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Flood Risk and Drainage for Data Centre Planning Applications

A data centre flood risk assessment has to clear a higher bar than the industrial-shed template most schemes were still using a year ago. Since 17 August 2026 the National Planning Policy Framework has listed data centres as essential infrastructure.…
Posted on 28th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
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Equestrian flood risk and drainage: the planning rules for stables, field shelters and ménages

Planning permission for stables is needed far more often than owners expect, and the flood risk and drainage requirements that come with it are the part almost nobody writes about. Horses are kept on low-lying grazing land: the cheap, wet,…
Posted on 27th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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Flood Risk Assessments for Electrical Substations

A substation flood risk assessment establishes whether a proposed electrical substation will be reached by flooding during its working life, and sets the levels and the protection the equipment needs to survive it. It can be required for planning. It…
Posted on 27th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
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Basement and Cellar Conversions in a Flood Zone: The 2026 Planning Rules

A basement conversion flood risk assessment has to answer a question no other householder application faces: what happens to the people in the lowest room when the water arrives. Below-ground space is the only part of a home where the…
Posted on 26th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
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First flush explained: why the first few millimetres of rain matter most in SuDS

Every storm carries its dirtiest water at the start. In the first minutes of rain, run-off sluices weeks of built-up grime (oil, tyre and brake dust, sediment, metals and nutrients) off roofs, roads and car parks and into the nearest…
Posted on 21st August, 2026
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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Flood Risk and Drainage for Gypsy and Traveller Sites: The Planning Requirements

A Gypsy and Traveller site flood risk assessment is needed for almost every pitch scheme on land that carries any flood risk, and these applications are judged against a tougher standard than ordinary housing. The reason is the caravan. Under…
Posted on 19th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
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Section 104 and Section 102 Agreements: A Developer’s Guide to Sewer Adoption

A Section 104 agreement is the contract that gets a development's new sewers taken over and maintained by the water company; a Section 102 agreement does the same job for sewers that are already in the ground. Both sit in…
Posted on 18th August, 2026
, in SuDS 
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What is a Section 106 sewer connection? The right to connect, explained

A section 106 sewer connection is the statutory right, under section 106 of the Water Industry Act 1991, for the owner or occupier of a property to connect its drains to the public sewer. It is a right, not a…
Posted on 18th August, 2026
, in SuDS 
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NPPF August 2026 Changes: Flood Risk and Drainage Implications for Planning

The NPPF 2026 changes are now live. Government published the new National Planning Policy Framework on 17 August 2026, and it applies to planning decisions in England from the day of publication. For flood risk and drainage this is no…
Posted on 17th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
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Campsite and glamping flood risk and drainage: the planning requirements in England

A campsite flood risk assessment is required for any camping, glamping or holiday caravan proposal in Flood Zone 2 or 3, and for sites in Flood Zone 1 that are a hectare or more, sit in a critical drainage area,…
Posted on 17th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
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Why do water mains burst in hot weather? The hidden burst season explained

Ask most people when a water main bursts and they picture winter: a hard frost, a deep freeze, the metal splitting as the water inside turns to ice. That is half the story. The other half is playing out right…
Posted on 13th August, 2026
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What have the Romans ever done for us? Aside from the drainage, obviously

Ask a Roman what they ever did for us and you would probably get a shrug and a wave at, well, everything. Put the same question to a flood-risk engineer, though, and the answer turns oddly specific: a startling amount…
Posted on 11th August, 2026
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Flood risk and drainage in the planning process: where they fit at every stage

If you are applying for planning permission for the first time, the part most likely to catch you out is not the design or the neighbours. It is flood risk and drainage in the planning process. Flooding and surface water…
Posted on 6th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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Flood Risk Assessment and Drainage Strategy: Do You Need Both?

Most applications that need one of these documents need the other too. A flood risk assessment and a drainage strategy answer different questions: the first asks whether the site floods and whether your development makes flooding worse somewhere else, the…
Posted on 4th August, 2026
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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Can a Planning Condition Make You Fix a Flood Problem You Didn’t Cause?

Almost every developer who has taken a drainage condition through to discharge has met some version of this. The site floods. The gardens next door flood. The culvert downstream has been surcharging since long before anyone applied for anything. And…
Posted on 29th July, 2026
, in NPPF 
, in PPG 
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Building Regulations Part H: Foul Water Explained

Building Regulations Part H is the part of the building rules that governs foul water drainage: how the used water from a building's toilets, sinks, baths and appliances is carried away safely. If you are building, extending or converting anything…
Posted on 15th July, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Discharge of Planning Conditions: Process, Timescales and Costs (2026)

Discharge of planning conditions is the formal step of asking your local planning authority to confirm, in writing, that a condition attached to your planning permission has been satisfied. In planning terms it is an “application for approval of details…
Posted on 14th July, 2026
, in NPPF 
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What Is a CON29DW Report? The Drainage and Water Search Explained

A CON29DW report is the official drainage and water search a conveyancer orders during a property purchase. Compiled from the water company's own records, it answers 26 standardised enquiries about how a property connects to the public water and sewer…
Posted on 10th July, 2026
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Why Does Rain Stop Play at Wimbledon? The Science of Grass Court Drainage

Every Wimbledon has the same ritual. A few spots of rain, the umpire calls a halt, and within seconds the ground staff are sprinting the covers across the grass. It looks like an overreaction on a warm July afternoon. It…
Posted on 8th July, 2026
, in SuDS 
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How Football Pitch Drainage Works: Lessons from the 2026 World Cup

Watch a World Cup match in a downpour and the ball still runs true. There are no puddles on the halfway line, no spray kicking up at every pass. That is not luck. Football pitch drainage is a piece of…
Posted on 7th July, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Do building control and planning talk to each other? Drainage, SuDS and the gap between them

A building control officer tells you the simplest thing to do is run the surface water into the sewer. Your planning condition says infiltration first, greenfield runoff rates, attenuation for a one-in-100-year storm. Both cannot be right, and only one…
Posted on 3rd July, 2026
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Retrospective Planning Permission: The 2026 Guide

Retrospective planning permission is planning permission applied for after building work has already started or finished. It is made under Section 73A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. It is then judged in exactly the same way as…
Posted on 2nd July, 2026
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What Is a SuDS Proforma and When Is It Required?

A SuDS proforma — also called a drainage proforma or sustainable drainage proforma — is a standardised summary form that goes in with a sustainable drainage strategy on a planning application. It sets out the key drainage information in a…
Posted on 26th June, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Planning Application Invalidated? The Flood Risk and Drainage Documents You’re Missing

A planning application invalidated for flood risk or drainage almost always comes down to one thing: a document the local planning authority treats as mandatory is missing from the submission. Most often that is a flood risk assessment (FRA), a…
Posted on 22nd June, 2026
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The Four Pillars of SuDS Explained: Quantity, Quality, Amenity & Biodiversity

The four pillars of SuDS are water quantity, water quality, amenity and biodiversity — the four objectives a well-designed sustainable drainage system is meant to deliver at the same time. They come from the CIRIA SuDS Manual (C753) and now…
Posted on 16th June, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Permeable Paving for Planning Applications: When It Works and When It Doesn’t

Permeable paving is one of the most common SuDS features used in drainage strategies for planning applications, and on the right site it is one of the most useful. It lets rainfall pass through the surface into a stone sub-base…
Posted on 15th June, 2026
, in LLFA 
, in SuDS 
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Residual Flood Risk Explained: How It’s Assessed and Managed

Residual flood risk is the risk left over after defences, drainage and mitigation have done what they can. No scheme removes risk entirely. A defended site still floods if a barrier is overtopped, if a defence breaches, or if a…
Posted on 9th June, 2026
, in NPPF 
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Surface Water Flooding and Planning: A Complete Guide for Developers

Surface water is the most widespread source of flood risk in England, and the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework has made how you handle it decisive at the planning stage. Getting surface water flooding and planning right now turns…
Posted on 1st June, 2026
, in SuDS 
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BREEAM Flood Risk Assessments Explained

BREEAM is the leading sustainability standard for UK buildings, and how a scheme handles flood risk is one of the things it scores. A BREEAM flood risk assessment is a site-specific study of a development's flood risk, written so the…
Posted on 25th May, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Groundwater Flood Risk and Planning Applications: What Developers Need to Submit

Key takeaways If your site needs a Flood Risk Assessment, that FRA must assess groundwater — it is not optional under the NPPF and Planning Practice Guidance. The national flood maps do not show groundwater. Screen with the BGS Susceptibility…
Posted on 22nd May, 2026
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EA SWIM Explained: Building a Business Case for Small-Scale SuDS Investment

The Surface Water Investment Model (SWIM) is an Environment Agency approach, published on 18 May 2026, for building a business case to invest in many small sustainable drainage features across a wide area, rather than one large scheme, so their…
Posted on 19th May, 2026
, in SuDS 
, in SWIM 
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Padel Court Drainage and Flood Risk: What the Planning System Actually Asks For

Padel court drainage is the part of a padel planning application that almost nobody scopes, because the court is built to drain and everyone assumes that settles the question. It does not. The LTA's own construction guidance specifies a porous…
Posted on 12th May, 2026
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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Do you need a flood risk assessment to convert a house into flats?

Usually, yes. A flood risk assessment when converting a house into flats is required wherever the site sits in Flood Zone 2 or 3, and in a growing number of Flood Zone 1 cases too. Flats are still homes, so…
Posted on 7th May, 2026
, in NPPF 
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Fens 2100+ explained: what the Environment Agency’s evidence actually says

Fens 2100+ is the Environment Agency's long-term flood risk and water management programme for the Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire Fens, run in partnership with Internal Drainage Boards, local authorities and water companies. In April 2026 it published a summary baseline report,…
Posted on 28th April, 2026
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Sponge cities in the UK: what the idea now means for planning and drainage

Sponge cities are urban areas built to absorb, store and slowly release rainfall instead of piping it away as fast as possible. The phrase came out of China a decade ago. In Britain it has mostly been discussed as something…
Posted on 24th April, 2026
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From 6-Hour Warning to Spade in Ground: What SWFFIP Means for Planning

On 16th April the Flood Forecasting Centre published the results of SWFFIP, the Surface Water Flood Forecasting Improvement Project. The programme brings two models into fuller operational use: the Surface Water Flooding Hazard Impact Model (SWFHIM), which has been running…
Posted on 21st April, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Groundwater Monitoring for Planning: Requirements, Timing and Delays

Groundwater monitoring for planning is the process of measuring how the water table beneath a site rises and falls over the seasons, usually to prove that an infiltration-based drainage scheme will actually work. It is most often needed where Sustainable…
Posted on 14th April, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Source Control in UK Drainage: SuDS at Plot Level

Source control means managing rainfall as close as possible to where it lands, before it has a chance to run off into the wider drainage network. It sits at the very top of the SuDS hierarchy, and in principle it…
Posted on 9th April, 2026
, in SuDS 
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The barn or the field? Flood risk for holiday lets, cabins and farm diversification

A holiday let flood risk assessment is required for any permanent holiday unit in Flood Zone 2 or 3, and for units in Flood Zone 1 on a site of a hectare or more, in a critical drainage area, or…
Posted on 6th April, 2026
, in NPPF 
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What Drainage Information Is Needed for Planning Permission?

For years it was standard practice to secure surface water drainage by planning condition and work up the detailed design after permission was granted. That route still exists. What has changed is how much a planning application has to demonstrate…
Posted on 2nd April, 2026
, in SuDS 
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The Land Use Framework and flood risk: what it actually changes

The Land Use Framework is the government's first national statement of how England's land should be shared between housing, farming, energy and nature. Defra published it on 18 March 2026, and it is built on flood figures that ought to…
Posted on 20th March, 2026
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Dirty Business and the Politics of Britain’s Water Infrastructure

Channel 4’s Dirty Business has been widely described as more than a television drama. The Guardian suggested it could become the next cultural catalyst capable of intensifying public anger over environmental failure — a “blast of controlled fury” aimed squarely…
Posted on 25th February, 2026
, in SuDS 
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What Is Pluvial (Surface Water) Flooding? Causes, Risks and Planning Implications

Surface water flooding, also called pluvial flooding, happens when rainfall lands faster than the ground can absorb it and faster than drains and watercourses can carry it away, so water runs across the surface and collects in low points. That…
Posted on 18th February, 2026
, in SuDS 
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The CIRIA SuDS Manual (C753): What It Is and How to Use It in 2026

The CIRIA SuDS Manual (C753) is the UK's principal design guide for sustainable drainage systems: 968 pages covering how SuDS should be planned, designed, built, operated and maintained. CIRIA published it in November 2015 to replace the original 2007 manual,…
Posted on 26th January, 2026
, in SuDS 
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Why Lincolnshire Is Trialling a New Approach to Flood Warnings

In parts of Lincolnshire, flooding is a familiar experience that does not always come with a warning. Streets flood, gardens fill, groundwater emerges, and yet many locations sit outside the areas where the national warning service is designed to operate.…
Posted on 23rd January, 2026
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Soils, Flooding and Resilience | World Soil Day

World Soil Day, observed each year on 5th December, highlights the critical importance of soils to environmental systems that are often taken for granted. Led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization through the Global Soil Partnership, it focuses global…
Posted on 5th December, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Runways Underwater: The 2000 Crawley and Gatwick Floods

The Crawley and Gatwick floods of November 2000 saw the Gatwick Stream and the wider Upper Mole catchment overwhelm homes, roads and even the runways at one of the country's busiest airports. They were one local chapter of the wettest…
Posted on 4th November, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Loughborough Study Shows Sediment Ponds Aid Flood Control

Recent research from Loughborough University has highlighted how sediment ponds—sometimes called “mini-wetlands” — can help farmers protect their land, improve water quality and strengthen natural flood resilience. While the study focused on agricultural benefits, the implications reach far wider. As…
Posted on 31st October, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Paving Over Gardens: Flood Risk and the Rules You Need to Know

Paving over gardens is one of the quiet drivers of urban flooding in the UK. When grass and planting are replaced with concrete, tarmac or block paving, rainwater can no longer soak into the ground. It runs off into drains…
Posted on 30th October, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Flood Resilience in England: A Wake-Up Call

Flooding in England is no longer a localised hazard — it is a national systems challenge. The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s latest report, Flood Resilience in England (HC 550, October 2025), delivers a blunt assessment: the country remains…
Posted on 29th October, 2025
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Arun’s SuDS Design Checklists: From Outline Application to Occupation

The Arun SuDS design checklists are five separate documents, published by Arun District Council in October 2025, and between them they govern a scheme from its first outline drawing to the day someone moves in. They align the district with…
Posted on 27th October, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Integrating Rainwater Harvesting into SuDS Design

Collecting rainwater isn’t a new idea. Many of us already do it at home, using a simple water butt to gather rain off the roof and reuse it on the garden. That, in essence, is what rainwater harvesting is: catching…
Posted on 24th October, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Green SuDS: Nature-Based Drainage in Modern Planning

Green SuDS are nature-based drainage features — swales, rain gardens, basins, green roofs and wetlands — that manage rainwater using vegetation and soil rather than buried pipes and tanks. Across England's planning system they have become the preferred form of…
Posted on 22nd October, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Planning for Flood Risk: The NPPF Explained

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is the document that decides how flood risk is handled when land is developed in England. It tells councils to keep new building away from the places most likely to flood, to test the…
Posted on 16th October, 2025
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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Early SuDS Planning: CIRIA C823F and What the 2026 NPPF Now Requires

Early SuDS planning means settling the surface water question at land acquisition and site appraisal, before roads, levels and plot positions are fixed. Since 17 August 2026 that is no longer only good practice. CIRIA's guide Enabling development: Getting SuDS…
Posted on 6th October, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Ofwat Abolished: What IWC Report Means for Planning

England and Wales’s water sector is at a crossroads. Years of underinvestment, regulatory fragmentation and inconsistent planning alignment have combined to produce a sector-wide confidence crisis — one now spilling directly into the planning system. While water is far from…
Posted on 21st July, 2025
, in IWC 
, in SuDS 
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Met Office Flood Warnings: Who Actually Issues Them

The Met Office does not issue flood warnings. That one fact clears up most of the confusion behind the phrase, because a search for Met Office flood warnings almost always ends up somewhere else. The Environment Agency issues flood alerts…
Posted on 7th July, 2025
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What is BS 6297 infiltration testing for foul drainage fields?

BS 6297 infiltration testing measures whether the ground on a site can absorb and treat effluent safely, and it is what decides whether a drainage field is a workable way to deal with foul drainage where there is no mains…
Posted on 26th June, 2025
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National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS): The 2025 Rules and Where They Stand in 2026

The National Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are the government's design rules for how surface water is managed on new development in England. Defra published them on 19 June 2025 and updated them on 30 July 2025, replacing the…
Posted on 20th June, 2025
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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Thames Water Crisis: Sewage, Fines and Flood Risks

Thames Water, the UK's largest water utility, is embroiled in a deepening crisis, raising serious concerns about the sustainability of the privatised water industry. The company is battling on multiple fronts — staggering debt, regulatory fines, public outcry, and the…
Posted on 28th May, 2025
, in SuDS 
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What the 2025–30 London Surface Water Strategy Means for Planning

As climate change accelerates and urban environments become denser, cities around the world face mounting challenges in managing water. Nowhere is this truer than in London, where the convergence of ageing infrastructure, rising population pressures, and increasingly erratic weather patterns…
Posted on 22nd May, 2025
, in SuDS 
, in TfL 
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Hosepipe Bans Loom Without Smarter Planning

As southern England inches toward what could become the driest spring in over a century, the warnings from regulators and water companies are unmistakable. Hosepipe bans may not yet be in place, but the message is clear: conserve water now,…
Posted on 19th May, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Ordinary Watercourse Consent (OWC): The Complete Guide

Ordinary watercourse consent (OWC) is the written permission you need under Section 23 of the Land Drainage Act 1991 before carrying out any work that would obstruct or alter the flow of an ordinary watercourse: a stream, ditch, culvert or…
Posted on 28th February, 2025
, in EA 
, in IDB 
, in OWC 
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Septic tank regulations in England: the General Binding Rules in 2026

The septic tank regulations that apply in England are the General Binding Rules — statutory conditions set by the Environment Agency that let a septic tank or small sewage treatment plant discharge legally without an environmental permit, provided it stays…
Posted on 28th February, 2025
, in SuDS 
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What Is a Surface Water Drain? Where Yours Goes and Who Owns It

A surface water drain carries rainwater away from your roof, driveway and garden. It is a separate system from the foul drain that takes waste from your sinks and toilet, and it usually ends in one of three places: a…
Posted on 26th February, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Foul, Surface & Combined Sewers: What to Know

When planning a new development, one crucial factor that developers, architects and planners must consider is how wastewater and surface water will be managed. The type of sewer infrastructure present on or near a site can significantly influence the design,…
Posted on 25th February, 2025
, in SuDS 
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Water Companies and the Planning Process: A Developer’s Guide

Water companies and the planning process are closely tied, even though the water company rarely appears on a decision notice. When you develop a site, your regional water and sewerage company is the body that confirms whether the network can…
Posted on 2nd September, 2024
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Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA): What It Is and What It Means for Your Application

A Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) is the county council or unitary authority responsible for managing local flood risk across its area: surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses. On major planning applications it is a statutory consultee on surface water…
Posted on 26th August, 2024
, in LLFA 
, in NPPF 
, in SuDS 
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How to avoid a Summer Festival Flood

There's no Glastonbury this year. Worthy Farm is taking its fallow year, and part of the reason is the ground itself: it needs a season without 200,000 pairs of wellies compacting it. The rest of 2026 is very much on,…
Posted on 22nd June, 2017
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Communities Affected by Groundwater Flooding in the UK

Groundwater flooding is not spread evenly across the country. The areas affected by groundwater flooding cluster in a narrow band of communities sitting on or just downstream of the Chalk, and the same villages tend to flood again and again:…
Posted on 29th September, 2015
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