Shire Group of IDBs
The Shire Group of Internal Drainage Boards
covers a total area of 127,303 hectares and maintains 1,950 km of
watercourse and 131 pumping stations. This represents
10.6% of the 1.2 million hectares of low lying
land in England, 25% of the total number of IDB pumping
stations, and 8.8% of the total
watercourses within IDBs.
The IDB Team based at JBA Doncaster Office are:
What is an Internal Drainage Board and what does it do?
Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) cover approximately 1.2 million
hectares of England most of which falls within flood zone 3.
An IDB manages water levels within its districts for land
management, flood risk management, irrigation and environmental
IDB maintained ditches were designed to protect land from
flooding against a 1 in10 year rainfall event on the catchment.
IDBs are geographically concentrated in the low lying river
basins of England such as the Broads, the Fens in East Anglia and
Lincolnshire, Somerset Levels, Kent, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.
The IDB districts in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire have been
further lowered as a result of past mining activities. Current coal
mining in Yorkshire IDB districts are undertaken by the Collieries
at Hatfield and Kellingley.
The IDB districts within Yorkshire are also the location of a
high value infrastructure of Motorways, such as the A1(M), A1, M62,
M18, M180, of Railways such as East Coast Main Line stations of
Doncaster and its connections with Leeds, Wakefield, Sheffield, and
York, together with the proposed route for the Doncaster Chord and
Power Stations at Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Drax together with
the proposed gas pipeline for the Don Valley Carbon Capture Storage
It is vital the activities of the Internal drainage Boards help
to secure this essential infrastructure.
The history of Drainage Boards is in hundreds of year;
originally groups of farmers working together on drainage in low
lying areas in an effort to secure fertile land for agricultural
production. Eventually their activities received legislative
approval under the various Land Drainage Acts, the most recent of
which is the Land Drainage Act 1991 (as amended).
What is the Internal Drainage Board income spent on?
The 1991 Act permits the Board to raise a Drainage Rate on land
and property within its District. The income raised through rates
is used to pay for maintenance of certain drains within its
District the Board has identified as high volume water carriers,
and the maintenance and running of Pump Stations within the
District whose presence is essential to lift water from the lowest
lying parts of the district, without which flooding would
Water received into the district in high volume carrier drains
represents rain falling in higher parts of the catchment, moving as
ground water into watercourses that flow under gravity into the
District. The extent of a drainage district was defined in 1933 by
the Medway Letter, and the nature of the defined district means
they are located in low lying land, often only a metre or two above
sea levels. Water entering the district would spread and flood the
land if not for the network of drainage channels.
Some IDB districts in Yorkshire have ground levels close to 0
AOD where subsidence has occurred as a result of mining activity.
Here water does not flow under gravity to the tidal rivers and
ultimately the sea, it has to be pumped. A large portion of the
drainage rate raised by the Boards pays for the running costs of
large pump stations, protecting land and property. An IDB has
legislative power to de flail and de weed and de sludge
watercourse, allowing anything taken from drains to be deposited on
the bank side for removal by the riparian owner. The only
exceptions to this are contained in Part III of the Environmental
Protection Act 1990 and relate to substances hazardous to health or
would result in land contamination.
Overall the income is spent maintain existing infrasture for the
benefit of all catchment users. Without this infrastructure low
lying land would become saturated over time with increased flood
risk to people, property and life as we know it today.
What responsibilities does an Internal Drainage Board
An Internal Drainage Board is an autonomous, non-departmental
government body and as such has an obligation to deliver
Governmental aims and objectives.
An IDB has Permissive Powers under the Land Drainage Act 1991
(as amended), that is, it can choose to undertake maintenance work
on any watercourse within its district. A Board has the power, if
it chooses to cleanse, repair, maintain improve or construct new
works within its district and the Board has legislated Powers of
Entry onto land for the purpose of undertaking that work.
An IDB also has powers of Compulsory Purchase which when
authorised by the Minister, can lead to procurement of land
enabling Board implementation of projects such as Flood Alleviation
An IDB has obligations under the Flood & Water Management
Act 2010 with the Lead Local Flood Authority and the Environment
Agency regarding identification of structures which may offer
protection to property against flood risk. The Act also obliges all
Water Management Authorities to work together on flood risk
An IDB has responsibility to the environment to "further
conservation and enhancement of natural beauty, of flora, fauna,
geological or physiogeographical features of special interest" when
undertaking its function.
Members of an Internal Drainage Board
Any person occupying land in the district at the date of
election, on which a drainage rate has been levied in the year
immediately proceeding, can stand as a nominee.
The number of votes the landowner is entitled to use is based
upon the assessable value of the property, the greater the land
value the more votes the elector is entitled to use.
A local authority raising special levy payments for the IDB
appoints Council nominated Members to the Board by having regard to
their knowledge and experience of some matter relevant to the
function of the Board and that nominee has shown capacity in that