Flood Risk Assessment in Shropshire

Our team at Unda prepare clear, robust flood risk assessments and drainage strategies for sites right across Shropshire, drawing on years of experience of the River Severn and the county’s many smaller watercourses. A flood risk assessment in Shropshire shows your local planning authority that a development will stay safe from flooding for its whole lifetime, without pushing flood risk onto land or property nearby.

People come to us for that work for every reason there is. Some are securing planning permission; some are buying or selling a Shropshire property and need to understand the real risk; some have had a question raised by a mortgage lender or insurer; some are chasing a BREEAM rating; and some need a surface water drainage strategy to satisfy the Lead Local Flood Authority. Whatever the reason, we assess every source that matters here and deal directly with the Environment Agency and the relevant council on your behalf.

If you want a quote or to talk a site through, contact one of our experienced flood risk consultants on 01293 214444 — or start a quote online and we will reply within 60 minutes.

Flood risk assessment in Shropshire at a glance

• The Severn runs through the middle of it. Britain’s longest river enters Shropshire from Wales and meanders through Shrewsbury, Ironbridge and Bridgnorth, and it drives much of the county’s flood risk.
• Two lead local flood authorities, not one. Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council are separate unitary authorities, each the lead local flood authority for its own area.
• Whatever your reason for needing one. We prepare flood risk assessments in Shropshire for planning, property purchase, mortgage and insurance, and BREEAM, alongside sequential and exception tests and surface water drainage strategies (SuDS).
• Flood Zone 1 is not a free pass. Since the 2025 Planning Practice Guidance update, surface water risk can trigger an assessment even on a site that sits in Flood Zone 1.

Check flood risk anywhere in Shropshire

Shropshire is outlined below, with Telford & Wrekin included. Screen any postcode in the county against Environment Agency data for rivers and sea, surface water and the planning flood zones, with a climate outlook to 2125. It is an indicative first pass, not a substitute for a site-specific assessment.

When you need a flood risk assessment or drainage strategy in Shropshire

A flood risk assessment in Shropshire is the technical report that tells you, and the people you have to satisfy, how flooding could affect a particular site and what to do about it. People reach for one for several different reasons, and each carries the same weight. A sequential test and a surface-water drainage strategy often go in alongside it, and there is more on each below.

• Planning applications. Required for most development in Flood Zones 2 and 3, for sites of one hectare or more in Flood Zone 1, and increasingly for smaller Flood Zone 1 sites where the Flood Map for Planning shows surface water risk.
• Buying or selling a property. A flood risk survey for a property purchase looks past the broad-brush conveyancing search to the actual risk at the building, which matters near the Severn and the county’s smaller rivers.
• Mortgage and insurance questions. Where a lender, broker or underwriter flags flood risk, a flood risk assessment for insurance sets out the real picture at the property and the mitigation that is in place.
• BREEAM assessments. A flood risk assessment for BREEAM supports the Pol 03 credit on flood and surface water management for new-build schemes.
• Surface water drainage. A sustainable drainage strategy shows runoff will be managed to the lead local flood authority’s standards, whether it goes in on its own or alongside the flood risk assessment.

If you are not sure which of these applies to you, send us the address. We will tell you quickly whether a report is needed and which kind, drawing on our note on when expertise matters and the difference between a planning-grade report and a desktop search.

Flood risk in Shropshire: rivers, surface water and groundwater

Shropshire’s flooding is shaped above all by the River Severn, but it is not the whole story. River flooding dominates Shrewsbury, the Ironbridge Gorge and Bridgnorth; surface water overwhelms drains in Telford and the market towns; and groundwater rises through the sandstones and meres of the north. Most sites here face more than one source at once, which is why a single desktop map rarely satisfies a planning officer.

The Severn is the longest river in the United Kingdom. It rises on Plynlimon in mid Wales, enters Shropshire from the west and loops through Shrewsbury in a tight meander before passing Ironbridge and Bridgnorth on its way south. A long, heavy spell of rain over the Welsh hills becomes a flood peak in the Shropshire lowlands a day or two later, which is the heart of any credible fluvial flood risk assessment here. The Severn is far from the only river that floods, though: the Tern, Roden, Perry and Strine in the north, the Rea Brook and Cound Brook around Shrewsbury, and the Teme, Onny and Corve in the south all carry their own risk.

• Rivers (fluvial). The Severn drives flooding through Shrewsbury, Ironbridge and Bridgnorth, while the Teme, Onny and Corve affect Ludlow and the south. Land in Flood Zones 2 and 3 along these corridors almost always needs an assessment.
• Surface water (pluvial). Now the most widespread flood risk in England. Intense rain overwhelms drains in built-up Telford and the market towns. Since the 2025 Planning Practice Guidance update, surface water on the Flood Map for Planning can trigger an assessment even on a Flood Zone 1 site — see pluvial flooding explained.
• Groundwater. The Permo-Triassic sandstones of north Shropshire form a productive aquifer, and the meres around Ellesmere and Whitchurch sit on high water tables that can flood low ground and basements without showing on a river map. Critical for any soakaway or below-ground level — see groundwater flooding.
• Ordinary watercourses and canals. Brooks, ditches and the county’s canal network all carry risk. The December 2025 canal embankment failure near Whitchurch showed how raised water bodies that never appear on a flood map can still matter for a nearby site.

Shrewsbury is the textbook case for why one map is never enough. The town centre sits inside a near-complete loop of the Severn, so water arrives from upstream in Wales, ponds against the high ground of the town, and is joined by the Rea Brook from the south. A scheme there has to reconcile the river, surface water and the way the two interact. Our wider notes on the sources of flood risk and on surface water and planning set out how these sources combine on a real site.

A history of flooding in Shropshire

These dated events are why authorities here scrutinise development so closely, and why a flood risk assessment in Shropshire has to be evidence-led rather than generic. Each one reshaped local policy and the defences a developer now has to design around.

• Autumn 2000 — the modern benchmark. The Severn flooded Frankwell in Shrewsbury three times in six weeks, and the river reached its highest recorded level at the Welsh Bridge, around 5.25 m, in November 2000. The event led directly to the Frankwell flood defences.
• Summer 2007 — the national turning point. Heavy rain and thunderstorms caused widespread damage and evacuations across Shropshire and much of England, triggering the Pitt Review and, in turn, the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
• February 2020 — Storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge. The Environment Agency described the flooding across the West Midlands as “unprecedented”. Around 1,600 properties flooded; temporary barriers on the Wharfage at Ironbridge were overtopped under a severe flood warning, and the Severn reached close to 4.9 m at Shrewsbury.
• February 2022 — Storm Franklin. Homes and businesses in Shrewsbury were evacuated again as the Severn burst its banks, part of a run of winters that have made flooding feel routine in the town. We mark the lessons in 25 years on from the 2000 Severn floods.
• January 2024 — Storm Henk. Flooding forced Shrewsbury residents out of their homes once more, with the Severn high across the county and roads closed in the south.

A pattern runs through all of it: ground that has flooded once tends to flood again. A robust assessment treats this recorded history as evidence, not background colour.

Shrewsbury’s flood record stretches back far beyond living memory, with major inundations documented across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The long view matters for development, because the Flood Map for Planning and the historic flood record together tell a planning officer whether a site sits on ground with a real flooding past.

Flood defences and schemes protecting Shropshire

Major investment has followed each of these events, and the schemes change what a development next to them has to prove. A new defence reduces the chance of flooding, but it never removes it, and planning policy still expects the residual risk to be assessed.

• Shrewsbury — Frankwell and the washlands. The Frankwell demountable defences were completed in 2003, and The Quarry park and land at Melverley are allowed to flood to take pressure off the town. Coton Hill and Coleham remain the harder hotspots, with schemes estimated to cost around £20 million to protect roughly 150 properties.
• Ironbridge — the Wharfage barriers. Demountable barriers protect part of the gorge, and government investment in 2025 funded new permanent walls at Dale End and Ladywood to protect around 40 further homes and businesses that the temporary barriers do not reach.
• The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme. A catchment-scale ‘slow the flow’ programme of nature-based measures upstream of Shrewsbury aims to hold water back before it reaches the town, complementing the engineered defences downstream.
• The River Severn Partnership. A long-term, cross-boundary plan for the whole Severn catchment, backed by a business case to the Treasury worth around £500 million, sets the strategic direction for managing the river over the coming decades.

The catch for developers is the one we set out in residual flood risk: the Flood Map for Planning is drawn as if the defences are not there, so a defended site in Shrewsbury or Ironbridge can still sit in Flood Zone 3. Climate change makes this sharper still, which is why an assessment applies the Environment Agency’s allowances over the development’s lifetime and tests how a defence behaves if it is overtopped.

Planning policy and your lead local flood authority in Shropshire

Two kinds of authority set the rules. The Environment Agency leads on the main rivers, including the Severn and the Teme, and on flood warnings. A lead local flood authority leads on surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses — and Shropshire has two of them.

The ceremonial county is covered by two separate unitary councils: Shropshire Council, which has been a unitary authority since 2009, and Telford & Wrekin Council. Each is the lead local flood authority for its own area, and the two co-operate on mapping flood risk. So a developer deals with whichever council covers the site, alongside the Environment Agency and the role the lead local flood authority plays as statutory consultee on surface water drainage for major development. Our overview of the Environment Agency’s planning role explains how the two fit together.

Local policy and SuDS requirements in Shropshire

Your assessment and drainage strategy must satisfy national policy — the NPPF and its Planning Practice Guidance — and the local development plan. In the Shropshire Council area the adopted plan is the Core Strategy, whose policy CS18 covers sustainable water management, together with the SAMDev Plan policy MD2 on sustainable design; the draft Shropshire Local Plan was withdrawn from examination in July 2025, so those older policies remain the basis for decisions. Telford & Wrekin has its own adopted Local Plan and a Level 2 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment. On drainage, Shropshire Council’s SuDS Handbook and a guidance document shared with eight other West Midlands authorities set the local design standards, an allowance for urban creep is expected, and the four pillars of SuDS shape what each council will accept.

• National policy. The NPPF’s sequential, risk-based approach, with the Sequential and Exception Tests for higher-risk sites and the right flood zone and vulnerability classification.
• Strategic local evidence. Each council’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, which also flag critical drainage areas where extra scrutiny applies.
• SuDS to local standards. Surface water managed down the discharge hierarchy and designed to the SuDS Handbook, with infiltration tested rather than assumed — the most common reason for an LLFA drainage objection.

Development and flood risk assessment in Shropshire

Shropshire’s development is as varied as its landscape, from riverside regeneration in Shrewsbury to new homes in Telford and rural conversions across the hills. The kind of site you bring forward shapes the assessment you need, and the right scope is the difference between a clean approval and a drainage objection that holds an application up for months.

• Riverside and town-centre schemes. Development in Shrewsbury, Ironbridge and Bridgnorth frequently sits in Flood Zones 2 and 3, needing finished floor levels, safe access and egress, and sometimes compensatory flood storage or a floodable void.
• Telford and urban Shropshire. Higher-density sites on largely built-up land turn on surface water and drainage capacity, so a strong drainage design from the outset is what keeps an application moving.
• Rural and agricultural sites. Conversions and new builds across the hills and the north Shropshire plain often turn on ordinary watercourses, infiltration and groundwater rather than a main river, which is where infiltration testing earns its keep.
• Sites near the Welsh border. Where a site falls in Wales rather than England, a flood consequence assessment under the Welsh TAN15 framework applies instead of an English assessment.

Climate change is not optional here. A Shropshire assessment must apply the Environment Agency’s allowances for higher river flows and rainfall over the development’s lifetime — generally 100 years for housing — which sets floor levels, freeboard and how much attenuation a drainage scheme needs.

Home buyers and businesses come to us too. A flood question can affect house prices and insurability, and a conveyancing search is not the same thing as a planning-grade assessment. Knowing which you actually need saves time and money, whether the goal is planning consent, a confident purchase, workable cover or a BREEAM credit.

Flood risk assessments for every situation in Shropshire

Unda prepares the full range of flood risk and drainage work a Shropshire scheme needs. A flood risk assessment shows whether a site is safe and keeps flood risk off neighbouring land; a sequential and exception test addresses whether the development should be in that location at all; and a surface-water drainage strategy sets out where the rainwater goes. They often go in together with a planning application, and a senior consultant signs off each one.

Flood risk assessments

A flood risk assessment examines every source of flooding affecting a site and shows it can be made safe for its lifetime without raising the risk elsewhere. The same work supports a range of situations in Shropshire.

• Flood risk assessment for planning. Submitted with a planning application to satisfy the NPPF, the Environment Agency and your Shropshire or Telford & Wrekin authority.
• Flood consequence assessment (Wales). The Welsh equivalent under TAN15, for sites that fall over the border rather than in England.
• Homebuyer and property-purchase survey. An independent, property-specific view of the real risk for buyers, sellers and their advisers.
• Flood risk assessment for insurance. Technical evidence for insurers, brokers and underwriters where flood risk has been raised.
• Flood risk assessment for BREEAM. Structured around the Pol 03 credit on new-build schemes, which is credit-driven rather than safety-driven.

Every assessment weighs groundwater alongside rivers and surface water — which matters on the north Shropshire sandstones and around the meres — and uses hydraulic flood modelling where the national maps do not capture how the Severn and its tributaries behave. The same assessment supports commercial due diligence before a purchase and business-continuity planning for sites already in use.

Sequential and exception tests

A sequential and exception test looks at whether a lower-risk site is reasonably available and, where development still needs to go ahead in a higher-risk area, whether the wider benefits and the site’s lifetime safety justify it. It applies the NPPF’s risk-based approach and goes in alongside the flood risk assessment; a clean assessment showing the site is not actually at risk can sometimes remove the need for it.

Surface water drainage strategy and SuDS

A surface-water drainage strategy works out how rainwater leaves a site and keeps run-off within the rates the council will accept, following the SuDS hierarchy of reuse, infiltration, discharge to a watercourse, then sewers as a last resort.

• Sustainable drainage strategy (SuDS). Designed to the relevant council’s SuDS Handbook from the first sketch, with runoff held to greenfield or agreed rates.
• Discharge of drainage conditions. The detailed stage that proves the climate-change-adjusted 1-in-100-year storm can be managed without flooding the highway or land nearby.
• Preliminary drainage design. An early read on infiltration and runoff before they affect site layout and land value.

How Unda helps with flood risk assessment in Shropshire

We act as the accurate translation layer between your scheme and the requirements set by the Environment Agency, the relevant Shropshire council and national planning policy. We are experts on the county’s flooding, not a generic report mill.

A flood risk assessment in Shropshire from Unda assesses every credible source — the Severn, the Teme, the Tern or the Rea Brook, down to surface water, groundwater, sewers and any ordinary watercourse on the boundary — compares modelled flood levels against your proposed floor levels, sets safe access and egress, and recommends mitigation the regulators will accept. We are a CIWEM Business Partner with chartered members, and a senior flood risk consultant signs off every report. Where the council needs it, the drainage strategy sits alongside the assessment so the two cases stay consistent and an objection has nowhere to land.

We stay involved past the report, too. If the Environment Agency or the lead local flood authority raises a query, we answer it, and our consultants are used to expediting urgent work when a planning deadline is tight. You can read more about our chartered flood risk consultants and the firm’s track record.

Shropshire flood resources and contacts

The most reliable Shropshire flood information comes from the lead authorities. For an immediate threat to life during a flood, always call 999. The table below sets out who to contact in which situation.

• Check for flooding. Environment Agency live warnings, river levels and maps at check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk.
• Shropshire Council flood risk. The council’s flood risk and planning policy, drainage guidance and live flooding information at shropshire.gov.uk.
• Telford & Wrekin flooding. The borough’s Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and SuDS guidance at telford.gov.uk.
• Shropshire and Staffordshire Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. The joint local flood risk management strategy that frames how surface water and ordinary watercourses are managed across the area.
• Flood Map for Planning. The Environment Agency’s statutory flood-zone dataset for planning at flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk.
• Regional investment and priorities. Flood funding for the area is steered by the English Severn and Wye Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, which covers Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.
• Live river levels. Whether the Severn, Teme or Tern are running high right now via our live river levels map.
• Screen a site quickly. Our free flood risk map, soakaway ground-conditions checker, drainage calculators and BRE 365 infiltration calculator give an indicative first read before a full assessment.

For flooding from blocked or burst sewers, contact Severn Trent Water, or Hafren Dyfrdwy near the Welsh border. For broader context, our notes on why the long-term flood risk map cannot be used for planning and on groundwater in planning applications are a good starting point.

Flood risk assessment in Shropshire: frequently asked questions