The Department for the Environment (Defra) has concluded a multi-agency review of the need for sustainable urban drainage (SuDS) in UK residential schemes, recommending that SuDS be made a legal requirement on all new developments, and hinting a preference in favour of nature-based approaches.
The ‘review for implementation of Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010’ will have major implications for housebuilders, compelling them to introduce natural SuDS features on their builds. Instead of implementing it, the Government in 2015 used the National Planning Policy Framework to provide qualified SuDS guidance which only required it to be used on schemes over 10 units.
Commenting on this U-turn away from using the planning process, Defra said: “The recommendation to make sustainable drainage systems mandatory to new developments will reduce the risk of surface water flooding, pollution and help alleviate the pressures on our traditional drainage and sewerage systems.”
In August 2020, a Government review looked at the arrangements for determining responsibility for surface water and drainage assets. In the introduction to its just-published report, Defra added: “The Jenkins review suggested the planning-led approach alone is not working, recommending that non-statutory technical standards for sustainable drainage systems should be made statutory as ambiguity makes the role of the planning authority very difficult. The review also found that in general there were no specific checking regimes in place to ensure that SuDS had been constructed as agreed, leaving concerns about unsatisfactory standards of design and construction.”
Defra suggested that the priority would be to pursue nature-based approaches: “The new approach to drainage will ensure sustainable drainage systems are designed to reduce the impact of rainfall on new developments by using features such as soakaways, grassed areas, permeable surfaces and wetlands.”
“Regulations and processes for the creation of sustainable drainage systems on new developments will now be devised,” said Defra, through the implementation of Schedule 3; this is expected during 2024. The review recommends that the legislation will be implemented “as written,” with approving bodies being either the unitary authority in each case, or if not present, the county council.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: “Schedule 3 provides a framework for the approval and adoption of drainage systems, a sustainable drainage system approving body within unitary and county councils, and national standards on the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of sustainable drainage systems for the lifetime of the development.” She added that it makes the right to connect surface water runoff to public sewers “conditional upon the drainage system being approved before any construction work can start,” placing a further onus on housebuilders and developers.
SuDS expert and landscape architect Sue Illman of Illman Young welcomed the news: “The announcement by Defra sets the starting point for the full implementation of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. The sustainable and more effective management of surface water is now essential, as the ongoing problem of flooding affects ever more communities.”
Illman continued: “Applying this sustainable approach to (virtually) all new development is welcomed and long overdue; and can enable both greater biodiversity and improved water quality as part of an attractively designed landscape. England will also be able to learn from the experience of Wales, who have already implemented the Act.”
Government will now give consideration to how Schedule 3 will be implemented, subject to “final decisions on scope, threshold and process,” while also “being mindful of the cumulative impact of new regulatory burdens on the development sector.” This will include a public consultation later this year, which will collect views on the impact assessment, national standards and statutory instruments.
Secretary of State for Environment Thérèse Coffey, in her Foreword to the report, endorsed natural SuDS approaches to managing the challenges. “The increasing demand for housing water and sewerage must be met in a sustainable way and support our natural environment. We already have plans in place regarding surface water flooding, storm overflows and reducing demand. I think we need to further with sewerage connections and fully embrace nature-based solutions.”