Making space for water
Urban flood risk and integrated drainage
Telford & Wrekin (Borough of Telford & Wrekin)
Pilot Summary
Telford & Wrekin Council’s successful bid to undertake a Pilot Study within the IUD Project was driven by the need to gain a better understanding of the surface water environment within its borough with a view to reducing the risk of flooding to existing and new properties through the development control process.
The number of new homes to be delivered in the Borough within its LDF is defined by the Regional Spatial Strategy for the West Midlands (the WMRSS) published in June 2004. The WMRSS permits a maximum of 1330 new dwellings per annum up to 2011, and a maximum of 700 new dwellings per annum 2011-2016. A maximum of 2850 dwellings will be brought forward under the New Growth Points Initiative, from the total housing requirement set by the WMRSS. It is the aim in the Borough to accelerate growth in a sustainable and viable way to build another 13,000 new houses by 2016 and up to 25,000 by 2026.
It is quite apparent that such growth over the next few years will have a significant impact on the surface water environment. The timing of the pilot study is very fortunate to enable this issue to be addressed at a very early stage.
During the extreme rainfall events in the summer of 2007, there were over 100 reports to the Councils Engineering Services Department of properties flooded from a variety of sources. As Telford is a national Growth Point area it is important that a Surface Water Management Plan is produced to ensure that all new development has a limited impact on the surface water environment and does not compound the issues that the Council is already aware of.
By capturing and collating information on its surface water sewerage systems, its watercourses, culverts, rivers, lakes pools and reservoirs it has brought together key stakeholders within the industry to contribute to a comprehensive database that is readily shared and accessed by all to allow detailed appraisal of proposed development sites.
The stakeholders that have readily participated in this pilot study are Severn Trent Water Ltd, The Environment Agency, The Internal Drainage Boards and ourselves as the Unitary Authority. Individual agendas have been set aside to allow the “Partnership” to take an overview of current practices relating to development control and consider how the industry may work together to improve flood protection. This would not have happened without the IUD Pilot Study.
As the Planning Authority, attributed with the responsibility of granting planning permission for development, it was agreed at the outset that Telford & Wrekin Council, through its in-house Engineering Consultancy, would take the lead role in preparing what has now become known as a Surface Water Management Plan.
Although extremely time consuming and in part, monotonous, the preparation of the single database in the early stages of the project has proven to be fundamental to the success of the study. It has become the primary source of data from which key decisions on future development proposals can be made.
The Partnership focussed its attention on finding a way to ensure that prospective developers seriously considered the management of surface water at a very early stage of their design process. The current practice of individual consultations between developers and the stakeholders is considered time consuming, costly and sometimes contradictory. The need to integrate this process within the planning process became a primary objective.
For many years little consideration has been given to flood risk, flood routing and exceedance flows. The Pilot Study has provided an opportunity to reflect on these omissions and raise them as key considerations within the planning process and have now built them into the Surface Water Management Plan methodology.
With the Planning Authority preparing its Local Development Framework that would set planning policy and guidelines within the Borough for the next 18 years, the timing of the Pilot Study to influence this procedure was extremely fortunate. The preparation of a Supplementary Planning Document, specifically related to surface water management has enabled the philosophy of SUDS and the methodology of the Surface Water Management Plan to be encompassed and embedded firmly within the planning process.
The proposed planning policies “Surface Water Drainage, Managing and Improving Water Quality”, has a direct link to the Surface Water Management Plan and informs the developer of the Council’s requirements for each individual development site.
It is the intention of the Surface Water Management Plan to aid the developer in the design process and to speed up the pre-development enquiries with the production of a Surface Water Area Action Plan (SWAAP) for each development site. This will be a comprehensive document having had the benefit of information and consultations on and approved by all stakeholders. It will provide the developer with a detailed understanding of the site constraints with respect to surface water and will impose limitations on how the site can be developed and how surface water should be managed to reduce the risk of flooding in and off the site.
The responsibility and maintenance of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) has been a debated issue for a number of years without securing an individual stakeholder to take responsibility. The proposed planning policies insist that the ownership and maintenance of these systems be identified at the outset and agreed with the planning authority at the planning application stage. This process along with the introduction of a Surface Water Management Plan may provide the impetus that is needed to conclude this over–debated subject.
The findings and proposals of the Pilot Study are still subject to a public consultation, and this will coincide with the LDF consultation process incorporating the SPD and the Surface Water Management Plan. The stakeholders whilst actively contributing to the study will also need their parent organisations endorsement of the proposals.
In summary, the pilot study has provided the opportunity for the stakeholders, working in partnership, to take a step back and review the current development control practices and through consultation have an opportunity to endorse a new approach to the management of surface water within the planning process.
Outputs
Page last modified: 25 June 2008
Page published: 5 March 2007