Flood Risk Assessment in Matlock

A flood risk assessment in Matlock has two kinds of water to deal with: the River Derwent, which splits the town centre at Matlock Bridge and can rise by metres after a wet night on the Peak District moors, and the runoff that pours off the steep valley sides into Bakewell Road, Matlock Green and Bentley Brook. We prepare flood risk assessments in Matlock for planning applications, house purchases, mortgages and insurance, alongside sequential and exception tests and surface water drainage strategies for sites anywhere in the town.

Matlock, the county town of Derbyshire and the largest town in the Derbyshire Dales with 11,155 residents at the 2021 Census, is taken here as the ONS built-up area. That covers the centre around Crown Square and Dale Road, Matlock Bank climbing to Smedley Street, Matlock Green and Old Matlock along Bentley Brook, Lumsdale and the Hurst Farm estate to the east, and Starkholmes on the hillside to the south, all in the DE4 postcode district. Matlock Bath, about 2 km down the gorge, is a separate built-up area on the same river and under the same councils, so this page covers it too. Derbyshire Dales District Council decides planning applications, and Derbyshire County Council, also based in the town, is the lead local flood authority; the rest of the county is on our Derbyshire page.

On 8 November 2019 the Derwent reached 4.8 m at the Matlock gauge, within 0.4 m of its 1965 record. Six days later the town centre flooded again, this time because drains could not empty into a river that was still running high.

Call 01293 214444 or email enquiries@unda.co.uk to talk through a Matlock site with one of our flood risk consultants.

How the Derwent behaves at the Matlock gauge

The Derwent reaches Matlock after draining the moors around Ladybower and the dales past Chatsworth and Rowsley, so the town feels rain that fell hours earlier and miles upstream. The Environment Agency's River Derwent level at Matlock gauge, a short way downstream of the town centre towards Matlock Bath, has recorded since 1958, and its readings give the river a working scale:

• 0.28 m to 2.50 m. The river's normal range at the gauge.
• Above 2.50 m. Low-lying land beside the river may flood, and flood alerts may be issued.
• Above 2.90 m. Flooding of property is possible.
• 4.8 m on 8 November 2019. Reached after about a month's rain fell on the upper Derwent in a day; upstream, Chatsworth rose to 5.16 m, its highest since 1969.
• 5.18 m on 10 December 1965. The highest level the station has recorded.

Two Environment Agency flood warning areas cover the town and its neighbour down the gorge: River Derwent at Matlock, which names Matlock Green and Old Matlock, and River Derwent at Matlock Bath, which takes in the riverside gardens and the High Tor Colour Works. Separate warnings cover Darley Dale and Darley Bridge upstream. Our live river levels map shows the Matlock reading against its normal range, and the river's course from the Dark Peak to Derby is on our page about the River Derwent and its floods.

Bentley Brook and the water that runs off Matlock's hillsides

Bentley Brook comes down from the high ground east of the town through Lumsdale and joins the Derwent below Matlock Green. For its last 1.8 km, from Lumsdale to the confluence, the Environment Agency's main river map shows it as a main river. That puts the reach in the Environment Agency's hands rather than the county council's, and the Environment Agency is consulted on development beside it; our guide to main rivers and ordinary watercourses sets out the difference. Since December 2024 the brook has had its own Environment Agency gauge at the Lumsdale Road pumping station.

Several of Matlock's recent floods came off the slopes rather than out of a channel. The district council's draft Local Plan describes rain on the steep valley sides running down in temporary streams, sinking and re-emerging as springs, and being carried off by piped drains laid long ago for market gardens and farms. Where landscaping on new estates has broken those drains, houses below that had stayed dry for decades have flooded. The council's Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment found the Bentley Brook catchment more sensitive than most of the district to the combined effect of new development, and the new plan sends sites there through a more detailed Level 2 assessment.

On the evening of 8 July 2023 a short, intense storm sent runoff from the hills across Matlock Green and the A615 Bakewell Road between Crown Square and Dimple Road. The Environment Agency put the flooding down to the intensity of the rain, not the Derwent. A plot on Matlock Bank, at Hurst Farm or around Starkholmes therefore needs its overland flow routes traced as carefully as a riverside plot needs its flood levels; our guide to surface water flooding and planning explains how that is done.

Look up a Matlock address, from Starkholmes to Matlock Bank

Type a postcode into the map below to screen a Matlock address for river, surface water and reservoir flooding using Environment Agency data, or open our full flood risk map for anywhere in England. The coral outline shows Matlock as the ONS draws its built-up area. It takes in the town centre, Matlock Bank, Matlock Green, Old Matlock, Lumsdale, Hurst Farm and Starkholmes, but stops short of Matlock Dale. The Dale Road gorge below High Tor and Matlock Bath lie outside it, as do Darley Dale, Tansley and Riber, though the same councils and the same river evidence apply there.

Matlock's floods on record, 1965 to 2025

The town's record shows the Derwent and the hillside runoff taking turns. The dates below come from the Environment Agency's gauge, the county council's flood investigation and reporting in the Derbyshire Times.

1. 10 December 1965. The Derwent peaked at 5.18 m at the Matlock gauge, still the highest level it has recorded.
2. 8 November 2019. After a day of torrential rain the river flooded Matlock and came close to overtopping at Matlock Bath; upstream at Darley Dale a woman drowned after her car broke down in floodwater, as her inquest heard. Across Derbyshire more than 380 homes and businesses flooded inside, according to the county council's investigation.
3. 14 November 2019. Matlock flooded a second time, from surface water: with the Derwent still high, the outfalls into it were surcharged and water backed up into the town centre, where the Marks and Spencer food store flooded and closed for a day and a half.
4. February 2020 and January 2021. The town flooded again in both winters. By then the town council had begun a flood warden scheme with the county's emergency planners and the Environment Agency, prompted by the 2019 floods.
5. February 2022. Storm Franklin flooded Bakewell Road and parts of the centre up to about three feet deep from hillside runoff and blocked drains; the Environment Agency said no property flooded from the river (Derbyshire Times). In the same storms a 20 m section of wall on the Derwent behind Crown Square collapsed.
6. 8 July 2023. An evening downpour flooded Matlock Green and Bakewell Road, part of a private wall fell into Bentley Brook off Matlock Green, and a Bakewell Road bar reported its fifth flood in four years (Derbyshire Times).
7. 2025. A flash flood reached Lime Grove Walk, close to Lilybank Close.

The county council's 2019 report records that the Environment Agency's defences along the Derwent protect 297 houses and businesses in Matlock. Those defences lower the chance of the river coming over the top. They do not change the flood zones on the planning map, which are drawn as if the defences were not there.

The Crown Square wall and what it means for a site behind it

Matlock's riverside centre depends on walls along the Derwent. When a 20 m section behind Crown Square gave way in February 2022, the high street was left exposed, and the Environment Agency stepped in because the wall could only be reached from the river and the landowners' insurance position was unclear. Its scheme page and announcement of the repair set out what followed:

• The rebuild. Jackson Civil Engineering built the replacement for the Environment Agency to a design by Arup, after enabling works began in June 2022; the cost was first estimated at £3.5 million to £5 million.
• What it protects. The Environment Agency said the reinstated defences would protect more than 50 homes and businesses near the wall.
• Finished state. By August 2023 the wall had been faced in Birchover gritstone to match the stone around it, with erosion protection, railings and access gates still to come. Matlock Bridge beside it is Grade II* listed and a scheduled monument.

For a site in the defended centre, an assessment starts from the undefended flood zones and then tests what happens if a wall is overtopped or fails: this residual flood risk sets floor levels and a dry way out. The 2022 failure began with a privately owned wall next to the Environment Agency's, and our note on defences that fall below standard covers how the condition of walls like these is weighed.

Limestone, shale and gritstone: the ground and sewers under Matlock

Matlock stands where the limestone of the White Peak meets the shales and gritstone to the east, and the British Geological Survey's map shows all three inside the town. Which one a site sits on, and which sewer it would drain to, shapes a drainage strategy here more than almost anything else.

The draft Local Plan's version of Policy PD8 wants every SuDS scheme backed by ground investigation and infiltration testing, with above-ground storage where infiltration fails. Greenfield land is held to greenfield runoff rates and brownfield land brought as close to them as practicable, and surface water piped into the combined sewer will be strongly resisted. A BRE 365 infiltration test settles the soakaway question on the day, and our ground conditions and soakaway map gives a first look before anyone digs.

Which local and national flood policies does a Matlock application have to meet?

Derbyshire Dales District Council decides applications across Matlock: the whole built-up area lies outside the Peak District National Park, whose boundary runs to the west of the town. Derbyshire County Council comments on surface water for major schemes as lead local flood authority, and the Environment Agency on sites by the Derwent and the main-river stretch of Bentley Brook. Five documents set the rules a Matlock application has to meet.

The sequential and exception tests weigh most heavily on the valley floor beside the Derwent and Bentley Brook. Up the hillsides the question changes. Under policy F5 a Flood Zone 1 site at risk only from surface water can be spared the sequential test if its assessment shows the scheme will be safe without adding to risk elsewhere; our note on the surface water exemption explains how that is shown. On Matlock's slopes it usually comes down to where the overland flow crosses the site.

Cawdor Quarry, Snitterton Road and Matlock's place in the new Local Plan

The Pre-Submission Local Plan keeps Matlock as one of the district's first-tier market towns and its main focus for growth. Its two Matlock allocations sit on the western side of the town, and both carry drainage requirements:

• Land at Cawdor Quarry (Policy DS9). A 24.7-hectare former limestone quarry and asphalt works reached from Matlock Spa Road, allocated for about 395 homes and a hectare of employment land. The policy asks for a site-specific flood risk assessment that follows the district's SFRA, a phasing programme showing how drainage works across phase boundaries, and surveys of contamination and ground stability.
• Land at Snitterton Road (HC2(uu)). About 34 homes, on condition that the receiving sewer network has the capacity to take them.

A former quarry brings its own drainage questions. Worked faces and backfilled ground change how water moves through a site, and a large new catchment at the edge of the valley has to drain without adding to the flows that reach the Derwent and the streets below. Smaller schemes in the centre and on the slopes face the hillside drains and the Victorian sewers described above instead.

From a Dale Road shop to a hillside plot: when a flood risk assessment in Matlock is needed

Whether a Matlock proposal needs an assessment depends on its flood zone, its size and its use. In Flood Zones 2 and 3 almost everything does; in Flood Zone 1 it turns on the area of the site and on whether the surface water mapping shows a risk to it. Some typical cases:

If the sequential test applies, its outcome depends on how far the search for alternative sites reaches across the Derbyshire Dales and which of those sites are reasonably available for the development. Our page on testing alternative sites sets out the method.

Reports for Matlock's riverside, brookside and hillside sites

A buyer on Dale Road, a householder in Starkholmes and the promoter of Cawdor Quarry each need a different report. Every one is prepared by our chartered consultants and signed off by a senior consultant before it is issued.

• Applications in the Derwent and Bentley Brook flood zones. Homes, conversions and commercial schemes on the valley floor need a flood risk assessment for planning that answers Policy PD8 now and its revised version once the new plan is adopted.
• River, brook, slope and sewer together. A flood risk assessment for a Matlock site treats the Derwent, Bentley Brook, runoff from the hillsides, springs and the town-centre sewers as one picture.
• Before exchange on a riverside street. Where a search flags a house in Old Matlock or by Hall Leys Park, a flood risk survey for property purchase checks the building itself, its floor level and its flood history.
• New homes on the valley floor. Housing proposed in Flood Zone 2 or 3 by the Derwent or Bentley Brook has to pass the sequential and exception test before the district council can approve it.
• Drainage evidence for the county council. Derbyshire County Council reviews surface water on major schemes, so Matlock applications need drainage strategy work that meets the SuDS standards in Policy PD8.
• Storage on shale and gritstone. A surface water drainage strategy tests the ground and, where infiltration fails on the shales, sizes attenuation and a limited discharge to the brook, the river or a sewer.
• Clearing the condition. Where a Matlock permission comes with a drainage condition, discharge of drainage conditions provides the calculations, details and maintenance plan the council needs before it can sign the condition off.
• Levels by the Derwent and the brook. Where national mapping is too coarse for a site by the Derwent or the main-river stretch of Bentley Brook, flood modelling sets the design flood level and the flow routes.
• A way out when warnings are issued. Two Environment Agency warning areas cover Matlock and Matlock Bath, and a flood warning and evacuation plan ties the occupants of a riverside scheme to them.
• Homes with a flood record. After repeated flooding at Mettesford and Lilybank Close and on Bakewell Road, a flood risk assessment for insurance gives an insurer evidence about one address.
• Springs and limestone. The draft Local Plan notes springs on Matlock's valley sides and the centre stands on limestone, so a groundwater flood risk assessment looks at basements, cuttings and soakaways.
• Sewer capacity. The Snitterton Road allocation must show the receiving sewer can cope and PD8 resists surface water in the combined system, so a foul drainage strategy often goes in with the application.
• Town-centre premises. A town-centre food store closed for a day and a half after the November 2019 flood, and one Bakewell Road bar has flooded five times in four years; a business continuity flood risk assessment plans how a firm keeps trading through the next one.
• Land before an offer. With contamination, instability and drainage all named in the Cawdor Quarry policy, a flood risk feasibility study shows early how a former quarry or works site can be drained and laid out.
• Employment land. The hectare of employment land in the Cawdor Quarry allocation will bring commercial buildings, and a BREEAM flood risk assessment covers the Pol 03 credits.

Who to call about flooding in Matlock, from Floodline to the town's flood wardens

In a flood that puts anyone in danger, ring 999, and report a power cut on 105. Responsibility for the rest of Matlock's flood risk is split between these organisations:

Downstream, the Derwent runs on through Belper to Derby, where it set a record level during Storm Babet in October 2023. Every other town and county we write about is in our areas list.

Questions about Matlock sites, floods and planning

To discuss a riverside plot on Dale Road, a house at Starkholmes or land at Cawdor Quarry, call 01293 214444 or email enquiries@unda.co.uk. A consultant at Unda Consulting Limited will look at the site and tell you what it needs.