A test case over the definition of “public sewers” has moved to Londons High Court.
Two of the countrys leading judges are being asked to decide whether a drainage system serving only one house and a road constitutes a “public sewer” in the eyes of the law. If it does, the responsibility for maintenance will lie with the statutory sewerage undertaker for the area. If it does not, then the responsibility falls to the local council.
Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council argue that Yorkshire Water Services Ltd is the sewage undertaker for the drainage system at issue. The council are seeking to pass on the £5,000 cost of fixing a Cullingworth residents sewage problem.
However Yorkshire Water claims that legislation governing the issue requires a drainage system to serve two “premises” in order to be a public sewer, and argues that a road does not count.
Counsel for Yorkshire Water, John Barrett, said that the result would be “absurd” if Bradford were correct. Sewage undertakers would face drastically wider responsibility, he said.
The hearing continues.
PLS News 17/07/01
