Building over a public sewr - Thames Water

The_Goat_3

Help needed if possible please

I have planning permission for a house extension in London and have now received an email from Thames Water saying I need to apply to them (and pay them c.£650) since my extension is within 3mtrs of a public sewer (on my property).

The leaflet they have sent me is a little ambiguous stating '...responsibility for the control of building over public sewers rests with Local Authorities through the Building Regulations, the Authorities are required to consult us where building over a sewer might occur. It will usually help to speed up your Building Regulations application if we are already aware of your proposals..'

Does this mean I have to pay or can I not pay and let the local authority deal with it when I submit my plans for Building Regulations (accepting the fact that it will take longer to get permission).

Any help is most appreciated

woodbutcher_2

You've got to do it i'm afraid.I had to do it at my last house and unfortunately,have to repeat the process on my new one.It's called a building over/building near to agreement and it goes on the house in perpetuity.

Basically,if there is any subsidence on a building,the ground moves at roughly a 45 degree angle downwrd and outward.The water authority need to know that if this happens the movement will pass under the sewer pipe and not break it.

The agreement allows the WA certain rights of access to your land and extension to carry out any work they see fit,even to the extent that they can demolish said extension if they see fit.Unlikely of course but you get the gist.

When i did my last one,i had to dig out and find the pipes in two locations(and they were very deep,needing a lot of digging) after which i had to draw a plan with depths of pipes and distances in relation to extension.I then had to fax the plan to WA,after which i was sent the agreement to sign.No signature,no extension.I did all the work and excavating,drawing of plans etc and got a bill for "administration" for my efforts.It was £100 in 1997 but is near £300 now.Obviously Thames water are very much dearer.I notice that the goalposts have been moved as well.In 97 it was pipes within 2mts,they have extended that to 3mts.Obviously weren't making enough money out of everybody.

woodbutcher_2

Something i didn't mention was that i did my extension on a building notice and the council stopped me digging the footings and told me to sort the problem with WA.In your case,if you are going the full plans route,the local authority may sort it as part of the permission but i suspect you will still have to pay.Any kind of building work now seems to produce a line of people stood holding out their hands wanting money.

The_Goat_3

Thanks for the info.

It appears I will have to divert a sewer (approximately 20m) and install a new manhole as the current extension plan will be building over the current one. Does anyone have any idea how much roughly that will cost?

woodbutcher_2

Got my bricky mate here today building my garage and he has done lots of this kind of work.Asked him on your behalf for a figure and he just shrugged his shoulders.Says it's nearly impossible to price work underground as there are too many variables.All he would say is "it won't be cheap".

mrs_pepperpot_3

you will need all kinds of surveys and may need specially engineerd piles ..... sounds painful !