Who owns the brook?

[maltaron]

My niece lives in a house with a small brook along but outside the rear boundary. She has the opportunity to purchase some land on the far side of the brook to extend the garden. The local parish council has decreed that no bridges are allowed to cross the brook. I know that the local water authority owns the water but who owns the land it runs over?
TIA

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Local water authority
I'd say British Waterways, call your local office, they will tell you.

 

[chapeau]

She is a riperian owner !! Yeah Yeah Yeah!

Here is a PDF which explains all this sort of stuff.

http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/pdf/GEHO0407BMFL-e-e.pdf

If you buy the land on both side you will own the land under it. There is also some old legal ruling that says, in the absence of other evidence, the owner of a ditch is the person with the higher bank +/- the hedge. The theory being that if you dig a ditch on the boundary of your land, you will pile the spoil on your side. Then you will plant a hedge on top.

Well they don't reckon for the farmers round here.....

Parish Councils are there to be ignored

 

[jeds]

If you own the land up to a river or stream then you also own the stream - and its contents - up to the centre line. If you own the land on both sides then you own the lot. But it's also possible to own the land but not the rights - or the other way around. It's also common for there to be local bye laws over streams/rivers, or covenants, or common laws. All these things might or might not apply.

When you come to search the land for purchase all these things should be be revealed. You then takes your choice.

 

[Nige F]

The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson ...Google and Chill

 

[Blagard]

Look here for the confirmation of what Jeds is talking about

http://www.landsearch.net/presumptions.asp