Flood and Water Management Act 2010 Explained
Estimated reading time 16 minutes
The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 is the law that governs how flood risk is managed in England and Wales. It received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010, made county and unitary councils responsible for local flooding, gave the Environment Agency a national strategic role, reformed reservoir safety, and created the machinery to make sustainable drainage compulsory on new development.
That last part has never been switched on in England. Neither has one of the reservoir provisions. Sixteen years after Royal Assent, the Act as it sits on the statute book and the Act as it actually operates are two different documents, and if you are preparing a planning application only the second one is any use to you. This guide sets out what the Act does, what sits in each of its five schedules, and which parts are genuinely in force on each side of the border.
Two parts of the Act remain uncommenced in England: Schedule 3, which would require sustainable drainage to be approved before construction begins, and the reservoir provision that would bring structures holding 10,000 to 25,000 cubic metres into regulation.
Why the Act was introduced
The Act exists because the arrangements in place in 2007 failed, publicly and expensively. Exceptionally heavy summer rainfall flooded around 55,000 properties across England, cut power and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of people, and caused an estimated £3.2 billion of damage, according to the Environment Agency's review of the costs of the summer 2007 floods. Thirteen people died.
Sir Michael Pitt's inquiry reported in June 2008 with 92 recommendations. Its central finding was structural rather than technical: responsibility for flood risk was scattered across too many bodies, and nobody owned surface water flooding at all. We trace what was delivered and what was quietly dropped in our deep dive on the Pitt Review. The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 was the legislative answer, giving flood risk one accountable body at local level and one consistent framework above it.
What the Act changed that still matters today
Six changes still shape flood risk and drainage work on live planning applications.
- Lead Local Flood Authorities. County and unitary councils became responsible for managing local flood risk from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. Since 15 April 2015 they have also been a statutory consultee on surface water drainage for major planning applications, a role we set out in full in our guide to what a Lead Local Flood Authority does.
- A national strategy. Section 7 requires the Environment Agency to develop and maintain a National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England, which every risk management authority must act consistently with.
- A duty to co-operate. Section 13 obliges risk management authorities, including the Environment Agency, LLFAs, district councils, internal drainage boards, water companies and highway authorities, to co-operate with one another and share information.
- Powers to protect flood assets. Schedule 1 lets a designating authority formally designate a structure or natural feature that affects flood risk, after which its owner cannot alter or remove it without consent.
- Investigation and record-keeping duties. Section 19 requires LLFAs to investigate significant flooding incidents. Section 21 requires them to keep a register of assets with a significant effect on flood risk, part of which must be open to public inspection.
- The SuDS machinery. Section 32 and Schedule 3 created the apparatus for approving sustainable drainage before construction. This is the part that has never been commenced in England.
The Act has been switched on in pieces over fifteen years rather than all at once. The tenth and eleventh commencement orders were both made in 2024.
The Act section by section
The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 runs to 49 sections across three parts, plus five schedules. Part 1, sections 1 to 31, builds the flood risk management framework. Part 2, sections 32 to 46, is headed “Miscellaneous” and is where the sustainable drainage, reservoir and special administration provisions sit, alongside water measures that have nothing to do with flooding. Part 3 is procedural. The full text is on legislation.gov.uk. The provisions that come up most often in practice are these.
| Sections | What they cover | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 6 | Definitions of "flood", "coastal erosion", "risk" and risk management functions | The Act deliberately covers flooding from all sources, not only rivers and the sea, which is what gives LLFAs their surface water remit |
| 7 to 12 | National and local flood risk management strategies for England and Wales, and their legal effect | Section 7 is the Environment Agency's national strategy duty. Section 9 requires each LLFA to publish a local strategy |
| 13 to 18 | Co-operation, information powers, civil sanctions, funding, levies and reporting | Section 13 is the duty to co-operate that binds the risk management authorities together |
| 19 to 21 | Flood investigations, ministerial directions and the asset register | Section 19 investigation reports and section 21 registers are both public-facing, and both are useful evidence on a constrained site |
| 22 to 29 | Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, membership, funding and sustainable development | Institutional plumbing, rarely cited on an application |
| 30 to 31 | The end of Part 1: designation of features, and amendment of other Acts | These introduce Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 |
| 32 to 34 | The start of Part 2: sustainable drainage, reservoirs and special administration | These introduce Schedule 3, Schedule 4 and Schedule 5. Schedule 3 is therefore a Part 2 provision, not a Part 1 one |
| 35 to 46 | Water measures: infrastructure, temporary use bans, building regulations, compulsory works, drainage agreements and charging | Section 42 amends the Water Industry Act 1991 on agreements for new drainage systems |
| 47 to 49 | Pre-consolidation amendments, subordinate legislation and technical provision | Section 49(3) is the power under which every commencement order since 2010 has been made |
The five schedules, and which ones are switched on
Most of the Act's detailed law sits in its schedules, and they are the part most often confused. Each is introduced by a short section in the body of the Act, and each has its own commencement history. That is why a schedule can be fully operative in Wales and entirely dormant in England.
Risk management: designation of features
Authorities can designate a structure that affects flood risk, so its owner cannot alter it without consent
Risk management: amendment of other Acts
Amends the Water Resources Act 1991 and the Land Drainage Act 1991, underpinning ordinary watercourse consent
Sustainable drainage
SuDS Approving Bodies, approval of drainage before construction, and the conditional right to connect
Reservoirs
Risk-based regulation under the Reservoirs Act 1975. The 10,000 to 25,000m³ band is the uncommenced part in England
Special administration
Arrangements that keep water and sewerage services running if a company fails
Schedule 1 came into force on 1 August 2012, in England and in Wales. Schedule 2 makes the consequential amendments to the Water Resources Act 1991 and the Land Drainage Act 1991 that underpin the LLFA's role in consenting works on ordinary watercourses. Schedule 5 deals with special administration orders for water and sewerage companies that fail financially or operationally, the part of the Act least connected to day-to-day flood risk and a reminder that this is a water management Act as well as a flood Act. The gaps are in Schedules 3 and 4.
What is still not in force in England
Two provisions of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 remain uncommenced in England, and both bear directly on development.
Schedule 3: approval of sustainable drainage
Schedule 3 would create SuDS Approving Bodies with power to approve drainage systems against national standards before construction begins, and would make the right to connect surface water to a public sewer conditional on that approval being granted. It has never been commenced in England. There are no SABs here, and sustainable drainage is secured through the planning system instead, usually by condition.
The government announced in January 2023, following a review that recommended implementation, that Schedule 3 would be brought into force. That has not happened. The House of Commons Library's briefing on sustainable drainage systems, published on 4 February 2026, records the position the government reached instead.
Better delivery of SuDS may be achieved by continuing to improve the current planning policy-based approach and looking at ways of improving the approach to adoption and maintenance, rather than commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
UK Government, January 2026, quoted in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10483, 4 February 2026
So drainage on major development is judged against the 2025 national SuDS standards, which are guidance rather than law, and enforced through planning conditions rather than a separate approval regime.
Schedule 4: the small reservoir gap
Schedule 4 reformed the Reservoirs Act 1975, moving reservoir safety towards a proportionate, risk-based system. Part of it works as intended. The Environment Agency designates as high-risk those reservoirs where an uncontrolled release of water could put lives at risk, and regulation is focused accordingly. But Schedule 4 also provided for lowering the registration threshold, bringing structures holding between 10,000 and 25,000 cubic metres into the regime for the first time. Wales implemented that change in 2016. England has not.
A large raised reservoir in England is still one holding more than 25,000 cubic metres of water above ground level, the threshold set in 1975, because the reduction to 10,000 cubic metres has never been commenced here.
Defra and the Environment Agency's reservoir safety reform programme, last updated on 24 March 2026, is weighing three routes: new primary legislation to replace the Reservoirs Act 1975, amending the 1975 Act, or bringing reservoir safety inside the environmental permitting regime. The last of those is currently the preferred approach. Until one of them happens, a structure holding 20,000 cubic metres above ground in England sits outside the statutory regime, while an identical structure in Wales does not.
England and Wales: one Act, two regimes
The Act extends to England and Wales, but commencement is a devolved decision and the two administrations have made different ones. A single piece of legislation now produces two materially different regimes.
| Provision | England | Wales |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule 3: SuDS approval | Not commenced. No SuDS Approving Bodies. Drainage secured through planning conditions | In force from 7 January 2019. SAB approval required before construction for more than one house, or a construction area of 100m² or more |
| Applicable SuDS standards | The 2025 National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems, which are guidance and not statute | Welsh statutory SuDS standards, applied by the SAB |
| Schedule 4: reservoir threshold | Not commenced. Registration threshold remains above 25,000m³ | Implemented in 2016. Structures of 10,000 to 25,000m³ brought into the regime |
| National strategy duty | Environment Agency, under section 7 | Welsh Ministers, under section 8, with Natural Resources Wales as the operating authority |
| Schedules 1, 2 and 5 | In force | In force |
Sites in Wales also sit under a separate flood consequence assessment regime rather than the English flood risk assessment framework, so the divergence runs wider than drainage alone. It is a common and expensive assumption that a scheme designed to English drainage expectations will satisfy a Welsh SAB. It will not.
How to check whether a provision is actually in force
Commencement is not obvious from the face of the Act, and the version of a provision you read online is not necessarily the version operating where your site is. Four checks settle it.
- Open the provision on legislation.gov.uk and read the "Changes to legislation" and commencement banners at the top of the page. These record whether the provision has been brought into force and by which order.
- Check the extent. The Act applies to England and Wales, but individual provisions are commenced separately by the UK government and the Welsh Ministers, so the answer differs by jurisdiction.
- Trace the commencement order itself. Every one is made under section 49(3) and names the exact provisions and the appointed day. There have been at least eleven.
- Confirm against current government guidance. Where a provision is dormant, the operative requirement usually lives in planning policy instead, which is why the 2025 SuDS standards rather than Schedule 3 govern drainage design in England.
What the Act means for a planning application
For developers, architects and planning consultants, the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 is felt less as legislation to read than as the reason certain evidence is now required before permission is granted.
The LLFA is a statutory consultee on surface water drainage for major applications, so its view on a drainage strategy carries real weight, and an unresolved objection can hold a scheme for months. Because the Act made local flood risk a council responsibility, flood risk assessments and surface water drainage strategies are now routinely required or conditioned wherever flooding or increased runoff is a concern.
The point where the commencement question stops being academic is this. The absence of Schedule 3 does not make sustainable drainage optional in England. It changes how the requirement arrives, through planning policy rather than a statutory approval body, and it still has to be designed to the national standards and defended to the LLFA.
The uncommenced schedule has not removed the obligation. It has moved it, which makes the evidence submitted with the application the thing that determines whether the scheme moves.
Two of the Act's duties are worth using rather than merely observing. A section 19 investigation report, where one exists, is a published account of why a specific area flooded and which authority did what about it. A section 21 asset register records the structures with a significant effect on local flood risk, and part of it must be open to public inspection. Both are good evidence on a constrained site. In our experience neither gets looked at often enough, usually because nobody thinks to ask the LLFA whether they exist.
Where the Act goes next
The Schedule 3 question is not closed. The Independent Water Commission led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, reporting in July 2025, identified inconsistent use of sustainable drainage as a significant failing and recommended that the government make SuDS mandatory for new development in England. An amendment to commence Schedule 3 during the passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill was opposed and withdrawn.
The government's January 2026 water white paper, A New Vision for Water, moved in a related but different direction, endorsing a shift towards "pre-pipe" solutions including sustainable drainage on value-for-money grounds without committing to the statutory route. The December 2025 draft National Planning Policy Framework, on which consultation closed on 10 March 2026, gives flood risk its own chapter and ties drainage more firmly to the national standards. If the framework is published broadly as drafted, England will have strengthened the planning-led route again rather than replaced it.
For anyone working on a site, the position through 2026 is stable enough to plan around. Sustainable drainage is expected on most major development, the requirement comes through planning and not Schedule 3, and the standards it is judged against are the 2025 national standards.
Frequently asked questions
What is section 13 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010?
Section 13 places a duty on risk management authorities to co-operate with one another in exercising their flood and coastal erosion risk management functions, and allows one authority to arrange for another to carry out work on its behalf. It also lets an authority request information from another for the purpose of discharging those functions. In practice it is the provision that underpins joint working between an LLFA, the Environment Agency and a water company on a catchment where responsibility is shared.
What is section 42 of the Act?
Section 42 amends the Water Industry Act 1991 in relation to agreements on new drainage systems. It inserts section 106B, which restricts the right to connect a lateral drain or sewer unless an adoption agreement under section 104 has been entered into and covers construction standards. It also broadens the right of appeal about such agreements and requires sewerage undertakers to have regard to government guidance when making them. Only the regulation-making power in section 42 has been commenced in England. The substantive section 106B restriction on the right to connect was commenced in 2012 for sewerage undertakers whose areas are wholly or mainly in Wales, so this is another area where the Act operates differently on each side of the border.
Has the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 been amended since it was passed?
Yes, repeatedly. Parts of it have been amended by later legislation, and separate commencement orders have brought different provisions into force at different times in England and in Wales. Read the text of a section on legislation.gov.uk alongside the "Changes to legislation" and commencement notes on the same page rather than in isolation.
Can I obtain a section 19 flood investigation report for a site?
Often, yes. LLFAs publish the reports they produce, usually on the county or unitary council's flood risk pages, and they can be a direct account of why a particular area flooded. There is no national definition of a "significant" flooding incident, so each LLFA sets its own trigger for launching an investigation and coverage varies considerably between authorities. Where a report exists for your area, read it before the flood history of the site is written up and the flood risk assessment is scoped.
Does the Act apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
No. The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 extends to England and Wales only. Scotland manages flood risk under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, and Northern Ireland has separate arrangements again. A UK-wide portfolio therefore sits under three statutory regimes, not one.
Speak to Unda about flood risk and drainage for your site
The Act matters most at the point where it meets a planning application, where a flood risk assessment, a sequential test or a defensible drainage strategy stands between a scheme and permission. If you need flood risk assessments, a sustainable drainage strategy, sequential and exception test reports or help discharging a drainage condition, Unda's flood risk consultants can help. Start a quote and one of our consultants will get back to you within 60 minutes, or get in touch to talk a site through.
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