Site SHL082 sits uphill at or near the source of several watercourses that flow downhill through Hawcoat, including Dane Ghyll Beck and Breast Mill Beck. If a stream, beck, ditch, or culvert runs through or alongside your property, you may be a riparian owner — and this development could directly affect your land.
WHAT IS A RIPARIAN OWNER?
If a watercourse runs through or alongside the boundary of your land, you are a riparian owner under English common law. This is automatic — it comes with the land. You have a right to receive water flowing through your property in its natural quantity and quality. No one upstream may materially alter the flow reaching you. This right exists independently of the planning system.
WHY THIS DEVELOPMENT MATTERS TO YOU
Converting 18.2 hectares of permeable agricultural land to roofs, driveways, and roads means rainwater that currently soaks into fields will instead rush off hard surfaces into the drainage system and into your beck — faster, in greater volume, and carrying pollutants (oil, sediment, road salt). Even with SuDS (sustainable drainage systems), peak flow rates during storm events will increase.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
1. Check your title plan. Download it from the Land Registry for £3 at gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry. The Ordnance Survey base map on the plan may label the watercourse by name within your boundary — that's official documentary evidence.
2. Order your filed conveyance. If your title register references a conveyance with "original filed" or "copy filed," you can order a copy using form OC2 (£7). This document may contain drainage easements, watercourse maintenance obligations, or boundary provisions relating to the beck through your land.
3. Photograph the watercourse. Record its normal level, width, and depth in dry weather and after rain. Date every photo. This is your baseline evidence before construction starts.
4. Check the flood map. Enter your postcode at gov.uk/check-long-term-flood-risk. The surface water layer shows modelled flow routes — screenshot it as evidence.
5. Submit a personal objection. Separate from this tool, write directly to planning1@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk identifying yourself as a riparian owner and requesting that the Flood Risk Assessment models downstream impact at your property. Demand that SuDS demonstrate post-development runoff does not exceed greenfield rates for the 1-in-100-year storm plus climate change allowance.
6. Consider legal advice. Planning permission does not extinguish private law rights. If the development causes flooding to your property, you may have a claim in private nuisance regardless of whether planning permission was granted. A property solicitor with flooding or environmental experience can advise on your position.