Experts urge PM to implement Schedule 3 of the Floods Act

More than 40 expert groups have written to prime minister, Rishi Sunak, urging the government to implement Schedule 3 of the 2010 Floods and Water Management Act. This is currently under consideration, with a decision already overdue.

The schedule would set mandatory standards for the delivery and adoption of SuDS in new developments, and end an automatic right builders have to connect into existing sewers. It has been held up for over a decade because of ministerial fears the approach would hold back the pace of housing delivery, CIWEM – one of the signatories – said.

However, the signatories argued these concerns are misplaced: SuDS are not difficult to design or build, just different. If incorporated into plans from the outset, SuDS could be cheaper to build and manage because they’re not buried underground.

Moreover, the experts said SuDS could fulfil many pressing functions beyond alleviating flooding, including: reducing the likelihood of storm overflow spills by reducing the amount of rainwater in the network; cleaning up polluted water running off roads; helping bring nature back to towns and cities (and count within government’s ‘biodiversity net gain’ policy); and provide more attractive, heatwave-resilient places to live.

The signatories – which comprise specialists in town and country planning, construction, drainage, water and environmental management and landscape architecture as well as organisations representing water companies, water customers, environmental NGOs and leading academics – said: “12 years have been wasted failing to properly deliver SuDS as a highly beneficial solution: not only to the challenge they were legislated for, but now for wider environmental needs and government policy ambitions.

“The approach could have been normalised as standard good practice many years ago. Please do not waste any more time; implement Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 further to the current government review.”