Flood Risk Assessment in Upton-upon-Severn

Upton-upon-Severn sits on the west bank of the River Severn in the Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire, and it floods more often than almost anywhere else in England. A flood risk assessment in Upton-upon-Severn has to read the river, the town's own flood gates and the surface water together, because planning decisions here rarely turn on just one of them.

Call one of our experienced flood risk consultants on 01293 214444 or email enquiries@unda.co.uk, or start a quote below and we will come back to you within 60 minutes.

We prepare flood risk assessments in Upton-upon-Severn for planning, property purchase, mortgage and insurance, and BREEAM, alongside sequential and exception tests and surface-water drainage strategies for the town's riverside and marina-side sites.

New Street and Waterside have their own permanent flood gates, and the Environment Agency has closed them more than 40 times since the scheme was completed in 2012 — proof that flood risk here is routine, not exceptional.

• Location. A civil parish of around 2,900 people (2021 census) in the Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire, on the west bank of the River Severn, about 5 miles south-east of Malvern.
• Dominant risk. Fluvial (river) flooding from the Severn, with surface water and groundwater also relevant away from the riverside gates.
• Flood defences. The New Street and Waterside flood gates and walls, completed in 2011 and 2012.
• Lead Local Flood Authority. Worcestershire County Council, working alongside Malvern Hills District Council as the local planning authority.
• Flood history. More than 70 recorded floods since 1970, including serious events in 1947, 2000 and 2007.

Check flood risk anywhere in Upton-upon-Severn

Enter a postcode below to see the Environment Agency's modelled flood risk for any address in and around Upton-upon-Severn — rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs and the flood zone that matters for planning — before you commission a full flood risk assessment in Upton-upon-Severn.

Flood risk in Upton-upon-Severn: the Severn, the flood gates and surface water

The River Severn drives almost every flood in Upton-upon-Severn. The town sits on the river's west bank on ground barely above normal river level, so when the Severn rises through Worcester and Tewkesbury it backs up through the streets nearest the water — Waterside, New Street, Dunns Lane and the Ham — before surface water and rising groundwater add to the picture further back from the bank.

• Fluvial (river) flooding. The Severn is the longest river in the UK and one of the most flood-prone, and Upton sits across its middle-to-lower reaches. Gauges upstream at Deerhurst and Saxons Lode feed the flood warnings that trigger closure of the town's own flood gates.
• Surface water. Low-lying streets away from the gated frontages can still flood from heavy local rainfall, independently of the river, and this risk is assessed separately from fluvial risk on the Flood Map for Planning.
• Groundwater. The riverside alluvium and gravels can hold a high water table for weeks after a flood peak has passed, which matters for infiltration drainage, soakaways and any basement or ground-floor construction.
• The flood gates change the picture, but only locally. The New Street and Waterside gates protect the specific frontages behind them; land outside the defended area, including the Ham and the approaches to the town, remains undefended and floods in line with the river.
• Academic interest. Upton-upon-Severn's flood risk is significant enough to have its own dedicated modelling: a 2024 University of Manchester study assessed the town's 100-year and 1,000-year flood scenarios under a 2050 climate change horizon.

A history of flooding in Upton-upon-Severn

Upton-upon-Severn has recorded more than 70 floods since 1970, and it has flooded badly again in 1947, 2000, 2007, 2020 and as recently as January 2025. The 2007 flood exceeded 2000's levels and cut the town off by road; it was also the flood that finally secured funding for the permanent gates that now protect Waterside and New Street.

Flood defences and schemes protecting Upton-upon-Severn

Upton-upon-Severn is one of the relatively few English towns with permanent, purpose-built flood gates across its streets. The Environment Agency's £4.4 million New Street and Waterside scheme, finished in 2012, keeps the river out of the properties directly behind it; everything else — the raised A4104 causeway, the drainage network and the town's own resilience — has been built up around it since.

• The raised A4104. Worcestershire County Council has raised more than 500 metres of the A4104 between the A38 and Upton Marina by up to 0.8 metres, widened the carriageway and improved field drainage, so the road stays passable for longer after the closures seen in 2007 and 2014.
• Wider investment. Worcestershire County Council has invested around £16 million in flood risk management and drainage improvements across the county since the 2007 floods, alongside hundreds of highway drainage schemes.
• What the defences don't cover. The gates and walls protect Waterside and New Street specifically; land outside them, including the Ham and low-lying approaches to the town, remains undefended and still floods in line with the river.

Planning policy and your Lead Local Flood Authority in Upton-upon-Severn

Worcestershire County Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority for Upton-upon-Severn, responsible for surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses, while Malvern Hills District Council determines planning applications under the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review. Together they set the policy tests a flood risk assessment in Upton-upon-Severn has to satisfy before permission can be granted.

• Lead Local Flood Authority. Worcestershire County Council's flood risk team is the statutory consultee on surface water drainage for major planning applications across the south of the county, including Malvern Hills District.
• Local plan and flood risk policy. Malvern Hills District Council determines planning applications against the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review (adopted 26 March 2026, covering 2021–2041), whose flood risk policy applies a sequential, risk-based approach and requires sustainable drainage unless it can be shown to be impracticable.
• Strategic Flood Risk Assessment. The South Worcestershire Strategic Flood Risk Assessment underpins the Local Plan and sets out the flood risk evidence base the district and county work from.
• Water Management and Flooding SPD. The South Worcestershire Water Management and Flooding Supplementary Planning Document, adopted in 2018, gives further detail on how the flood risk policy is applied to individual sites.
• Who looks after the river itself. The River Severn is a main river, so the Environment Agency, not the LLFA, is the responsible risk management authority and statutory consultee for river flood risk here, while Worcestershire County Council leads on surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses.

What your flood risk assessment in Upton-upon-Severn must show

A flood risk assessment in Upton-upon-Severn has to do more than repeat the Flood Map for Planning. Because so much of the town's protection depends on gates that only close once the river reaches a trigger level, an assessment has to show what happens to a specific site both behind and outside that protection, over the full design life of the development.

• Every source of flooding. River, surface water and groundwater, plus, for sites near the marina and moorings, watercourse and drainage interactions.
• Climate change allowances. Current Environment Agency peak flow and rainfall allowances applied over the development's lifetime, not just against today's flood zone.
• Interaction with the flood gates. Whether a site sits behind the New Street or Waterside defences or outside them, and what that means for residual risk if a gate is not closed in time or the river exceeds its standard of protection.
• Safe access and egress. Given the town's history of being cut off by road, clear evidence on how occupants would evacuate safely during a flood.
• Finished floor levels and resilience. Appropriate freeboard above modelled flood levels, and resistance or resilience measures where a site cannot be raised clear of risk.

Development and flood risk assessment in Upton-upon-Severn

Most development in Upton-upon-Severn is small in scale and sits within a historic core that is close to the river by definition, so flood risk is rarely something a scheme can design around from a clean slate.

• Historic core conversions and infill. Listed and older buildings around High Street, Church Street and Old Street often need flood resilience measures rather than relocation, because there is nowhere else on the plot to go.
• Extensions and change of use behind the flood gates. Waterside and New Street properties benefit from the town's defences, but a flood risk assessment still has to address residual risk if a gate does not close in time.
• Marina and riverside leisure development. Schemes around Upton Marina sit directly on the floodplain and need to factor in moorings, boat traffic and safe evacuation alongside conventional flood risk.
• Rural edge-of-town and agricultural conversions. Land towards Tunnel Hill and the town's rural fringe can carry lower river risk but still needs surface water and groundwater considered even in Flood Zone 1.

Flood risk assessments and related reports for every situation in Upton-upon-Severn

We prepare flood risk assessments in Upton-upon-Severn for planning, property purchase, mortgage and insurance, and BREEAM, alongside sequential and exception tests and surface-water drainage strategies. Each is scoped to the specific site before you commission anything.

A flood risk assessment, a sequential or exception test and a drainage strategy are three different 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.

• Flood risk assessment for planning. Submitted alongside a planning application to show a site can be developed safely without increasing flood risk elsewhere — see our flood risk assessment for planning service.
• Flood risk survey for property purchase. An independent, site-specific survey for homebuyers, solicitors and lenders — see our flood risk survey for property purchase service.
• Flood risk assessment for insurance. Property-specific evidence for insurers, brokers and underwriters — see our flood risk assessment for insurance service.
• Flood risk assessment for BREEAM. Structured to support BREEAM Pol 03 credit achievement — see our flood risk assessment for BREEAM service.
• Sequential and exception test reports. Locational evidence to satisfy national planning policy — see our sequential and exception test service.
• Surface-water drainage strategy (SuDS). Investigates how site runoff is managed to comply with the NPPF and local policy — see our surface water drainage strategy service.
• Flood modelling. Site-specific hydraulic modelling where standard mapping is not sufficient — see our flood modelling service.
• Groundwater flood risk assessment. Specialist hydrogeological input where groundwater is a credible issue — see our groundwater flood risk assessment service.
• Discharge of drainage planning conditions and preliminary drainage design. Detailed drainage design and early-stage advice — see discharge of drainage conditions and preliminary drainage design.

You can also check your site with our free tools: the Flood Risk Map, the Live River Levels Map, the Geology & Ground Conditions Checker for soakaway feasibility, our Drainage Calculators and the BRE 365 Infiltration Rate Calculator.

How Unda helps with flood risk assessment in Upton-upon-Severn

We have prepared flood risk assessments across Worcestershire and the wider Severn valley, and we bring that experience of the river's behaviour, the flood gates and the county's planning policy to every Upton-upon-Severn site we work on. Read more about our flood risk consultancy services, our sibling guide to flood risk assessment in Worcestershire, or about Unda.

• Fixed-fee quotes. A clear price after we have discussed your site, with one of our experienced flood risk consultants replying within 60 minutes.
• Senior sign-off. A Senior Flood Risk Consultant reviews and signs off every report before it is issued.
• Chartered expertise. Our team includes CIWEM chartered and graduate members working directly with the Environment Agency, Lead Local Flood Authorities and Local Planning Authorities.
• Every source assessed. River, surface water, groundwater, sewer and reservoir risk are all considered, not just the flood zone shown on the map.

Local flood risk management and emergency contacts in Upton-upon-Severn

If you live, work or are developing in Upton-upon-Severn, these are the organisations that manage flood risk locally and the fastest ways to reach them in an emergency.

• Lead Local Flood Authority. Worcestershire County Council's flood risk team manages surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses; report drainage problems or ask about the county's flood risk strategy through the council's flooding pages.
• Environment Agency. Responsible for the River Severn as a main river and for flood warnings; check the current situation and sign up for free flood warnings covering Upton-upon-Severn.
• Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. The English Severn and Wye Regional Flood and Coastal Committee oversees flood risk investment priorities across Worcestershire and the wider Severn and Wye catchments.
• Water and sewerage company. Severn Trent Water is responsible for the public sewer network; report sewer flooding directly to them.
• Floodline. Call 0345 988 1188, open 24 hours a day, for live flood warning information for Upton-upon-Severn, or sign up for free alerts by phone, text or email.
• Emergency services. Call 999 if there is a danger to life during a flood, and 105 to report a power cut.
• Local water rescue. Upton Marina is home to Mercia Inshore Search and Rescue, an independent charity that supports the emergency services with flood and water rescue in the area.

Frequently asked questions