Flood Risk Assessment

Over the last few years, flooding of urban areas has rarely been out of the news for any length of time. There are examples of comparatively new developments which have flooded, but generally it’s the older city and town centres that have suffered. Flooding of these properties, whether they be homes, shops or offices, is usually a life changing experience for those involved, and therefore Flood Risk Assessments are an integral part of the planning process.

The NPPF states that “local planning authorities should only consider development in flood risk areas where informed by a site-specific flood risk assessment”. Any development over 1ha needs a site specific FRA to support a planning application. This FRA needs to ensure that not only will the proposed development be safe from all forms of flooding over its design life (100 years for residential development) but equally importantly that there will be no increased risk to any downstream properties.

A key part of any FRA is a surface water strategy which demonstrates how development sites can be drained. At AWP we pride ourselves in delivering exemplar surface water strategies that we are pleased to take through to detailed sustainable drainage designs.

Rob and Chris work closely with all parties to ensure that planning applications are supported by concise, robust FRAs that meet both clients’ and approving authorities’ requirements.