Highway boundaries

Roadside ditches are common throughout Norfolk. These ditches often form part of extensive land drainage systems which takes water away from agricultural fields to be discharged elsewhere. 

The highway authority has a right, under Section 100 of the Highways Act 1980, to discharge highway water into these land drainage ditches, despite, in most instances, not being the riparian owner.  

Whilst most roadside ditches are land drainage ditches, there are some which are highways soakaway ditches, with these lying within the highway verge. These ditches are designed to take highway water only and transport it away from the highway. Unlike ditches which form part of land drainage systems, highway soakaway ditches are the responsibility of Norfolk County Council to maintain.