Flood Risk Assessment in Telford

Our team at Unda use years of experience to prepare comprehensive flood risk assessments and drainage strategies for commercial and residential sites across Telford. A flood risk assessment in Telford shows your local planning authority that a development will stay safe from flooding for its whole lifetime, without pushing flood risk onto anyone else.

Telford is a new town laid out across the hills of the former East Shropshire coalfield, with the River Severn cutting through the Ironbridge Gorge to the south. We assess every source that matters here — the Severn at Ironbridge, the Tern, Strine and Roden in the northern lowlands, the surface water that runs off Telford’s steep ground, and the mine water and culverted brooks left by two centuries of coal working — then deal directly with the Environment Agency and Telford & Wrekin Council on your behalf. We guide architects, planning consultants, developers, landowners, home buyers and businesses through to a decision, whether the report is needed for planning, a property purchase, mortgage or insurance, BREEAM, or a surface-water drainage strategy.

If you need a quote or want to talk a site through, contact one of our experienced flood risk consultants on 01293 214444.

Telford’s flood risk is unusually layered: the Severn floods the Gorge, the hilly new town sheds surface water into culverted brooks, and the old coalfield beneath leaves mine water and made ground — sources that have to be read together, or an assessment will not stand up to Telford & Wrekin Council.

Flood risk assessment in Telford at a glance

• A new town on a coalfield. Telford was built across the hilly former East Shropshire coalfield, so surface water runs off quickly into a network of often-culverted urban brooks — now the most widespread flood risk in the borough.
• The Severn at Ironbridge. In February 2020 the river reached its highest level at Ironbridge since 2000, with two severe flood warnings and Environment Agency temporary barriers deployed along the Wharfage.
• Mine water and made ground. Two centuries of coal working left shafts, adits and shallow workings that can hold and release water — a local factor the national flood maps do not show.
• One Lead Local Flood Authority. Telford & Wrekin Council is the unitary authority and Lead Local Flood Authority for surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses; its Strategic Flood Risk Assessment Level 1 (2021) and Level 2 (2025) set the local picture.
• Flood Zone 1 is not a free pass. Since the 2025 PPG update, surface water risk can trigger an assessment even on a Flood Zone 1 site.

Check flood risk anywhere in Telford

Telford and Wrekin is outlined below. Screen any postcode in the borough 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.

Flood risk in Telford: the Severn, the northern rivers and surface water

Telford faces an unusual mix of flood sources. The River Severn floods the Ironbridge Gorge to the south; the Tern, Strine, Meese and Roden flood the lowland farmland to the north; surface water runs off the hilly new town and overwhelms a dense network of culverted brooks; and the old coalfield beneath the town adds mine water and made ground. Most sites here face more than one source at once.

The Severn is the headline risk, but it affects a relatively small part of the borough around the Gorge. Across the built-up area it is surface water that does the damage: Telford’s steep, engineered new-town landscape sheds rainfall quickly into watercourses such as the Coal Brook, Wesley Brook, Randlay Brook and Withy Brook, many of which run in culverts that can block and surcharge. Understanding which source drives the risk on a given site, and how it behaves, is the heart of a credible assessment — and why a single national map is never enough, as our note on whether flood maps are accurate explains.

• Rivers (fluvial). The Severn floods the Ironbridge Gorge, while the Tern and its tributary the Strine, the Meese and the Roden flood the lower-lying farmland to the north around Newport and Crudgington. Land in Flood Zones 2 and 3 along these corridors almost always needs an FRA.
• Surface water (pluvial). Now the most widespread flood risk in England, and the dominant source across urban Telford. Intense rain overwhelms culverted brooks and drains on the steep ground. Since the 2025 PPG update, surface water on the Flood Map for Planning can trigger an assessment even on a Flood Zone 1 site.
• Mine water and made ground. The Coalbrookdale coalfield has been worked since the 12th century, leaving shafts, adits and shallow workings beneath much of Telford. Surface workings are flooded and shallow workings waterlogged, so water can emerge at the surface and made ground complicates infiltration drainage.
• Groundwater. Permeable sandstones and the coalfield’s disturbed ground can raise water tables that flood low ground and basements without showing on a river map — critical for any soakaway or below-ground level. See groundwater flood risk.
• Sewers and ordinary watercourses. Culverted brooks and the surface-water sewer network back up in heavy rain — the Lead Local Flood Authority’s responsibility rather than the Environment Agency’s. See the role the LLFA plays.

A history of flooding in Telford

These dated events are why Telford & Wrekin Council and the Environment Agency scrutinise development closely, and why a flood risk assessment in Telford has to be evidence-led rather than generic. The Severn in particular has a long, well-documented flood record at Ironbridge.

• Autumn 2000 — the benchmark Severn floods. Prolonged rain pushed the Severn to record levels through the Ironbridge Gorge, the event against which later floods are still measured and the reason the Environment Agency has deployed temporary barriers at Ironbridge since 2004.
• February 2020 — Storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge. The Severn reached its highest level at Ironbridge since 2000. Two severe flood warnings — meaning danger to life — were issued for the Wharfage, where the force of the river caused some slippage and seepage behind the temporary barriers and residents were evacuated.
• Early 2021 — resilience works. Following the 2020 review, Telford & Wrekin Council resurfaced the Wharfage and reworked the ground conditions so the Environment Agency’s temporary barriers sit more securely — reducing, but not removing, the risk.
• February 2022 — Storm Franklin. The barriers were deployed again as the Severn rose, part of a pattern that has made flooding at Ironbridge an almost annual event.

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

Flood defences and residual risk at Ironbridge

The Environment Agency’s response at Ironbridge is a demountable barrier system rather than a permanent wall, and that shapes what a development near the Gorge has to prove. A barrier reduces the chance of flooding, but it never removes it, and planning policy still expects the residual risk to be assessed.

• Temporary barriers, deployed on warning. Since 2004 the Environment Agency has erected demountable barriers along the Wharfage at Ironbridge when flood warnings are in place, then removed them once levels fall.
• A system with known limits. In February 2020, with the river at its highest against the barriers for two decades, water seeped behind them and a section had to be managed with pumps — a reminder that demountable defences depend on warning time, ground conditions and deployment.
• Residual risk remains. The Flood Map for Planning is drawn as if defences are not there, so a defended site at Ironbridge can still sit in Flood Zone 3. The way this works is set out in our note on residual flood risk.

Climate change makes this sharper still, which is why an assessment applies the Environment Agency’s allowances over the development’s lifetime — generally 100 years for housing. The recent Shropshire canal breach near Whitchurch is a local reminder that man-made water structures carry their own residual risk that an assessment has to consider.

Planning policy and your Lead Local Flood Authority in Telford

Two kinds of authority set the rules. The Environment Agency leads on the River Severn and the other main rivers. Telford & Wrekin Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), leading on surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses — and because Telford is a unitary authority, the same council also determines the planning application.

A development here is shaped by national policy and a local framework. The Council’s flood risk and planning pages set out its Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, its Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and its sustainable drainage requirements, and the role the LLFA plays as statutory consultee on surface water drainage is central to keeping an application moving.

Your assessment and drainage strategy must satisfy national policy — the NPPF and its Planning Practice Guidance — and the local framework set by Telford & Wrekin Council’s Local Flood Risk Management Strategy and its Strategic Flood Risk Assessment. Where a higher-risk site is involved, the Sequential and Exception Tests apply. On drainage, the Council’s SuDS Handbook and the four pillars of SuDS shape what the LLFA will accept, and a site within a critical drainage area can attract scrutiny even in Flood Zone 1.

What your flood risk assessment in Telford must show

• Risk assessed from every credible source — the Severn, the northern rivers, surface water, groundwater, mine water and any culverted watercourse on the site.
• An appropriate location, tested against the Sequential Test where policy requires it.
• Safe for its lifetime, once the Environment Agency’s climate change allowances are applied.
• No increase in flood risk elsewhere, with attenuation and, where needed, compensatory storage.
• Residual risk managed, with safe access, egress and finished floor levels. Get one of these wrong and the application stalls, as our note on LLFA drainage objections shows.

Development and flood risk assessment in Telford

Telford is one of the fastest-growing towns in the West Midlands, and the kind of site you bring forward shapes the assessment you need. The right scope is the difference between a clean approval and a drainage objection that holds an application up for months.

• Town-centre regeneration. Schemes such as Station Quarter and the wider Investing in Telford programme are bringing new homes and commercial space into the town centre, where surface-water drainage and made ground from the coalfield shape the design.
• Brownfield and former industrial land. Much of Telford sits on reclaimed coalfield, so redevelopment frequently turns on ground stability, mine water and whether infiltration drainage is even feasible.
• Urban extensions and housing sites. Larger residential schemes around the edge of the new town need a surface-water drainage strategy that holds runoff to greenfield rates and routes exceedance flows safely.
• Riverside and Gorge sites. Development near the Severn at Ironbridge and Coalport sits in Flood Zones 2 and 3, needing finished floor levels, safe access and egress, and often compensatory flood storage.

Climate change is not optional here. A Telford 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 risk question can affect a purchase and house prices, and a conveyancing search is not the same thing as a planning-grade assessment. Knowing which you actually need saves time and money, and our guide on doing your own assessment explains where the line falls.

How Unda helps with flood risk assessment in Telford

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

A flood risk assessment in Telford from Unda assesses every credible source — the Severn, the Tern and the northern rivers, surface water, groundwater, mine water and any culverted 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 consultant signs off every report. Where the Council needs it, a surface-water drainage strategy sits alongside the assessment as a separate report so the two cases stay consistent and an objection has nowhere to land.

Flood risk assessments and related reports for every situation in Telford

A flood risk assessment, a Sequential or Exception Test and a drainage strategy are three distinct reports. They often travel together in a planning submission, but they answer different questions: is the site safe, should the development be here, and where does the surface water go. We prepare all three, alongside the right form of assessment for buyers, lenders and BREEAM.

Flood risk assessments

• Flood risk assessment for planning. The core report, site-specific and prepared to satisfy the NPPF, the Environment Agency and Telford & Wrekin Council. Groundwater, mine water and, where needed, flood modelling are assessed within it rather than as separate reports.
• Homebuyer and property-purchase survey. For conveyancing, where a search has flagged Severn-valley or surface-water risk and you need the actual building assessed, not a broad map.
• Flood risk assessment for insurance. Property-specific evidence for brokers and underwriters where premiums have risen or cover has been restricted.
• Flood risk assessment for BREEAM. Structured around BREEAM Pol 03, which is credit-driven rather than safety-driven, so a planning report alone rarely satisfies it.
• Groundwater flood risk. A defensible design water table for coalfield and sandstone sites and any basement — assessed as a source within the assessment, or as a standalone hydrogeological study on complex sites.

Sequential and Exception Tests

The Sequential and Exception Tests are a separate, locational report about whether a development should be in a higher-risk location at all. The Sequential Test defines an area of search, identifies reasonably available lower-risk sites and justifies the proposed site; the Exception Test is the second gate where development still needs to proceed. A clean site-specific assessment showing the development is not actually within an area at risk can remove the need at application stage — a live policy area, as our note on the Yatton judgment explains.

Drainage strategy and SuDS

• Sustainable drainage strategy (SuDS). Surface-water engineering — calculates existing versus proposed runoff and proposes SuDS to hold discharge within the Council’s standards.
• Preliminary drainage design. The early, outline read that flags infiltration issues — important on Telford’s made ground — before they affect layout and land value.
• Discharge of drainage conditions. The detailed stage to discharge a pre-commencement or pre-occupation drainage condition.
• Flood modelling. 1D and 2D hydraulic modelling — a technique that feeds the assessment, Sequential Test or drainage design where national mapping is not enough.

Early in a drainage strategy it helps to know whether the ground will take water — not a given on a coalfield. Our free geology and ground conditions map and BRE 365 infiltration rate calculator give an indicative read before a trial pit, with our note on infiltration testing explaining when it is required, and the drainage calculators help size the scheme. You can screen a postcode on our flood risk map, and every report is overseen by a chartered flood risk consultant who stays involved past the report to answer objections. For the wider county picture, see our Shropshire flood risk overview.

Telford flood resources and contacts

The most reliable Telford flood information comes from the lead authorities. For an immediate threat to life during a flood, always call 999; for a power cut during flooding, call 105.

• Check for flooding in Telford. Environment Agency live warnings, river levels and maps at check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk; sign up for flood warnings or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188.
• Telford & Wrekin flood risk. The Lead Local Flood Authority’s strategy, SuDS guidance and how to report flooding at Telford & Wrekin Council.
• Ironbridge flood defences. Background on the Environment Agency’s temporary barrier scheme and the 2021 resilience works at the Wharfage, Ironbridge.
• English Severn and Wye Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. Regional investment and priorities via the English Severn and Wye RFCC.
• Sewer flooding. Telford’s water and sewerage company is Severn Trent; report internal or external sewer flooding to them.
• Live river levels. Whether the Severn or the Tern are running high right now via our live river levels map.

For broader policy context, our notes on the Environment Agency’s planning role and on the team behind every Unda report are a good starting point.

Flood risk assessment in Telford: frequently asked questions