Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership
The Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership has created a number of useful documents which clarify what is required of developers and why. The first of these is the Suffolk Flood Risk Management Strategy which can provide developers some context into flood management for Suffolk on a larger scale, including key links to and extracts from key national guidance documents. The strategy document has a number of appendices which are the following:
- Appendix A - The local SuDS guide to assist developers in creating sustainable drainage systems on their proposed sites. NB – Changes to Appendix A Section 3 – ‘What We Expect to See’. Interim additional guidance has been issued with respect to the information required to be submitted with Outline Planning Applications.
- Appendix B - A consenting policy which aims to provide clarification of the policy towards works affecting a watercourse, particularly culverts. Further information can be found on our working on a watercourse page
- Appendix C - A protocol for advising our local planning authorities (LPAs) exactly what is required from developers in terms of surface water drainage
- Appendix D - Guidance on how we deal with flooding reports
Local validation lists
Under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and local validation lists set by each local planning authority (LPA), developers will be required to fill out a number of different documents before their application can be registered. For flooding and drainage related matters these include:
- A Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) when defined as necessary by the protocol, to demonstrate the flood risk to, and resulting from, the development and to demonstrate the safety of the development for its lifetime
- Our surface water drainage proforma in order to speed up the planning process as much as possible
- An asset collection sheet which allows us to capture new flooding and drainage assets as they are built. Another of our responsibilities as the LLFA is to create and maintain a Flood Risk Asset Register, and this information will assist that
Some applications may also require land drainage consents. Please see our information which outlines how you can obtain permission to work on a watercourse.
Other helpful resources
Our Surface Water Management Plans (SWMPs) are available online via the Green Suffolk website.
Anglian Water's policy for SuDS and details of their pre-planning services are available online.
Suffolk County Council and Anglian Water have worked together to form the Suffolk SuDS Palette which helps developers and architects design SuDS systems which are in-keeping with the wider Suffolk landscape.
We have produced a Construction Surface Water Management Plan template for developers to use during the planning process. This document will guide developers, ensuring that you can submit the correct information first time therefore reducing unnecessary delays. You can find it on our Construction Surface Water Management Plan web page.
To find out whether there are existing flooding issues in the area you want to develop, you can request a flood map from the Flood and Water Management Team.
There is also comprehensive national SuDS guidance available, published by CIRIA, which details technical specifications for all sustainable drainage systems. To compliment this guidance CIRIA has also produced a number of helpful videos via susdrain, which outline the basics in delivering SuDS.
Suffolk's Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PRFA) is available to view online.
Suffolk Resilience Forum has plenty of information to assist LPAs and developers in ensuring their proposals meet the requirements for building on a flood plain.
A video of a presentation given to LPAs regarding the use of SuDS is available to view publicly.
