Monday 24 November 2025
We’re hoping for a mild winter in West Sussex, but we’re preparing for a wet one.
Thankfully, we escaped the worst of storm Claudia and the cold snap that’s gripped other parts of the country. But we haven’t forgotten the winter of 2023-2024 when heavy rain and storms caused terrible flooding and damage to our roads. In recent years, extreme weather has been breaking records at both ends of the scale. While we can’t accurately predict what’s coming, we can all make sure that any areas we’re responsible for are prepared for bad weather.
That’s why the county council prioritises preparations for winter weather all year round. As well as our major works programmes to upgrade and repair urban drainage systems over the summer, our teams have been hard at work to make sure our rural roads and public rights of way are ready for winter. You might have seen them jetting drains, clearing ditches, trimming verges and hedges to prevent blockages from fallen leaves and branches
One of our duties as the county council is to make sure any watercourses that are on or adjacent to land we are responsible for can flow freely. The network of waterways around the county helps to prevent flooding after heavy rain by directing excess water away from roads and buildings. But most of the ditches and culverts in West Sussex are not on county council owned land so we can’t maintain them, that is the landowner’s responsibility.
The legal term used to describe watercourse ownership is ‘riparian responsibility’ and whoever owns the property they run through or beside has a duty to maintain them. It dates back to the time when people could only get fresh running water from rivers and streams and whoever owned the land the water crossed had to make sure it could continue to flow into the neighbouring land. Nowadays we get our fresh water from taps, but the riparian responsibility to make sure a waterway can flow freely remains, and that includes ditches and culverts as well as streams and brooks. It is the landowner’s riparian responsibility to make sure any watercourses on or beside their property aren’t blocked to prevent flooding.
The same thing applies to the miles of public rights of way that criss-cross our beautiful county. The county council keeps records of all the public rights of way in West Sussex and as the Highway Authority we’re responsible for maintaining their surface, bridges and signposts. But the ground that makes up the footpath, and any vegetation around it, belongs to the landowner. Like blocked ditches and culverts, overhanging branches are the landowner’s responsibility to clear. If you come across a blocked or damaged public footpath, please go to the public rights of way page on our website and report it to us.
We all rely on our neighbours to keep privately maintained riparian watercourses and footpaths free flowing and passable. So, if you do have any kind of watercourse or public right of way running through or beside your property, please check that it isn’t getting clogged up with fallen leaves, branches, brambles or litter when you’re tidying up in readiness for winter.
