Council Owned Land - Drain Issue

[mogs]

Am in the process of moving to a new plot on the existing allotment and what with the weather can't do much, but whilst leaning over the fence (as you do!) gebtleman from the plot further down tells me that there is a broken land drain on my plot which due to the river at the rear of my plot has caused flooding in the past.

I'm told the person before the last person put a metal bar through it and the person before me simply put a soakaway trench to the edge of the plot to drain off some of the water.

The thing is there is some serious waterlogging going on, not least because of a lot of rain over the last few days, although 18" of water did drain away over two days only to be replaced by a downpour last night.

I'm planning on double digging as much as possible and using raised beds about 8" high, but I'm thinking before I start digging anything I should contact my local Council, (the land owners) to check the drain isn't broken? Have googled and it seems from my uneducated interpretation that under the Land Drainage Act 1999 the Council as land owner would be responsible for ensuring land drains are intact and in good working order.

Has anyone any idea if this is the case or has anyone tested this theory with their local Council?

Thanks