On 2008-09-13 12:38:04 +0100, VivienB said:

On Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:52:13 +0100, Stan The Man
wrote:

the local authority has
neglected these ditches for years, here and just about everywhere else,
with the result that they have all filled in and are no longer visible
to the naked eye.

The local authority here told me that they are not responsible for any
more than cutting the first metre of verge - the landowner is said to
be responsible for hedging and ditching.

That is the case with some ditches but the majority hereabouts are
situated in no-man's-land between private property and the highway -
called the Highway Extent I believe - and their maintenance is
definitely a duty of the local authority.