Drainage - Sewers

The sewers serving your property can generally be categorised as either public sewers or private sewers.

Public sewers

The public sewers which are often, but not always, located under the roads are owned and maintained by Thames Water Utilities Ltd.

Private sewers

Private drains/sewers connect one or more properties to the public sewers. Many people mistakenly believe that their private drain becomes the Council's responsibility once it passes their boundary into the street. In fact the drain remains private up to its point of connection with the public sewer.

Who is responsible for maintenance?

The responsibility for the maintenance of private drains/sewers is shared by the property owners from their point of connection to the drain/sewer up to the point where the pipe connects with the public sewer, even if it passes through other peoples private land, or under the public highway.

I pay my council tax. Why should I pay for sewers?

The council tax, and sewerage charges you pay to your water company, do not cover work to private drains/sewers.

My drains are blocked...

If you have a blockage in your private drain/sewer then initially check with your neighbours to see if anyone else is affected. You may be able to share the costs of clearance dependent upon the number of properties sharing the sewer upstream of any problem.

If a blockage is suspected to be in the public sewer then you should contact Thames Water plc.

You can call upon the Council for help any time of the day or night, 365 days a year. The relevant contact numbers are provided on the right.

How much will It cost for the Council to do It?

The charge the Council makes for blockage clearance is a fixed charge for up to 2 hours work on site.

The Council offers reduced charges for Old Aged Pensioners and people in receipt of income support or other form of benefit. To qualify you will be required to provide documentary proof of entitlement.

The costs for April 2009 - March 2010 are as follows:

Normal Working Hours (Monday -Friday 8am to 5pm) £153.30
Out Of Hours (Evening/Weekend/Bank Holiday) £217.65
Call Out (waived if work is done) £89.95 (abortive calls)

The above charges apply only if the account is settled in full within 30 days of the date of the invoice. For payment made after this date a charge of £25.52 + VAT will be added.

If a blockage cannot be cleared in the 2 hours then additional resources may be required and you will be asked to agree work lasting more than 2 hours. The additional work is charged at £69.06 per hour plus VAT.

You are responsible for the whole payment to the Council, however if other properties are connected to the affected sewer upstream of the blockage you can recover some of the cost from these properties. If a Council property is involved then the Council will pay its share of the cost.

The service you are being charged for is blockage relief and restoration of a flow. It does not include drain cleaning, descaling or removal of fat, grease, and detritus.

If within 8 days the blockage recurs at the same point it will be relieved free of charge unless the Council has reason to believe that either there is a defect in the system or subsequent blockage results from misuse. You will be told if a defect is suspected.

Cesspool clearance

The Council also operates a cesspool / septic tank emptying service. The costs for April 2009 - March 2010 are available to download on the right. Please note that the cesspool emptying charges only apply for normal working hours (Monday - Friday: 8am to 5pm). If an emergency cesspool emptying is requested, the term contractor schedule of rates for the time period will apply plus a call out fee of £93.

If an invoice is required or sent requesting payment for the cesspool emptying service then a charge of £31.70 will be added.