Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

authorities definition

What does authorities mean? Authorities are the legal sources a lawyer relies on to justify a proposition of law in submissions, skeleton arguments and judgments. The term is descriptive and widely used across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, rather than being defined by statute. Authorities typically include: primary legislation and subordinate legislation; binding appellate case law within the relevant jurisdiction; and, as persuasive material, decisions from other UK or foreign courts, tribunal rulings, EU and ECHR jurisprudence where applicable, and reputable academic commentary. In Scotland, the writings of the institutional writers (e.g. Stair, Erskine, Bell) may carry particular weight. Textbooks and...

Flood and coastal erosion risk management and drainage: statutory duties and powers of responsible bodies in England and Wales

Published by a LexisNexis Environment expert

Practice notes

Responsibility for flood management and drainage in England and Wales has evolved through a tangled past. In 1927, a Royal Commission on land drainage observed that arterial drainage was overseen by a bewildering patchwork of authorities created by five centuries of piecemeal law, with liabilities governed by no consistent scheme and often out of date or unclear.

That inheritance persists, though reforms over the last 25 years have helped to rationalise the regime. Historically, individual landowners held primary duties, and some still apply; see Practice Note: Flood management and drainage—landowner rights and responsibilities. Today, public bodies play leading roles in protecting communities from flooding.

Key legislation

The responsibilities of public bodies for flood management and drainage in England and Wales are outlined in separate Practice Notes:

Flooding—UK policy and legislative framework
Land Drainage Act 1991—snapshot

For EU flood risk management, see Practice Note: Floods Directive 2007/60/EC—snapshot.

Central government

In England, the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) has overall responsibility for devising...

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Michael Barlow

Burges Salmon

Michael leads the environment team and the cross-firm water sector team. Michael covers contentious and non-contentious business for a range of clients from a variety of sectors. He has substantial experience of running cases in criminal courts, tribunals and civil courts to the Supreme Court as well as other methods of dispute resolution including arbitration and mediation. On the non-contentious side, Michael has particular expertise in energy efficiency, contaminated land and environmental permitting but has advised on a broad range of topics over the last 15 years. Michael is a former editor of the Environmental Law Review, regularly lectures on environmental law and contributes articles to environmental journals. ...

Simon Tilling

Environmental Lawyer, Partner, Burges Salmon

• I am an environmental lawyer with a background in both science and law. I advise on all aspects of UK environmental law and regulation and I am dual-qualified to practise in England and Wales and Scotland. I advise on operational compliance, regulatory investigations, enforcement and criminal defence, regulatory appeals, tribunal hearings, judicial review and environmental civil claims.• In January 2026 I rejoined the partnership at Burges Salmon (having been a partner at the firm between 2016 and 2021), to continue my environmental law practice with a particular specialism in water law and chemicals regulation.• Between 2023 and 2026 I built and led a new in-house environmental law team within Pennon Group plc in support of its water and waste-water businesses.• I have also been a partner in Washington D.C. headquartered Steptoe & Johnson working from both Brussels and London on UK and EU...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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