Pipeline in the pipeline

[onthehoof]

Looks like we'll be getting an Anglian Water pipeline through much of our land in the next few years, any advice at this early stage before it all kicks off apart from appointing a good land agent, most of it grazing land so lots of hassle anticipated - splitting fields, water supply etc

 

[yellowbelly]

Have a browse through this..

Anglian Water Pipeline

I just had a horrible thought, I think the design life of our water pipeline was 25 years and that must be almost up. No one ever comes to look at it so I guess it will be left alone unless something goes wrong?

thefarmingforum.co.uk

They'll come and see you before starting, with their agent, a rep from the main contractor and your agent, and it'll be all 'sweetness and light' as how they'll look after you but when it all kicks off, it'll be like armagedon.

Try and get everything sorted and in writing before they set foot on the place. Once they start it's very difficult to get them to stop and once they've gone, it's nigh on impossible to get them back to rectify anything.

If you can get some kind of 'stop clause' in the agreement it can be useful - when they came through us, we had 2" of rain one day but they were carrying on, regardless. Surface water and liquid mud was running off the easement all over adjacent fields.
All of us locally used the same agent, as we thought that may give us a bit more control. He managed to get them stopped and wouldn't let them start again until they'd agreed extra compensation for the collateral damage
When they've got thousands of pounds worth of expensive machinery and gangs of men standing idle 'cos you've got a dispute with them, they are much more likely to 'negociate', otherwise they just done care two hoots.

If it's going through grazing land, make sure you specify some decent fencing - otherwise they'll use the cheapest they think yhey can get away with.
Get it agreed that they'll leave it all for you when they've gone (they'll probably have to anyway 'cos the pipeline will be a couple of years before it gets re-established so it can be grazed at the same time as the rest of the fields.)

Get the compensation payments and when they'll pay it written down.
They can be very slow to get everything settled.

We've had an oil pipe, a gas pipe, an electric line, a main sewer and a motorway but Anglian Water were the worst to deal with.

Good luck.

 

[onthehoof]

Have a browse through this..

Anglian Water Pipeline

I just had a horrible thought, I think the design life of our water pipeline was 25 years and that must be almost up. No one ever comes to look at it so I guess it will be left alone unless something goes wrong?

thefarmingforum.co.uk

They'll come and see you before starting, with their agent, a rep from the main contractor and your agent, and it'll be all 'sweetness and light' as how they'll look after you but when it all kicks off, it'll be like armagedon.

Try and get everything sorted and in writing before they set foot on the place. Once they start it's very difficult to get them to stop and once they've gone, it's nigh on impossible to get them back to rectify anything.

If you can get some kind of 'stop clause' in the agreement it can be useful - when they came through us, we had 2" of rain one day but they were carrying on, regardless. Surface water and liquid mud was running off the easement all over adjacent fields.
All of us locally used the same agent, as we thought that may give us a bit more control. He managed to get them stopped and wouldn't let them start again until they'd agreed extra compensation for the collateral damage
When they've got thousands of pounds worth of expensive machinery and gangs of men standing idle 'cos you've got a dispute with them, they are much more likely to 'negociate', otherwise they just done care two hoots.

If it's going through grazing land, make sure you specify some decent fencing - otherwise they'll use the cheapest they think yhey can get away with.
Get it agreed that they'll leave it all for you when they've gone (they'll probably have to anyway 'cos the pipeline will be a couple of years before it gets re-established so it can be grazed at the same time as the rest of the fields.)

Get the compensation payments and when they'll pay it written down.
They can be very slow to get everything settled.

We've had an oil pipe, a gas pipe, an electric line, a main sewer and a motorway but Anglian Water were the worst to deal with.

Good luck.

Thanks - I think

 

[steveR]

Thanks - I think

Forewarned, is forearmed!!

 

[onthehoof]

Have a browse through this..

Anglian Water Pipeline

I just had a horrible thought, I think the design life of our water pipeline was 25 years and that must be almost up. No one ever comes to look at it so I guess it will be left alone unless something goes wrong?

thefarmingforum.co.uk

They'll come and see you before starting, with their agent, a rep from the main contractor and your agent, and it'll be all 'sweetness and light' as how they'll look after you but when it all kicks off, it'll be like armagedon.

Try and get everything sorted and in writing before they set foot on the place. Once they start it's very difficult to get them to stop and once they've gone, it's nigh on impossible to get them back to rectify anything.

If you can get some kind of 'stop clause' in the agreement it can be useful - when they came through us, we had 2" of rain one day but they were carrying on, regardless. Surface water and liquid mud was running off the easement all over adjacent fields.
All of us locally used the same agent, as we thought that may give us a bit more control. He managed to get them stopped and wouldn't let them start again until they'd agreed extra compensation for the collateral damage
When they've got thousands of pounds worth of expensive machinery and gangs of men standing idle 'cos you've got a dispute with them, they are much more likely to 'negociate', otherwise they just done care two hoots.

If it's going through grazing land, make sure you specify some decent fencing - otherwise they'll use the cheapest they think yhey can get away with.
Get it agreed that they'll leave it all for you when they've gone (they'll probably have to anyway 'cos the pipeline will be a couple of years before it gets re-established so it can be grazed at the same time as the rest of the fields.)

Get the compensation payments and when they'll pay it written down.
They can be very slow to get everything settled.

We've had an oil pipe, a gas pipe, an electric line, a main sewer and a motorway but Anglian Water were the worst to deal with.

Good luck.

Having nightmares already, they will have to cross a fair chunk of floodplain and the nearest road is about a mile from the river, the river can flood at anytime in fact it's flooding as we speak

 

[onthehoof]

Having nightmares already, they will have to cross a fair chunk of floodplain and the nearest road is about a mile from the river, the river can flood at anytime in fact it's flooding as we speak

What could possibly go wrong!

 

[yellowbelly]

Having nightmares already, they will have to cross a fair chunk of floodplain and the nearest road is about a mile from the river, the river can flood at anytime in fact it's flooding as we speak

Is any of it underdrained?

We were lucky, it crossed us at the top of the hill, so any drains they cut were at 'the high end'. It cut through all our neighbour's outfalls and they made a right 'pigs breakfast' of trying to reinstate them. They've still not got it right and he's still trying to get them to sort it (pipeline started 2019).

On a different note, the Anglian water pipeline from Elsham treatment works to somewhere in Essex has been put on hold round here.
They've been told (by Government, I assume) that they have to sort out all their leaky pipes before they're allowed to carry on with it.
Fortunately that one doesn't affect us but there's farms round here with fields split by pipeline fencing and nobody knows when it's going to start again. Even the extension at the treatment works, on land purchased from Mrs YB's uncle has stopped.

 

[br jones]

They will also need a yard /compound get in first

 

[Woldgrain Storage]

On a different note, the Anglian water pipeline from Elsham treatment works to somewhere in Essex has been put on hold round here.
They've been told (by Government, I assume) that they have to sort out all their leaky pipes before they're allowed to carry on with it.
Fortunately that one doesn't affect us but there's farms round here with fields split by pipeline fencing and nobody knows when it's going to start again.

Agreed, it's a proper mess round here. Also in a year when growers just don't need the extra hassle & loss of acres.

 

[steveR]

What could possibly go wrong!

I can just imagine the sub-contractors rocking up the day after that pic was taken, and demanding access to start work....

 

[Exfarmer]

Find the most expensive agents going . Take pictures of everything, and record every word they say. Be prepared to say no at everything they say, no matter how reasonable they are, as they will change it tomorrow. AWA and their contractors are the biggest heap of useless idiots you will ever come across. They will lie cheat and treat you as something they have just stood in.
and that is all on a good day
Do you have irrigation , that is another story!

 

[onthehoof]

Any recommendations for land agents @yellowbelly

 

[devonbeef]

Looks like we'll be getting an Anglian Water pipeline through much of our land in the next few years, any advice at this early stage before it all kicks off apart from appointing a good land agent, most of it grazing land so lots of hassle anticipated - splitting fields, water supply etc

poor you , nightmare with stock ,best of luck,

 

[Pistonbroke]

A friend has had a main pipe replaced across his ground lately, water board surveyor said it would be so much an acre for six weeks ,fenced off and reinstated after. Friend said he wanted it broken down into weekly payments in case it ran over time, surveyor laughed and said that won't happen but if you're sure we will do it that way. Big problems elsewhere held up the start,all got dug up, weather broke etc. Eight months later they have finished,but have been getting paid for every week.

 

[egbert]

Try to ensure they cannot bury sh1t in backfilled trenches.
SWW find it easier to chuck empty dumpys etc in the ground......

 

[steveR]

Try to ensure they cannot bury sh1t in backfilled trenches.
SWW find it easier to chuck empty dumpys etc in the ground......

I am still picking reinforced concrete lumps on some of the fields the sewer went through in 1973... Before my time, but I believe they had access roadways built, and just "lost" the material in the trench or low spots! I built a house in 1991, about 25-30m from the line of the sewer and the amount of concrete we dug out was mad!

The amount of punctures we used to get from rebar was ridiculous, spiking tyres. Contractors will always go for the easy/lazy option

The last sewer put in here, I watched like a hawk.... and they knew it.

 

[David1968]

Try and funnel their access through as few points as possible, with gates you can padlock shut.

Nothing brings them to heel quicker than suddenly being confronted with locked gates one morning. Trust me on this...

 

[yellowbelly]

Any recommendations for land agents @yellowbelly

Anglian Water used Savilles here, so you need one of the "big guns" that will be able to go '"toe to toe" with them as they were very good at wriggling out of any loophole they could find.

Four or five of us near neighbours decided we would be better all using the same local agent - the theory was, if we were all using one firm, we'd all be 'singing from the same hymn sheet' and have a bit more clout.
It worked to some extent but what I would say is, the neighbour who didn't go with our group but used his usual "big corperate type" agent, managed to get the route diverted away from all his drainage outfalls, even though it meant the pipeline had to tunnel under two more roads than it would have done had they stuck to the original plan.

My advice would be to use one of the 'big' outfits (AW are paying for whoever you employ anyway) and also try to get all your neighbours to use them too. There's definitely strength in numbers when you're dealing with somebody who's trying to get away with as much as they possibly can.

 

[steveR]

Any recommendations for land agents @yellowbelly

It looked like we were going to have a "tricky" pipeline pushed through here 7-8 years ago, then cancelled by STW. My neighbour and I agreed to share Agent, and I was not going for Bill, from down the Market

I wanted a specialist, and I was recommended an Agent who had been working for one of the Utilities, as she was supposed to be red hot on all the little ways the Agent/Contractors would try and screw Landowners. Trying to recall who it was.. Possibly FG? For sure they will have someone on their books who will know the subject.

 

[yellowbelly]

It looked like we were going to have a "tricky" pipeline pushed through here 7-8 years ago, then cancelled by STW. My neighbour and I agreed to share Agent, and I was not going for Bill, from down the Market

I wanted a specialist, and I was recommended an Agent who had been working for one of the Utilities, as she was supposed to be red hot on all the little ways the Agent/Contractors would try and screw Landowners. Trying to recall who it was.. Possibly FG? For sure they will have someone on their books who will know the subject.

Yeah, you definitely need somebody who can play them at their own game.

Edit.
Whoever you get, whatever happens, it won't be pretty..

...the nature of pipeline contractors means they just like paddling about, up and down with all sorts of vehicles, no matter what the weather or conditions are like.