The March and Euximoor Water Management Board Order 2026, published on legislation.gov.uk, came into force on 17 July 2026, one day after it was made. The instrument abolishes the Euximoor Internal Drainage Board and the March East Internal Drainage Board and replaces them with a single successor body, the March and Euximoor Water Management Board. The Schedule to the Order also merges the two existing internal drainage districts into one new district, the March and Euximoor Internal Drainage District. The Order extends to England and Wales but applies in England only.
According to the preamble, the Environment Agency prepared the underlying Scheme under section 3(1)(a) of the Land Drainage Act 1991 and submitted it to the Secretary of State for confirmation. The Secretary of State then published a notice of intent, sent that notice to the relevant local authorities and other prescribed bodies, and received no objection to the draft Order. That procedural history matters because the merger is not an informal administrative change. It is a statutory reorganisation made under section 3(5) of the 1991 Act. The Order was signed on 16 July 2026 by William Harrington, Head of Rural Flood Risk at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, acting with the Secretary of State's authority.
In practical terms, the change creates one drainage district and one board where there were previously two. From the commencement date, the two former boards cease to exist and the new board becomes the legal authority for the merged area. For local authorities and other public bodies dealing with drainage governance, the immediate effect is a single institutional counterpart. The Explanatory Note does not point to any new policy function or wider regulatory power; the measure changes the governance structure through which existing drainage and water level management functions are exercised.
The Scheme states that the new Board is to comprise 15 elected members. However, the first cohort will be appointed by the Secretary of State rather than elected straight away, and those initial members will remain in office until one year after the first 1 November following their appointment. This transitional arrangement avoids a gap in governance on the day the merger takes effect. The instrument also points back to the wider appointment framework in Schedule 1 to the Land Drainage Act 1991, including the existing provisions that govern appointments by charging authorities.
Paragraph 5 of the Scheme is the main continuity clause. On 17 July 2026, all property and all rights and obligations of the two abolished boards transfer to the new Board. The definition is deliberately broad and includes books of account, deeds, maps, papers, electronic records, statutory powers and duties, liabilities and other obligations. For landowners, contractors and partner authorities, that means existing business does not fall away because the institutional name has changed. The new Board steps into the legal position previously held by the Euximoor and March East boards.
The same continuity approach applies to money already owed. Under paragraph 6, arrears of drainage rates levied by either abolished board for periods ending before 17 July 2026 may still be recovered by the new Board as if it had levied those rates itself. This is the point most likely to matter in practice to ratepayers and land interests within the district. The merger does not remove historic liabilities, and it does not require the successor body to rebuild the collection basis for unpaid charges.
The Scheme also states that no separate assignment, conveyance or deed is needed for the transfer to take effect; the statutory instrument itself is conclusive evidence of what has moved to the new Board. It further requires the accounts of each abolished board to be made up to the day before commencement and audited as if the merger had not taken place. The Explanatory Note says no full impact assessment was prepared because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. The practical outcome is a single governance structure for drainage and water level management across March East and Euximoor, with continuity preserved for records, assets, rate recovery and ongoing statutory duties.