Utility company digging trench next to house

[ajmoore1]

Hi,

I live in an old stone barn which I converted to live in a few yrs ago. It is situated at 90 degrees to quite a busy "a" road with the gable forming he boundary. There is a grass verge approx 8ft wide then the road.

Welsh water are renewing the water main which runs in the road but they are putting the new one in the grass verge. We were ony notified on the friday the work was going to start on the monday.

I have just come home from work and they have dug the trench along side my gable approx 3ft away, to a depth of approx 1meter. I know my footings are only about 300mm, if I was digging a trench this depth building control would want me to fill it with concrete to the depth of the footing.

Will they fill it with concrete, can't really see them doing that around a water main though? If my gable starts to suffer movement can I claim against them? I know if I was to dig a trench against my neighbours wall I would need the party wall act etc, are utility companies exempt from this?

Cheers

Jon

[lutonlagerlout]

i would imagine they will mark the pipe and backfill with earth
how wide is the trench?
maybe flowjoe will have a definitive answer to this one
LLL

[ajmoore1]

Trench is 300mm wide. I was thinking they would just backfill with the excavated spoil. May give building control a call tomorrow and see what there views are on it.

[local patios and driveway]

1m away and 1m deep will be ok, 45degrees from bottom of footing is fine. Dont waste your time. But if you are worried take plenty of pictures for future reference