacing it, or can I just dig it up and put a new bit in? It does not appear to be building regs notifiable work, is that right?
Am I correct thinking that the new pipe needs to be 750mm deep, even though the existing one is only about 300-400mm deep?
What would be a sensible price be if I was to pay someone to replace the pipe, I am considering replacing the driveway anyway so I would not require any re-instatement of the drive, just the trench backfilling.
How much money could I expect to get by scrapping the lead pipe?

Many thanks, lee

 

[swbjackson]

Replacing the pipe won't make any difference to the pressure but it may improve the flow. This work is notifiable under the water regulations unless completed by a water industry approved plumber.