Talk:Internal drainage board

Historical note

The "internal" used to refer to drainage boards that were within the area of a catchment board. Catchment boards were replaced by water authorities and then by the Environment Agency. Since the latter covers all of England and Wales, all drainage boards are now internal drainage boards.

Middle Level Commissioners

The Middle Level Commissioners are a bit odd. They seem to have the ability to impose drainage rates, but their area covers that of a lot of internal drainage boards, so it's not clear whether they're an IDB in their own right. Practically, the IDBs pump water into the Middle Level watercourses, and the MLC pump it from there into the Great Ouse (an EA main river), so the MLC have a role part way between the IDBs and the EA.

Both the Defra list and ADA list the MLC as an IDB, but this may just be because they don't have another category to use.

The Middle Level Commissioners were incorporated by the Middle Level Act 1862.

The Land Drainage Act 1930 defines drainage districts to include "any drainage districts or drainage areas constituted under the Land Drainage Act, 1861, or under that Act as amended by any subsequent enactment, or under any other enactments relating to the drainage of land". It doesn't require that drainage districts be non-overlapping, since it defines catchment areas to be drainage districts too.

The Middle Level Commissioners Byelaws 1987 claim to be made under s34 of the 1976 c. 70^{({{#formlink:form=Legislation|link text=add|query string=Legislation[Type]=ukpga&Legislation[Year]=1976&Legislation[Number]=70}})}, which authorises the making of byelaws by "a drainage authority". "Drainage authority" is defined in s17(7) to be a water authority or internal drainage board. Since it's not a water authority (as far as I can tell), it must be an IDB.