suffolk flood risk management strategy

Suffolk Flood RiskManagement Partnership

Suffolk FloodRisk Management

Strategy

Over 5.5 million properties in England and Wales are at risk of floodingfrom rivers, the sea or surface water. That’s one in six which means there’s a highchance one of these properties is your home or business.

National Flood Forum

“

“

March 2016

SUFFOLK LOCAL FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

I am well aware of the misery and devastation that result from flooding and

commend to you this document. It sets out ways in which, working together,

we can help to reduce the impact of an increasingly erratic climate.

Suffolk’s first Flood Risk Management Strategy was published in February

2013 and this is an updated version that reflects new legislation and

information. This Strategy is a key step in making sure that the risk of

flooding in Suffolk is dealt with as a whole. Suffolk County Council leads the

Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership, joining up the work done by flood risk management organisations working

closely with communities and individuals. Flooding is something that can only be dealt with when we all work together.

I recognise that, in the past, the different organisations involved have not always worked together effectively

enough in managing flooding. It is vital that we all work better not just with each other but crucially with the

public. This is why the strategy details the roles and responsibilities of all major stakeholders, including

landowners, households and community groups, so that there is better clarity about how everyone should be

involved. The issue of flooding caused by surface runoff and from ordinary watercourses (such as streams and

ditches) is now being integrated with the previous focus on river and tidal flooding. However, it is not the source

of flooding but the effects that matter and we are keen to make sure that all forms are managed together

and tackled according to level of risk rather than by what caused it.

The appendices to the Strategy set out in more detail, how the key organisations will undertake certain vital

functions – from planning for sustainable drainage, consenting works on watercourses and investigating flood

events – so that everyone is clear about what we do. The key changes to the document relate to changes to

the planning legislation in relation to flood risk and drainage and our approach makes it clear that it is vital that

new developments do not increase flood risk for its neighbours.

The document illustrates the flood risk and all sorts of actions to both reduce the risk of flooding and the

impact when flooding does occur. The Strategy also focuses on ways in which land and property owners can

assist in reducing risk in practical way; focussing not just on decreasing the probability of flooding but also its

impact, making sure that properties and households can cope in the event of a serious flood. I believe also that

we must focus on working with nature to manage flood risk not just rely on traditional engineering solutions and

at a time of decreasing public funding, we need to be innovative in our approaches.

This strategy is a statement of intent and gives guiding principles as to how we should all work together to tackle

flooding in Suffolk. It is a living document that will continue to be regularly reviewed and monitored to ensure it

remains fit for purpose. I hope it will help you become better informed about Suffolk’s approach to flood

management.

Councillor Matthew Hicks

Suffolk County Council, Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Protection

Foreword from Councillor Matthew Hicks

Councillor Matthew Hicks


Contents

Glossary and abbreviations 1

Who to contact about flooding 3

1. Introduction 4

2. Flood management authorities and their responsibilities 14

3. The Fens Policy 33

4. Assessment of local flood risk 37

5. Objectives for managing flood and coastal risk

and options to achieve them 47

6. Funding & delivery of plan 59

7. Achieving county wide environmental benefits through

effective flood and coastal risk management 66

8. Next Steps 73

Key Achievements 2012 - 2015 74


1

Glossary and abbreviationsof words and phrases commonly used inflood and coastal risk managementAONB Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Aquifer A layer of porous substrate that contains and transmits groundwater

AW Anglian Water

Asset Register Register of structures or features which are considered to have an effect on flood risk.

Catchment The extent of land which catches and holds rainwater.

CFMP Catchment Flood Management Plan – strategic plans for flood management

Consenting Process of obtaining permission to add/amend structures in/near a watercourse or flooddefence structure

DEFRA Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

EA Environment Agency

FCERM Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management

FDGiA Flood Defence Grant in Aid

Fluvial flooding Flooding from rivers

FMfSW Environment Agency’s Flood Map for Surface Water

FRMP Flood Risk Management Plan. Strategic plan required under EU Flood Directive

Foul flooding Flooding that is contaminated with sewage

GIS Geographic Information System. Software that captures, stores, analyses, manages, andpresents data that is linked to location.

Groundwaterflooding

Flooding when water levels in the ground rise above the surface

IDB Internal Drainage Board

JEPU Joint Emergency Planning Unit

LDA Land Drainage Act

LDF Local Development Framework – planning framework

LiDAR Light Detection and Ranging. Method for collecting high-resolution topographic data

LLFA Lead Local Flood Authority. In England, either the unitary authority for the area, or if thereis no unitary authority, the county council for the area.


2

Main River A statutory watercourse – usually larger streams and rivers marked as such on theEnvironment Agency main river map.

OrdinaryWatercourse

A statutory type of watercourse including river, stream, ditch, drain, cut, dyke, sluice, sewer(other than a public sewer) that is not classified as main river.

PFRA Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment. A high level summary of significant flood risk describingthe probability and consequences of past and future flooding, required by the Flood RiskRegulations 2009.

Pluvial flooding Flooding from rainfall – another name for surface water flooding.

RAMSAR Wetlands of International Importance

RBMP River Basin Management Plan – plan for the delivery of the Water Framework Directive

RFCC Regional Flood and Coastal Committee

Risk Risk = probability of an occurrence x its potential consequence

SAB SuDS Approval Body (the county council)

SAC Special Areas of Conservation - Areas protected under the EU Habitats Directive

SCC Suffolk County Council

SFRA Strategic Flood Risk Assessment

SFRMP Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership

SMP Shoreline Management Plan – strategic plans for the long-term management ofthe coast

SRF Suffolk Resilience Forum

SPA Special Protection Area. Areas protected under the EU Birds Directive which supportsignificant numbers of wild birds and their habitats.

SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest

SuDS Sustainable Drainage Systems

Surface waterflooding

Flooding caused by high intensity rainfall that generates flows over the ground andcollects in low lying areas. Also known as pluvial or flash flooding.

SW Surface Water

SWMP Surface Water Management Plan

Water &SewerageCompanies

Companies responsible for provision of both water and drainage of waste water andsewage (e.g. Anglian Water).

WFD Water Framework Directive


3

In an emergency especially if there is danger to life as a result of floodingyou should not hesitate to ring 999.

Environment Agency Floodline: 0345 988 1188for flood information and warnings.

For general enquires about river or sea flooding:contact the Environment Agency on 03708 506 506

To report flooding from sewers and water pipes:contact Anglian Water on 0800 771 881 (24 hours)

Flooding on the highway:Any incidents on major trunk roads (A14, A11 and A12 south of Ipswichand through north of Lowestoft) should be directed to Highways EnglandInformation Line: 0300 123 5000

For any other roads in Suffolk ring 08456 066 067 (office hours) or 01473 433444 (out of hours).

Non urgent reports of minor flooding or blocked drains or gullies can becompleted online. See www.suffolk.gov.uk/flooding for details.

For all other flooding and related issues:call 01473 260629 (office hours) or visit www.suffolk.gov.uk/flooding

Who to contact about flooding


4

The Suffolk Local Flood Risk Management Strategyis an important tool to help everyone understandand manage flood risk within the county. Its primaryfocus is on ‘local flooding’ from surface water,groundwater or ordinary watercourses such asstreams and ditches. This type of ‘flash flooding’,generally caused by localised heavy rainfall,appears to be increasingly common, but untilrecently there has been little understanding of therisks or actions to address the risks. Historically floodrisk management has concentrated on river andtidal flooding.

However, for those who suffer flooding, it matterslittle what type of flooding is causing the problem,and this strategy aims to provide information aboutall forms of flooding and the organisations involvedin all aspects of flood risk management, from floodprotection to dealing with a serious flooding event.It will not repeat information that is availableelsewhere but will signpost the reader to relevantmaterial. The strategy will not cover coastal erosion.

This is an update to a strategy first published inFebruary 2013. New legislation, improvedknowledge and further development of localpolicy has informed this updated edition. Furtherrevisions may be necessary in future. The review ofthe strategy and its associated action plan isoverseen by the Suffolk Flood Risk ManagementPartnership and scrutinised by a panel of localCouncillors from all corners of the county.

The main aim of the strategy is to reduce the riskof flooding and the misery and economicdamage that flooding causes, in a sustainablemanner. Also, any flood management activitiescarried out will aim to enhance the built andnatural environment.

The strategy document starts with informationon the legislation that underpins flood riskmanagement activities, who is involved andwhat part each will play in helping reduce the riskof flooding in Suffolk. It then looks at the nature of

flood risks in Suffolk and what further informationis needed to help build a better picture of localflood risks.

The next section describes the objectives togetherfor managing flood risk and how we might achievethem, leading onto the action plan in Appendix 1*.In putting these objectives together we consideredthree options for local flood risk management:

Do nothing – potentially more properties will floodand for those already at risk of flooding theywill potentially flood to a greater depth and/ormore frequently.

Maintain – keep pace with climate change sothat there is no net increase in flood risk; existingflood risk management infrastructure will need tobe improved over time and all new developmentwill need to take climate change into account.

Improve – take action to reduce the number ofproperties that would potentially flood and thepotential impacts of that flooding.

After discussions with key stakeholders, we proposeto take a pragmatic approach to reduce thecurrent flood risk and ensure that we do nothingto make this worse in the future, recognisingthe limited resources available for flood andcoastal risk management and other prioritieswithin the county.

In the action plan we outline a range of actions,from small-scale local activities to long-term majorplans and where possible we have identified whowill be involved, when things might happen andhow they might be paid for.

The money available for flood risk managementis never going to be adequate to deal with allexisting flood risks and the increasing future riskbrought about by further development anda changing climate. Traditional approaches to floodrisk management will need to be supplementedby everyone working together and by those at risktaking responsibility to help themselves.

1. Introduction

* The Action Plan is a working document that will be regularly updated and monitored. It will be a separatedocument, held on the website www.suffolk.gov.uk/flooding, but is an integral part of the strategy.


5

1.1 History of flood riskmanagementThe responsibility for flood risk management haschanged considerably over the past 50 years.

In 1995 the Environment Agency took over the rolesand responsibilities of the National Rivers Authorityand responsibility for issuing flood warnings, a rolepreviously held by the police.

1.2 LegislationFollowing the extreme floods of 2007, the PittReview stressed the importance of implementingbetter legislation for the effective management offlooding, particularly from surface water. Many ofthe recommendations from the Pitt Review havebeen implemented through the Flood and WaterManagement Act 2010, which places a greaterresponsibility on upper tier local authorities(county and unitary councils) for surface watermanagement issues, under their new role as LeadLocal Flood Authorities. The role of the EnvironmentAgency in respect of river and tidal floodingremains in force. The Environment Agency also hasa strategic role to oversee all flood and coastalerosion risk management, ensuring it is undertakenin a sustainable manner.

The Flood Risk Regulations (2009)1 came intoforce in December 2009 and transpose the EUFloods Directive into law for England and Wales.The Flood Risk Regulations required a PreliminaryFlood Risk Assessment to be produced whichidentifies areas where significant numbers ofpeople are at risk of surface, ground and ordinarywatercourse flooding. Where such areas exist, theregulations also require the production of hazardand risk maps and flood management plans.Within Suffolk, there are no areas that satisfy thenational criteria for defining such areas, notbecause there is no risk, but because of the largelyrural nature of the county and lack of large urbanareas. The Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment forSuffolk was completed in June 2011.

The Flood and Water Management Act 20102

provides legislation for the management of risksassociated with flooding and coastal erosion. TheAct reinforces the need to manage flooding

holistically and in a sustainable manner. It places anumber of new roles and responsibilities on SuffolkCounty Council, which is designated a ‘Lead LocalFlood Authority’. The preparation of this Local FloodRisk Management Strategy is just one of the dutiesplaced upon the county council.

A national Flood and Coastal Erosion RiskManagement strategy3 has been produced by theEnvironment Agency which sets out the principlesthat will guide local strategies and the activity of allflood authorities.

The Act defines various bodies as ‘riskmanagement authorities’. These are:l a Lead Local Flood Authority;l the Environment Agency;l a district council for an area where there is no

unitary authority;l an internal drainage board;l a water company;l a highway authority.

The powers and duties in the Act are summarisedon the next page. More details on how they will bedischarged are in Chapter 2.

Planning legislation:

The National Planning Policy Framework4 waspublished in March 2012 by the Department ofCommunities and Local Government. The aim is toreduce development in flood risk areas and

1. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/3042/contents/made

2. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/29/contents

3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-strategy-for-england

"Flood risk and water useremain key issues for allcommunities. Britain needs toplan now for more erratic,unpredictable and extremeweather patterns in the future".

Lord Chris Smith, Chairman ofthe Environment Agency, July2012.


6

reinforces the requirement for sustainable surfacewater management in new developments. Itreinforces the responsibilities of Maritime LocalAuthorities in respect of Coastal ChangeManagement Areas (CCMAs).

Coast Protection Act (1949):

This provides the legal framework for the protection ofthe coast against erosion and encroachment by thesea within the boundaries set out in Schedule 4 of theAct. It gives Maritime Local Authorities (e.g. SuffolkCoastal and Waveney District Councils) powers toundertake coast protection works on their frontage.

Other legislation:

Flood and coastal risk management is affected bya range of other national and local legislation,

policies and non-statutory plans, the mostsignificant of which are listed below:

l The Climate Change Act (2008).l The Conservation of Habitats and Species

Regulations (2001).l The Civil Contingencies Act (2004).l The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

Directive (2001).l The Land Drainage Act (1991).l The Water Framework Directive/Water

Environment Regulations.l Marine and Coastal Access Act.l The Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000).l The Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).l Water Resources Act (1991).

4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework--2

Responsibility Details

Preparation of anAsset Register

Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) have a duty to maintain a register of structuresor features which are considered to have an effect on flood risk, including details onownership and condition as a minimum. The register must be available forinspection. The content of the register are set by the government.

Power to designateflood riskmanagementstructures

LLFAs, as well other flood management authorities have powers to designatestructures and features that affect flooding or coastal erosion in order to safeguardassets that are relied upon for flood or coastal erosion risk management. Furtherdetails in Section 2.9.

Investigation offlood incidents

LLFAs have a duty to coordinate the investigation and recording of significant floodevents within their area. This duty includes identifying which authorities have floodrisk management functions and what they have done or intend to do with respectto the incident, notifying risk management authorities where necessary andpublishing the results of any investigations carried out. Further information withrespect to this duty is provided at Section 2.6.

Prepare a LocalStrategy for FloodRisk Management

LLFAs are required to develop, maintain, apply and monitor a local strategy for floodrisk management in its area. The local strategy will build upon information such asnational risk assessments and will use consistent risk based approaches acrossdifferent local authority areas and catchments.

Works powers LLFAs have powers to undertake works to manage flood risk from surface runoff andgroundwater, consistent with the local flood risk management strategy for the area.

Consenting changesto OrdinaryWatercourses

If riparian owners wish to culvert an ordinary watercourse or insert any obstructions,consent is required from the LLFA, except within Internal Drainage Board (IDB) areas.For further details see Section 2.7.

Key powers and duties within the Flood & Water Management Act 2010


7

Regional and local plans:

l River Basin Management Plan Anglian RiverBasin District (December 2009)5 – the plan forthe delivery of the Water Framework Directive inthe River Basin District. Its focus is to improve theecological and geomorphological qualities ofwater bodies (sea, rivers, streams, lakes, etc).

l Catchment Flood Management Plans6 are highlevel strategic plans through which theEnvironment Agency, working with key decision-makers within a river catchment, identify andagree policies for sustainable flood riskmanagement. These were produced in 2010. Theaction have been reviewed and incorporated intothe Flood Risk Management Plans. There are fourplans covering the river catchments across Suffolk:

l Broadland Rivers.

l East Suffolk.

l Great Ouse.

l North Essex.

l Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs)7 arestrategic plans for the long-term managementof the coast. There are three plans covering theSuffolk coast:

l The Kelling to Lowestoft SMP.

l The Suffolk SMP, covering Lowestoft toFelixstowe.

l The Essex and South Suffolk SMP, whichcovers the Stour and Orwell estuaries.

l Strategic Flood Risk Assessments are undertakenby District/Borough Councils as part of the strategicplanning process and where available their LocalDevelopment Frameworks/Local Plan.

l Suffolk Community Risk Register8 is producedby the Suffolk Resilience Forum and identifiesthe major risks in Suffolk (including inland andcoastal flooding), their likelihood and impacts.There are plans for emergency response andrecovery for specific risks.

l Ipswich Borough Council’s Drainage andFlood Defence Policy9 – states how theBorough controls development in areas offlooding and is referred to in Local Planningdocuments. It provides guidance on the roles ofdrainage bodies and council services, setsstandards for sustainable drainage for newdevelopments and explains how the Boroughmanages local flood risk. The document will beupdated following the adoption of the SuffolkLocal Flood Risk Management Strategy.

1.3 The Local Flood RiskManagement StrategyThe production of this local strategy is a statutoryrequirement under the Flood & Water ManagementAct. It follows the publication of a National Flood &Coastal Erosion risk Management Strategy whichsets out principles that must guide all flood andcoastal risk management activities.

The Local Flood Risk Management Strategy will be a statutory document,which will impact on the activities of all flood risk managementauthorities – i.e. local authorities, the Environment Agency, highwaysauthorities and Internal Drainage Boards.

These bodies will all have a ‘duty to act consistently with the localstrategy’ when undertaking their flood and coastal erosion riskmanagement functions and have a ‘duty to have regard for the strategy’when discharging other duties that may affect flood and coastal risk (forexample spatial planning and development).

Water companies will also have a ‘duty to have regard for the localstrategy’ for all relevant functions.

5. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/33106.aspx6. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/catchment-flood-management-plans7. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/105014.aspx8. http://www.suffolkresilience.com/9. https://www.ipswich.gov.uk/sites/www.ipswich.gov.uk/files/Ipswich_Flood_Defence__Drainage_Policy_rev_Aug_20091.pdf


8

These guiding principles, that underpin this localstrategy, are:

l Community focus and partnership working.

l A catchment and coastal cellbased approach.

l Sustainability.

l Proportionate, risk-based approaches.

l Multiple benefits.

l Beneficiaries should be allowedand encouraged to invest in localrisk management.

The requirement to produce a Local Strategy ispredominantly concerned with the managementof surface, ground and ordinary watercourseflooding (= local flooding) but will clearly link toflooding from rivers and the seas. The strategy willnot cover coastal erosion risks.

Who produced it?

The production of the Local Strategy has beenoverseen by the Suffolk Flood Risk ManagementPartnership.

The strategy has been formally adopted/ endorsedby all councils and other risk managementauthorities in the county and this review will gothrough a similar process.

1.4 The Suffolk Flood RiskManagement PartnershipThe Flood and Water Management Act requiresSuffolk County Council to take a leading role inmanaging local flood risks, working in partnershipwith other relevant authorities and the public.

The Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership,made up of key risk management authorities andthe Suffolk Resilience Forum, is fundamental tothe delivery of a coordinated and consistentapproach to flood and coastal risk management,and working alongside the public to make a realdifference in the county.

This partnership was set up on 2009 following thepublication of the Pitt Recommendations to share

The Partners are:

l Suffolk County Council

l Forest Heath District Council

l St Edmundsbury Borough Council

l Babergh District Council

l Mid Suffolk District Council

l Ipswich Borough Council

l Suffolk Coastal District Council

l Waveney District Council

l Environment Agency

l Anglian Water

l Ely Group IDB

l East Suffolk Group of IDBs

l Waveney, Lower Yare &Lothingland IDB

l Broads Authority

l Highways England

l Suffolk Resilience Forum

l Essex & Suffolk Water

l National Farmers Union


9

expertise and local knowledge and work jointly tounderstand and reduce flood risk across Suffolk.It has links to a number of other relevant groupsand key players in managing flood and coastalrisks, including:

l Anglian Regional Flood & Coastal Committees(Eastern & Central) brings together councillorsappointed by Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs)and appointees with relevant experience. Theirrole is to approve the annual programme of workensuring there are coherent plans for risk-basedinvestment that optimises value for money andbenefits for local communities in areas of floodand coastal erosion risk.

l Developers have a vital role in deliveringsustainable drainage as promoted by the Floodand Water Management Act National PolicyPlanning Framework, as well as the widerplanning proposals in relation to flood riskoutlined in this strategy. It is crucial that futuredevelopment takes proper regard to all sourcesof flooding and wherever possible deliverreductions in flood risks, both on and off site.

l East Anglian Coastal Group and itsassociated subgroups oversee the productionand delivery of Shoreline Management Plansand share coastal expertise.

l Local Community Emergency groups set upcoordinate parish-level emergency actionsin the event of major emergencies,including flooding.

l Local Estuary/Coastal Groups formed byresidents, landowners and other interestedparties to represent local interests and assist inthe management of flood and coastal risks.

l Local Government Association and itsCoastal Special Interest Group. These groupsprovide support to local authorities in exercisingtheir duties as flood and coastal riskmanagement authorities and links to nationalpolicy makers.

l Marine Management Organisation has a keyrole in coast protection via licensing of activitieson the shoreline and developing marine plansthat overlap with terrestrial spatial plans.

l Natural England and other national and localenvironmental and conservation bodies willhelp deliver flood risk management in a waythat also delivers wider environmental benefits.

l Neighbouring Lead Local Flood AuthoritiesAn informal grouping of all Lead Local FloodAuthorities from across the eastern counties hasbeen created for mutual assistance and toshare expertise. It is possible that this type ofgrouping may be given more formal statusalongside coastal groups in the future.

l Network Rail

l Riparian Owners The many land and homeowners whose land adjoins a watercourse havecertain rights and responsibilities in relation toflood risk management. These people are keyplayers in the management of local flood risk,particularly in the many rural areas of Suffolk.The National Farmers Union and the CountryLand and Business Association are importantbodies representing agricultural andlandowning interests and are the main route bywhich we can influence many riparian owners.

l Suffolk Coast Forum A forum comprisingrelevant local authorities, estuary groups,Environment Agency, Natural England, theMarine Management Organisation and portsauthorities to take a strategic role in coastalmanagement. It will provide an important linkwith the Suffolk Flood Risk ManagementPartnership in integrating inland and coastalflood management.

l Suffolk Joint Flood Scrutiny Panel comprisingelected members from county and all districtauthorities whose role is to scrutinise the workof the Suffolk Flood Risk ManagementPartnership and the flood managementactivities of its partners.

l Suffolk Planning Officers group compriseslead planning officers from all planningauthorities across the county.

l Town & Parish Councils are the key route tothe general public and local information.They have a key role in encouraging local self-help groups to prepare for flooding and other


10

emergencies and as a conduit for passinginformation to and from the public to thecounty council.

l Utility providers have a key role in ensuringtheir key infrastructure is protected fromflood risk.

1.5 What is the nature of flood riskwithin Suffolk?Flooding is a natural phenomenon, the adverseeffects of which can be made worse by poor

management of the landscape and environment.The problems can be made worse if we fail to doanything about the risk.

Rainfall and the consequential flooding by its verynature is unpredictable in location and severity,and dealing with these uncertainties will bechallenging, particularly in the case of surfacewater flooding. However, flood risk is something thatcan be understood and its effects are generallymore predictable, although blockages in drainagesystems may cause unusual and even lesspredictable flooding.

The nature of flood risk within Suffolk is extremelyvaried and widespread across the county.Suffolk has an extensive coast and estuaries,a network of rivers and low lying land, whichcombined with a number of urbanised areas,means it is at risk of flooding from a range ofdifferent sources.

The main sources of flood risk within Suffolk include:

Surface water flooding, also known as pluvialflooding or flash flooding, occurs when highintensity rainfall generates runoff which flows overthe surface of the ground and ponds in low lyingareas. It is usually associated with high intensity(typically greater than 30mm/hr) or prolongedrainfall and can be exacerbated when the groundis saturated or when the drainage network hasinsufficient capacity to cope with the additionalflow. Until recently, the risk from surface water waspoorly understood, with little information availableabout the mechanisms of surface water floodingand the associated risks.

Based on current information Suffolk has over150,000 properties predicted to be affected bysurface water flooding during an extreme rainfallevent with a one per cent (1 in 100) chance ofhappening each year and a flooding depth of 0.3metres. This risk is widespread across the county(see Figure 4.1 on page 39).

Groundwater flooding occurs when water levels inthe ground rise above the ground surface.Flooding of this type tends to occur after longperiods of sustained heavy rainfall and can last forweeks or even months. The areas at most risk areoften low-lying areas where the water table is morelikely to be at a shallow depth and flooding can beexperienced through water rising up from theunderlying aquifer or from water flowing from springs.

River flooding, also known as fluvial flooding,occurs when a watercourse cannotaccommodate the volume of water that is flowinginto it or when flood defences are overtopped orbreached. Rivers are categorised into main riversand ordinary watercourses. Main rivers areusually large watercourses but also include smallerwatercourses of strategic drainage importance.All other smaller watercourses, ditches and streamsare classified as ordinary watercourses.

Suffolk has a number of main rivers (see Figure 2.5)and associated tributaries including, the Waveney,Blyth, Alde, Ore, Deben, Orwell, Stour, Gipping, Larkand River Little Ouse which all pose a threat of riverflooding, in addition to the vast network of ordinarywatercourses.

10. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/

Although current projections for futureclimate change predict an overalldecrease in rainfall it is likely to occur inmore intense stormier conditions atcertain times of the year. Combined withthe predicted rise in sea level there willbe an increased risk of tidal, river andsurface water flooding.

Taken from UK Climate ChangePredictions 0910


11

Key

Link

s

Flo

od

Ris

k M

ana

ge

me

nt A

utho

ritie

s

Fig

ure

1.1

: R

ela

tio

nshi

ps

be

twe

en

gro

ups

invo

lve

d in

flo

od

and

co

ast

al r

isk

ma

nag

em

ent

Ang

lian

Reg

iona

lFl

oo

d &

Co

ast

al

Co

mm

itte

es

(Ea

ste

rn &

Ce

ntra

l)

Suffo

lk J

oin

tFl

oo

d S

cru

tiny

Pane

l

Suffo

lk P

lann

ing

Offi

ce

rs G

roup

Ne

ighb

our

ing

LLFA

’s

Na

tiona

l and

loc

al F

loo

da

nd C

oa

sta

lG

roup

s)

Suffo

lk C

oa

sta

lFo

rum

Suffo

lkRe

silie

nce

Foru

m

Envi

ronm

ent

Ag

enc

y

Co

unty

, Bo

roug

h&

Dis

tric

tC

oun

cils

Inte

rna

lD

rain

ag

eBo

ard

sA

nglia

n W

ate

r H

ighw

ays

Ag

enc

y SC

C H

ighw

ays

IB

C H

ighw

ays

Sta

keho

lde

r En

ga

ge

me

nt

Rip

aria

n o

wne

rs, D

eve

lop

ers

,N

etw

ork

Ra

il, U

tility

pro

vid

ers

,Pa

rish

Co

unc

ils.

Suff

olk

Flo

od

Ris

k M

ana

ge

me

ntPa

rtne

rshi

p

SFRM

P su

b g

roup

s,in

clu

din

g E

lec

ted

Me

mb

ers

gro

up


12

The north west of the county is part of the Fens –an extensive drained area partly below sea level,extending into the counties of Cambridgeshire,Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Chapter 3 will deal withthis unique area as a whole.

Coastal or tidal flooding usually occurs duringstorm surges when there is an increased risk of highsea levels causing overtopping or breaching ofcoastal flood defences leading to flooding inland.The greatest risk of coastal flooding is experiencedwhen there is a combination of high tides anda storm surge, which is when a low pressure systemcauses a localised rise in sea level and waveheight. Many parts of Suffolk’s coastline andestuaries are prone to coastal flooding, asillustrated by the severe floods in 1953.

Based on Environment Agency flood maps, thereare some 38,000 properties at risk of river/tidalflooding in Suffolk.

Coastal erosion, the wearing away of land andthe removal of beach sediments by wave action,tidal currents or water percolation into soft cliffs,occurs in a number of locations along Suffolk’scoast and estuaries. Whilst this risk falls outside theresponsibility of the Lead Local Flood Authority andthe scope of this strategy, liaison with the maritimelocal authorities responsible will be important.There may, in the future, be areas where erosion willlead to increased flood risk.

Reservoir flooding results from the complete orpartial failure of a reservoir structure. There is onelarge open reservoir in Suffolk (Alton Water) thatposes a slight risk to a small number of properties.There are also two flood storage reservoirsin Stowmarket and numerous smaller on-farmwater storage reservoirs which pose little or notflood risk..

Sewer flooding occurs when the sewer networkcannot cope with the volume of water that isentering it, or when pipes within the networkbecome blocked. This type of flooding is oftenexperienced during times of heavy rainfall whenlarge amounts of surface water overwhelm thesewer network, causing flooding. Water Utility

‘DG5’11 registers show a total of 250 flood eventsreported by water companies over the lastdecade. These events occurred in a number oflocations, largely within urbanised areas.

Highway flooding can be defined as floodingcaused by heavy rainfall or overflowing fromblocked or overloaded drains, soakaways andgullies causing water to pond within the highwaynetwork or from a lack of formal drainage system.During the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessmentprocess, highway flooding reports were collectedfrom around 250 different locations (with 15 yearsof data) and this data is included in the overallevidence base of flood information.

It is frequently difficult to establish a single precisecause for flooding and a holistic approach needsto be taken.

1.6 Factors increasing flood riskFlood risk is a combination of probability andconsequence; as there are a number of factorswhich will lead to higher probability of flooding inthe future and more serious potentialconsequences, this will result in an increase in therisk of flooding across Suffolk.

The factors leading to an increase in floodrisk include:

l The prediction that climate change12 will leadto more frequent and more severe extremeweather and rising sea levels, and therefore tomore extreme floods with more seriousconsequences.

l The deterioration in the condition andperformance of existing drainage infrastructureand flood defence structures over time willincrease future flood risk, as can coastal erosionin areas close to the boundary betweenerosion and flood risk areas.

l New development and changes in land usemay lead to an increase in impermeablesurfaces and general loss of vegetation cover,therefore causing increased levels of runoffduring heavy rainfall events.

11. A water-company held register of properties which have experienced sewer flooding due to hydraulic overload

12. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/


13

1.7 Suffolk’s natural environmentSuffolk has a number of nationally andinternationally important sites designated for theconservation of biodiversity, in addition to locallyimportant ecological areas. Figure 1.2 (above)highlights the major protected areas13. For furtherinformation and maps seewww.natureonthemap.naturalengland.org.uk/

In addition there are also a large number of locallydesignated wildlife sites and areas which areimportant to improving biodiversity in Suffolk14.

Flood and coastal risk management has thepotential to impact on these sites either in

a positive or negative way and all activities needto take due consideration of the naturalenvironment, aiming to enhance biodiversityand water quality.

1.8 What happens next?This strategy and its associated Action Plan will be aworking document that will be amended asnecessary.

A review of the achievements of the Suffolk FloodRisk Management Partnership since the publicationof the first Strategy in 2013 is detailed in Chapter 8.

Figure 1.2 Map showing main natural environmental designations in Suffolk

13. For information, other designations and maps see http://www.suffolkbiodiversity.org/wildlife-sites.aspx/14. hhttp://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/species-and-habitats/county-wildlife-sites/

Statutory Ecological Designations


14

2.1 The key players in flood andcoastal management in Suffolk Suffolk County Council, as the Lead Local FloodAuthority, is responsible for taking the lead inmanaging flood risk from local sources. Thisincludes surface water, groundwater and ordinarywatercourses and also where there is an interactionbetween these sources and main rivers or the sea.The county council also has other related roles inemergency planning and road drainage.

There are a number of key organisations whotogether manage flood and coastal erosion risks inSuffolk. These are:

The Environment Agency is responsible formanaging flood risk from main rivers, reservoirs andthe sea, and also has a strategic overview role overall flood and coastal erosion risk management andnational flood funding. It also has a key role inproviding flood warnings to the public andprotecting and improving the environment..

Anglian Water is both a water and seweragecompany, responsible for the provision of foul andsurface water drainage across the whole of Suffolkand providing water to the majority of the county.Essex & Suffolk Water provides water only, mainlyin the north east of the county.

Highways England and Suffolk County CouncilHighways are responsible for managing drainageand flood risk on public roads and highways withinthe county. For trunk roads (A11 from Newmarket toThetford; A12 through north Lowestoft; A12 southfrom Ipswich to Colchester and the A14) theresponsibility lies with Highways England and for allother public roads, responsibility lies with theCounty Council.

Within Suffolk there are seven District or BoroughCouncils (see Figure 2.1) who, in addition to theirplanning role have powers to undertake flood riskmanagement work on ordinary watercoursesoutside of Internal Drainage Board areas. SuffolkCoastal and Waveney District Councils are

2. Flood management authoritiesand their responsibilities

Figure 2.1: districtcouncil boundaries


15

Maritime Local Authorities responsible formanaging risks from coastal erosion in their areas.Additionally, in certain specific areas districtcouncils have responsibility for coast defences inareas at risk of flooding – such as south Felixstowe.

There are three groups of Internal DrainageBoards located within the county. Internal DrainageBoards were set up in areas of special drainageneed with the primary function to manage waterlevels in their areas to minimise flood risk andsupply water to people, property and agriculture.See Figure 2.2 below for details of the areas foreach Internal Drainage Board has responsibility.

The Broads Authority manages the Norfolk andSuffolk Broads, with responsibility for conservation,planning, recreation and navigation. The Broadsarea has the status of National Park, thus the BroadsAuthority is responsible for planning for its area.

Suffolk Resilience Forum (SRF) is a multi-agencygroup that provides strategic, tactical andoperational guidance and support on the planningfor the multi-agency response to a major incident.It is not a statutory body nor does it have powers todirect its members; however, it is the agreed forumthat coordinates multi-agency emergencypreparedness, including risk assessment,contingency planning, training and exercise toenhance Suffolk’s preparedness for emergencies.

The Joint Emergency Planning Unit (JEPU)provides an enabling service for all Suffolk localauthorities (county, district and borough) to preparefor emergencies – such as flooding - and acts as afocal point for local authorities when dealing withother response agencies as part of the SuffolkResilience Forum.

2.2 Responsibility for floodingAs discussed in the previous chapter, flooding can come from a number of different sources and the responsibility for managing the risk fromthese different sources falls with different RiskManagement Authorities; a simplified illustration of this can be seen in Figure 2.3 on page 17. (NB. coastal erosion is not included).

The following sections provide more informationabout the powers and responsibilities that theseRisk Management Organisations have and how,collectively, they will discharge them.

But flood risk management is not something thatcan be left solely in the hands of statutoryorganisations and forgotten by everyone else.Households, businesses and landowners havetheir part to play too. Even if this strategy was beingdevised at a time of substantial public sectorbudgets, the organisations would still not be ableto prevent all floods or solve all concerns. That iswhy the powers and responsibilities of Suffolk’scitizens are also recorded in this section.

2.3 The powers andresponsibilities of Flood RiskManagement Authorities The Flood and Water Management Act identifiedcertain organisations as risk managementauthorities (see page 5) which have responsibilitiesaround flooding, both new ones, from the Flood

Typical IDB drainage channel, near Sizewell


16

Figure 2.2: Internal Drainage Board Watercourse Responsibilities1

5

15. For details and local maps –

Ely Group: http://www.elydrainageboards.co.uk;

East Suffolk Group: http://www.wlma.org.uk/index.pl?id=144

Waveney, Lothingland & Yare: http://www.nicholsons-uk.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=ccrryiuTPX4%3d&tabid=623&mid=1465


17

mai

n riv

ers

coas

tal f

lood

ing

rese

rvoi

rs

surf

ace

wat

ergr

ound

wat

eror

dina

ry w

ater

cour

sese

wer

floo

ding

high

way

s flo

odin

g

Hig

hway

s

Wa

vene

y,Lo

we

r Ya

re &

Loth

ing

land

IDB

burs

t pip

es

Ely

Gro

up

of

IDBS

IDB

mai

n dr

ain

Figure 2.3 Overview of responsibility for flood risk management within Suffolk.

If it is not clear why

floo

ding is occ

urring

, enq

uiries

sho

uld be direc

ted to

Suffolk C

ounty

Cou

ncil as the Lead Loc

al F

lood

Autho

rity.


18

and Water Management Act, and longstandingones from previous legislation.

These authorities have all of the following dutiesand powers:

l Duty to co-operate with other risk managementauthorities in the exercise of their flood andcoastal erosion risk management functions,including sharing flood risk management data.

l A duty to aim to contribute towards theachievement of sustainable development inthe exercise of flood or coastal erosion riskmanagement functions and to have regard tothe Ministerial guidance on this topic.

l Duty to be subject to scrutiny from the leadlocal flood authority’s democratic processes. In Suffolk we have a Joint Flood Scrutiny Panelcomprising councillors from the county counciland all district/borough councils.

l A duty to exercise flood or coastal erosion riskmanagement functions in a manner consistentwith the national and local strategies.

l Power to take on flood and coastal erosionfunctions from another risk managementauthority when agreed by both sides.

l Power to designate structures and features thataffect flooding.

In addition, all authorities have a universal duty tocomply with environmental legislation and theWater Framework Directive. They have a duty totake reasonable steps, consistent with the properexercise of the authority’s functions, to further theconservation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest.(Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, as amended bythe Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000). Allauthorities are required to have regard for the

requirements of the Habitats Directive in theexercise of their functions (regulation 9(5)).

Co-operation between these risk managementauthorities will take place through the Suffolk FloodRisk Management Partnership. This will entailcollaboration on recording flood assets, assistingwith flood Investigations, providing local knowledgeregarding flood risk and sustainable drainagerelating to new development, sharing informationand data and working together to ensure publicenquiries are dealt with swiftly by the appropriateorganisation.

2.4 How flood risk powers andduties will be used in SuffolkNB. A duty is something that an authority islegally obliged to do; a power can be used ifappropriate but does not have to be used.

2.4.1 Leadership

The Environment Agency has a national strategicrole when it comes to flood and coastal erosion riskmanagement. It is required to publish the NationalStrategy16 which provides a national framework for allforms of flood and coastal erosion risk management.

The National Strategy identifies the followingstrategic actions for the Environment Agency:

l Use strategic plans like the Catchment FloodManagement Plan and the ShorelineManagement Plan to set the direction for Floodand Coastal Erosion Risk Management.

l Support the creation of Flood Risk Regulationsreports (Flood Risk Management Plans) bycollating and reviewing the assessments, plansand maps that Lead Local Flood Authoritiesproduce.

The Flood Risk Management Authorities in Suffolk are:

Suffolk County Council

Anglian Water

Internal Drainage Boards

District and BoroughCouncils

Environment Agency

Highways Authorities

16. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-strategy-for-england


19

l Providing the data, information and tools toinform government policy and aid riskmanagement authorities in delivering theirresponsibilities.

l Support collaboration, knowledge-building andsharing of good practice including provision ofcapacity-building schemes such as traineeschemes and officer training.

l Manage the Regional Flood and CoastalCommittees (RFCCs) and support theirdecisions in allocating funding for flooddefence and flood resilience schemes.

l Report and monitor on flood and coastalerosion risk management.

l Administer grants to risk managementauthorities to support the implementation oftheir flooding or environmental powers.

The Flood and Water Management Act 2010identified Suffolk County Council as the LeadLocal Flood Authority for the county of Suffolk.

In addition to duties that fall on all riskmanagement authorities, the county council hasthe following responsibilities:

l Strategic leadership of local risk managementauthorities. The Suffolk Flood Risk ManagementPartnership is led and managed by the county

council and provides an important forum to co-ordinate all aspects of flood risk managementin the county.

l Responsibility for development, maintenance,application and monitoring of a strategy forlocal flood risk management.

l A duty to investigate and publish reports onsignificant flooding incidents as appropriate(see section 2.6 for details), to identify whichauthorities have relevant flood riskmanagement functions and what they havedone or intend to do.

l A duty to maintain a register of structures orfeatures (asset register) which have a significanteffect on flood risk in their area.

l Decision making responsibility for whether workson ordinary watercourses that may affect waterflow and flood risk can take place. InternalDrainage Boards also have this role on ordinarywatercourses within their areas and theEnvironment Agency has this duty on main riversand tidal defences.

l Power to do works to manage flood risk fromsurface runoff or groundwater. This includes powersunder s25 Land Drainage Act 1991 to require aperson impeding the proper flow of water in anordinary watercourse to remedy that condition.


2.4.2 Understanding practical management offlood and coastal risks – who does what

The Environment Agency’s operational roleincludes emergency planning and managingflooding from main rivers, reservoirs and the sea. Itsemergency planning role, and that of other riskmanagement authorities, is outlined in section2.10.

Main Rivers are watercourses shown on theEnvironment Agency’s statutory Main River map,see Figure 2.5. The Environment Agency haspermissive powers to carry out works ofmaintenance and improvement on Main Rivers.This can include any structure or appliance forcontrolling or regulating flow of water into or out ofthe channel. The overall responsibility formaintenance of Main Rivers, however, lies with theriparian owner.

Coastal Flooding: The Environment Agency is thelead organisation with strategic overview for allflood and coastal erosion risk management

around the coastline of England, including tidalflood risk. The Environment Agency leads in thedevelopment of Shoreline Management Plans andworks with partner organisations, including localauthorities to put them into practical action. TheEnvironment Agency supports this by giving Grant-in-Aid funding for coastal defence schemes andoverseeing the work carried out.

Reservoirs: The Environment Agency is theenforcement authority for the Reservoirs Act 1975(the Act) in England. The Act applies a safetyregime to large raised reservoirs, which are thosereservoirs capable of holding more than 25,000m3

of water above ground level. The full requirementsof the Act only apply to ‘high-risk’ large raisedreservoirs, which are designated and mapped tounderstand the full extent of what is at risk. Theowners and operators of high-risk reservoirs musthave a supervising engineer appointed at alltimes, have their reservoir inspected periodically,and carry out any essential safety works identifiedby their inspecting engineer. The Environment

20Figure 2.5: Main river map of Suffolk


21

Agency is responsible for ensuring that reservoirowners and operators comply with therequirements of the Act and for establishing andmaintaining a register of reservoirs, and making thisinformation available to the public. There is nolegal requirement under the Reservoirs Act 1975 forreservoir owners and operators to produce floodplans, as this Section of the Act has not beenenacted by the government. However, it is goodpractice to have such plans in place

An Internal Drainage Board (IDB) is a public sectoroperating authority, empowered under the LandDrainage Act 1991 in areas of special drainageneed in England & Wales to carefully managewater levels within defined drainage districts forland drainage, flood risk management, irrigationand environmental benefit. IDBs operate incatchment areas that are not in county or districtcouncil boundaries, and undertake routinemaintenance of main drains, pumping stationsand other critical water control infrastructure underpermissive powers, the overall responsibility formaintenance being with the riparian owner.

Principle operations include weed cutting, de-silting, tree management, mowing of bank-sidevegetation and structural inspection, repair andreplacement of fixed water control assets.

Suffolk County Council as Lead Local FloodAuthority has powers to do works to manage floodrisk from surface runoff or groundwater. However, inmost cases the responsibility for maintenance ofordinary watercourses lies with the riparian owner orowners, and the role of the council is to provideadvice and support to riparian owners toencourage them to undertake such works in asuitable manner that will not result in environmentaldamage.

The County Council has powers under s23, LandDrainage Act 1991 prohibits the obstruction in awatercourse and have powers to have obstructionsremoved. However, advice and persuasion willnormally be employed to secure such actionbefore resorting to the use of legal powers.

The County Council also has powers under s25Land Drainage Act 1991 to require a personimpeding the proper flow of water in an ordinary

watercourse to remedy that condition. However,advice and persuasion will normally be employedto secure such action before resorting to the use oflegal powers.

The County Council is also a highway authority withresponsibility for road drainage and flooding – seebelow.

District and Borough Councils have noresponsibilities under the Land Drainage Act -except when it is a landowner. However, they areresponsible for maintenance of some parks andpublic spaces and have responsibility for streetcleaning. Good maintenance practices can helpto reduce flood risk, for instance by ensuring thatdrainage channels are kept clear and that rubbishand leaves are not tidied into watercourses. Fornew public spaces which are under the control ofa management company, these activities shouldbe included in the management contract.

All Highways Authorities are Risk ManagementAuthorities according to the Flood and WaterManagement Act and must adhere to all theresponsibilities of risk management authorities.

In addition, under the Highways Act, a HighwaysAuthority has a duty to maintain the highway. Thisincludes ensuring that highway drainage systems


22

are clear and that blockages on the highway arecleared, where reasonably practicable. As part ofthis duty, roads are regularly inspected andmaintained.

The highway authority can deliver works that theyconsider necessary to protect the highway fromflooding. These can be on the highway or on landwhich has been acquired by the highway authorityin the exercise of highway land acquisition powersfor that purpose.

Highway Authorities may divert parts of awatercourse or carry out any other works on anyform of watercourse if it is necessary for theconstruction, improvement or alteration of thehighway or provides a new means of access toany premises from a highway.

Highways authorities are able to adopt SustainableDrainage Systems (SuDS) that serve the highways.

Waveney and Suffolk Coastal District Councilsand the Environment Agency are identified by theFlood and Water Management Act as coastalerosion risk management authorities. Theirresponsibilities include:

l Developing and delivering ShorelineManagement Plans

l Delivery of coastal erosion risk managementactivities. This includes the construction ofdefences including the removal/addition ofbeach material.

l Maintenance a register of assets and otherfeatures that help to manage coastal risks.

l Assisting communities in planning for the futureand taking appropriate steps to adapt tochanging coastal erosion risks.

l Controlling/consenting third party activities onthe coast.

Water companies: There are two types of watercompanies working in Suffolk. Essex & Suffolk Water,mainly located in the north east of the county is awater supply company, while Anglian Water is botha water supplier and sewerage undertaker.

a) Water Supply Companies are not RiskManagement Authorities and do not have thesame obligations. However the Reservoirs Act 1975has been amended to state the following:

Responsibility for roadsideditches

One of the biggest misconceptions isthat the County Council, as highwayauthority, is responsible for roadsideditches. This is rarely the case. Thehighway authority is permitted to useroadside ditches for the drainage of thehighway but unless constructedspecifically for the drainage of thehighway the maintenance of these isnormally the responsibility of theadjoining landowner. Whoever owns theland adjoining, above or with awatercourse running through it is, inlegal terms, a ‘riparian owner’. Theymust keep the banks clear of anythingthat could cause an obstruction andincrease flood risk. He is alsoresponsible for maintaining the bedand banks of the watercourse and thetrees and shrubs growing on the banks.Structures, such as culverts, trashscreens, weirs and mill gates must bekept clear of debris to let water flowthrough without obstruction. If access todo this is only possible from the highwayitself the owner should consult with theCounty Council to establish who is bestplaced to carry out the work.


l All owners and operators with reservoirsover 25,000m3 must register their reservoirswith the Environment Agency as they aresubject to regulation.

l All undertakers must prepare a reservoirflood plan.

l All incidents at reservoirs must be reported.

b) Water and Sewerage Companies: The waterindustry is highly regulated and the quality ofcustomer service and the prices they are able tocharge their customers are regulated by Ofwat, theWater Services Regulation Authority. The waterindustry operates on five-yearly cycles called AssetManagement Plan (AMP) periods. Prices are set byOfwat at the beginning of each period, followingsubmissions from each company about what it willcost to deliver their business plans.

Water and sewage companies have the followingresponsibilities around flood risk management:

l Respond to flooding incidents involvingtheir assets.

l Provide, maintain and operate systems ofpublic sewers and works for the purpose ofeffectually draining an area.

l Have a duty to co-operate with otherrelevant authorities in the exercise of theirflood and coastal erosion riskmanagement functions.

l Must have a regard to national and localflood and coastal erosion riskmanagement strategies.

l May be subject to scrutiny from lead localflood authorities’ democratic processes.

l Have a duty for the adoption of privatesewers.

l Consultee (but not a statutory consultee) tothe planning authority when the drainagesystem is proposed to connect with thepublic sewer.

Water and Sewerage Companies are responsiblefor flooding from their foul and surface water sewers,and from burst water mains. Flooding is reportedinto 24 hour operational call centre on 03457 145145. The call centre agent will check that the

flooding incident involves their assets. If it does not,then they will redirect the call if necessary. If assetsare identified, a job is raised and dispatched to fieldteams. If flooding is present or evidence of floodingis present, details will be recorded on a ‘FloodingForm’ and investigated as appropriate which maylead to recording the property on the FloodingRegister.

The Flooding register is a register of properties andareas that have suffered or are likely to sufferflooding from public foul, combined or surfacewater sewers due to overloading of the seweragesystem or due to blockages caused by fat, oil,grease or other unflushable items.

Investment in the alleviation of sewer flooding isclosely allied to the Flooding register and whererepeat blockages occur. Priority is given to frequentinternal flooding problems where a cost beneficialand sustainable solution is available.

An essential flood risk management duty is definedunder Section 94 of the Water Industry Act 1991,which states that Water and Sewerage Companieshave a duty to provide, maintain and operatesystems of public sewers and works for the purposeof effectively draining our area. They also have a

23

Keep It Clear is Anglian Water's campaignto help reduce blockages in sewers thatcan cause flooding and pollutionincidents. Fat, oil, grease and unflushableitems such as wipes and sanitary productsshould be disposed of in the bin, and notdown the drain.

Keep it Clear has been established in anumber of towns across Suffolk, andoverall a 52% reduction in blockages hasbeen the result of this campaign.

For more information, relating to either homes or businesses, please visitwww.keep-it-clear.co.uk


24

duty under the same Act relating to premises for‘domestic sewerage purposes’. In terms ofwastewater this is taken to mean the ordinarycontents of lavatories and water which has beenused for bathing, washing and cooking purposesand for surface water the removal from yards androofs. However, there is no legal duty or responsibilityrelating to highway drainage, land drainage andwatercourses, with the exception that Water andSewerage Companies can accept highwaydrainage by agreement with a highway authority.

Currently, foul and surface water drainage fromnew developments can be connected to publicsewers and a Water and Sewerage Company hasno powers to prevent new connections to itsnetwork, even if it believes it could cause floodingto customers. This is why Anglian Water commentson planning applications even though they are nota statutory consultee.

2.4.3 Understanding the roles of those who arenot statutory flood risk management authorities

Utility and Infrastructure Providers such as NetworkRail, energy companies and telecommunicationcompanies are not risk management authorities.However they have a crucial role to play in flood riskmanagement as their assets can be importantconsideration in planning for flooding. Moreoverthey may have assets such as culverts, informationabout which needs to be shared with flood riskmanagement authorities. They already maintainplans for the future development and maintenanceof the services they provide, and it is important thatthey factor in flood risk management issues into thisplanning process. This will ensure that their assetsand systems are resilient to flood and coastal risksand that the required level of service can bemaintained in the event of an incident. Utility andinfrastructure providers may wish to invest time andresources into developing and delivering the localflood risk management strategy, to realise thesignificant benefits for them and their customers thatfollow from flood risks being effectively managed.

Property Owners and Residents

It is the responsibility of householders andbusinesses to look after their property, includingprotecting it from flooding. While in somecircumstances other organisations or property

owners may be liable due to neglect of their ownresponsibilities, there will be many occasions whenflooding occurs despite all parties meeting theirresponsibilities. Consequently it is important thathouseholders whose homes are at risk of floodingtake steps to ensure that their house is protected.These steps include to:

l check whether their household is at riskfrom flooding from the river, coast or localflood sources.

l ensure that preparations have been madein the event of a flood.

l take measures to ensure that their house isprotected from flooding, either throughpermanent measures such as sealants inthe wall, or temporary measures such asfloodsax or flood guards.

l take measures to make sure the house isresilient to flooding so that if it does occur itdoes not cause too much damage.

l where possible, take out flood insurance.

Information on whether households are at risk canbe provided by the Environment Agency17

All households in Flood Zones 2 and 3 (areas at riskfrom coastal or main river flooding) should havebeen contacted notifying them of this and, unlessthey have chosen to opt-out, will receive floodwarnings.

Riparian Ownership

Landowners, householders and businesses whoseproperty is adjacent to a river or stream or ditchare likely to be riparian owners with responsibilities.If a property backs out onto a river, stream or ditchthen the property owner is likely to be a riparianowner, owning the land up to the centre of thewatercourse. The Land Registry may be ableconfirm this. In the case of highway ditches, theadjacent landowner is normally deemed to haveriparian responsibility for the whole of thewatercourse to the top of the roadside edge.

Riparian owners have a right to protect theirproperty from flooding and erosion, but in mostcase will need to discuss the method of doing thiswith the Environment Agency or County Council.Riparian owners are responsible for maintaining

17 http://watermaps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiyby.aspx?topic=ufmfsw#x=357683&y=355134&scale=2


25

and clearing debris (even if this is not from theirland) from the watercourse or ditch, as well asvegetation on the banks, in order to keep theseclear and prevent flooding. They have responsibilityfor ensuring there is no obstruction, diversion orpollution to the flow of the watercourse. Full detailscan be found in the Environment Agency’sdocument 18 ‘Living on the Edge’.

When undertaking watercourse maintenance,riparian owners, like statutory agencies, need to bemindful of their obligations in respect ofenvironmental legislation and the requirements ofthe Water Framework Directive. Riparian ownersalso need to be mindful of the need to gainconsents for certain works - see Section 2.7.

Parish Councils and Communities

Flooding events can affect whole communities withhouseholds which do not suffer from internal floodingstill potentially being trapped as roads are blockedor having to help support and provide shelter toneighbours who have suffered from flooding.

Communities know better than anyone the level offlood risk that they face and can make importantcontributions to helping manage the levels of floodrisk – see Section 2.10 on emergency preparedness.

District and County Councillors have a key role inhelping the Parish Councils and communitiesunderstand their role and ensuring affectedcommunities are properly represented indiscussions about local activities.

2.5 PlanningIn order to manage flood risk into the future, thereis a clear role for planning authorities to ensuredevelopers manage flood risk associated with newdevelopments.

The local planning authorities are the District andBorough Councils and the Broads Authority. Theirplanning function affects Flood Risk Managementin three key ways:

l Considering flooding concerns indeveloping local plans.

l Ensuring developers plan for residual floodrisk (Minimum standards are described in

Defra’s Non Statutory Technical Standardsfor SuDS and use of flood resilientmeasures) on new developments and thatthe development does not increase floodrisk elsewhere (see also section below onsustainable drainage).

l The National Planning Policy Frameworkidentifies the planning authority toundertake an Integrated Coastal ZoneManagement approach to coastal issuesand locations.

When considering flooding concerns in developinglocal plans the Planning Authority needs to do thefollowing:

l Produce a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment.This should consider not just fluvial andcoastal flooding, but also local flood riskissues. Where Critical Drainage Areas havebeen identified these will need to beincluded.

l Develop a Local Plan that carefullyconsiders flood and coastal erosion risks.This is a statutory planning documentwhich planners can then usetorecommend refusal of planningpermission within the floodplain.Consequently, the Strategic Flood RiskAssessment (SFRA) should support the localplan, the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessmentand Surface Water Management Plan(where applicable). This should allow thelocal plan' to assess and record the floodrisks for new developments and steerdevelopment to areas of lowest flood risk.Equally in maritime districts, there isrequirement to assess risks from coastalerosion and permanent tidal inundationand where appropriate designate coastalrisk management zones where permanentdevelopment will not be permitted.

l Planning authorities should only approvedevelopment where it can bedemonstrated that the proposal satisfies allthe following criteria:

(a) it does not increase the overall risk ofall forms of flooding in the area through

18. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/riverside-ownership-rights-and-responsibilities


26

the layout and form of the developmentand use of appropriate SuDS;

(b) it will be adequately protected fromflooding;

(c) it is and will remain safe for peoplefor the life time of the developmentand;

(d) it includes water efficiency measuressuch as rainwater harvesting or use oflocal land drainage water wherepracticable.

l Promote development in areas of lowestprobability of flooding through embeddingthe sequential approach referred to in theNational Planning Policy Framework withinthe Local Plan.

l Safeguard land for critical infrastructure.

l Develop action plans, where necessary, tosupport sustainable spatial planning andensure all plans are integrated and firmlylinked to local strategies.

l Ensure that neighbourhood plans fullyconsider flood risk issues.

Co-operation and early discussions with thedeveloper, the Planning Authority and the LeadLocal Flood Authority, Environment Agency andAnglian Water will be essential, particularly on majordevelopments, where the Lead Local FloodAuthority is a Statutory Consultee on surface watermatters. The Environment Agency is a statutoryconsultee for major developments if the site fallswithin Flood Zone 2 or 3.

Where appropriate, planning authorities arerequested to advise clients of the need discuss withthe Lead Local Flood Authority whether a landdrainage consent is required for alterations or newstructures within an ordinary watercourse and withthe Environment Agency for any alterations or newstructures within a main river.

Associated with the powers to regulate water levelmanagement activities within their operationalarea, IDBs provide comments to local planningauthorities on developments in their district and

when asked, make recommendations onmeasures required to manage flood risk and toprovide adequate drainage solutions.

2.5.1. Sustainable Drainage

A ministerial statement issued on 18th December2014, described the expectation that localplanning policies and decisions on planningapplications of 10 homes or more or equivalentnon-residential or mixed development shouldensure sustainable drainage sytems are put inplace unless demonstrated to be inappropriate.Suffolk County Council, as Lead Local FloodAuthority, is a statutory consultee on surface waterdrainage in the planning process, for majordevelopment, as set in schedule 5 of the Town andCountry Planning Order.

In considering planning applications for majordevelopments (more than 10 dwellings or 0.5ha)Local Planning Authorities should consult with thecounty council on the management of surfacewater disposal. The Local Planning Authority willneed to satisfy themselves that the proposedminimum standards of operation for SuDS areappropriate and ensure through the use ofplanning conditions or planning obligations thatthere are clear arrangements in place for ongoingmaintenance of the SuDS for the lifetime of thedevelopment. The county council will providetechnical advice on the surface water strategiesand design for individual developments. It will alsooffer advice on Local Plans, site allocations, andmasterplans.

The county council have produced a protocol (seeAppendix C), to inform Local Planning Authoritiesand developers on the surface water disposalprocess, the responsibilities of each riskmanagement authority, and how to submit asuccessful applications. In addition, a LocalSurface Water Drainage Guide has beenproduced (see Appendix A), and endorsed by theSuffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership, tooutline the various design criteria and the localinterpretation.

To assist in the validation of planning applications, aproforma18 has been produced which directs the

19. https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/flooding-and-drainage/guidance-on-development-and-flood-risk/


27

developer through the design process and is an aidto the local planning authority at validation stage.

All appropriate risk management authorities willwork with developers to encourage planneddevelopments to make the most of theirdrainage assets. One key element is to definewho will be adopting, and thus maintaining inperpetuity, the various parts of the development,as this will help determine the detailed criteria fordesign.

2.5.2 Neighbourhood planning

Neighbourhood planning provides a powerful setof tools for local people to ensure that they getthe right types of development for theircommunity. However, the ambition of thecommunity must be aligned with the strategicneeds and priorities of the wider local area. Thismust include the management of flood andcoastal risks. Information held by local authoritiesand used in the preparation of their Local Plansshould be sought as a starting point forneighbourhood plans.

2.6 Understanding flood incidentsTo assemble an accurate picture of flood riskacross Suffolk requires the collection of precise anduseful records from actual flood incidentsoccurring across the county.

Officers from risk management authorities are notin a position to know about every floodingincident that occurs, particularly those which donot lead to flooding within properties. However,records of flooding incidents which affectedroads or entered the curtilage of properties areimportant to record. They can indicate that therehas been extensive flooding in relatively regularrainfall events which would warn that theproperties are at risk in

more extreme rainfall events. This information iscrucial in building up cases for flood defence andflood resilience schemes which will require strongevidence of the flood risk to properties. Residents,business owners, Parish Councils and localcommunity groups have a key role in providing thisinformation to the county council.

The guiding principles for SuDS in Suffolk will be:

l Early consideration of sustainable flood and coastalrisk management in production of Local Plans and master planning– promoting and protecting ‘blue and green corridors’.

l Wherever possible, the use of multifunctional, above ground SuDSthat deliver drainage, enhancement of biodiversity, improvementsin water quality and amenity benefits.

l Ensuring that land owners realise both the importance of reducingflood risk and how properly designed sustainable drainage systemscan be an asset to their development.

l Ensuring no increase in flood risk from new development whereverpossible and contributing to reducing existing risk if feasible.

l Ensuring water flows around properties when the design capacityof drainage systems is exceeded by extreme rainfall.


Floods can be reported via the Highways ReportingTool (http://highwaysreporting.suffolk.gov.uk/) orphone 0345 606 6171.

Suffolk County Council logs all reported floodingincidents in the county onto a GIS system. Thisdata, alongside the national flood risk maps, helpsto prioritise where flood risk management activitiesshould take place.

In the event of a report of flooding, the level ofinvestigation carried out is determined by theconsequences of that flooding, with highestpriority given where there is a risk to life and whereproperties are flooded internally. Under the FWMAthe decision whether or not to carry out andpublish a formal investigation of a floodingincident is at the discretion of the Lead LocalFlood Authority and the comprehensiveness ofany investigation is adjusted to reflect thesignificance of the incident and the resourcesavailable. In the event of very widespread,significant flooding affecting large areas ofSuffolk, our ability to investigate every incident indetail is likely to be limited. See Appendix D fordetails (www.suffolk.gov.uk/flooding).

The aim is for Flood Investigation Reports to bring alluseful information together in one place, providingan understanding of situations, outlining possiblecauses of flooding and potential long-termsolutions. Investigations will outline, if relevant, whichauthorities or individuals have an involvement in aflood incident and outline their responsibility oractions, if any. Investigations will involveconsultation with the relevant risk managementauthorities, landowners and private organisationsinvolved, all of whom we expect to co-operatewith us and provide comments. Furtherrecommendations will also be made to highlightpotential flood risk management actions. Reportswill provide a clear understanding of floodingsituations, but our duty to investigate does notguarantee that problems will be resolved as thereare no powers available to force other authoritiesinto action. Decisions about next steps must bemade by the parties involved.

Flood Investigation Reports will be available toanyone on request within 3 months of an incident

being reported to Suffolk County Council. However,there are cases where this timeframe will beextended (e.g. if widespread flooding occurredacross the county or in very complex situations).The SFRMP will monitor the progress of anyproposed actions arising from the investigation.

2.7 Consenting work onwatercoursesIt is necessary to regulate the activities inwatercourses that might result in increased floodrisk, environmental damage or deterioration inWater Framework Directive status. An activity could

An investigation will normallybe carried out where any of thefollowing criteria are met:

l where there was a risk to life as aresult of flooding or where thoseaffected are particularly vulberabledue to age or infirmity preventingeasy relocation to safety;

l where internal flooding of oneproperty (domestic or business) hasbeen experienced on more thanone occasion;

l where internal flooding of fiveproperties has been experiencedduring one single flood incident;

l where a major transport route wasclosed for more than 10 hours as aresult of flooding;

l where critical infrastructure wasaffected by flooding (including carehomes, hospitals, etc)

l and where there is ambiguitysurrounding the source orresponsibility of a flood incident.

28


be refused consent if the flood risk orenvironmental harm was unacceptable, or in theinstance of deterioration in the WFD status of awater body, there was no derogation in place

Anyone wishing to undertake work in, over, under ornear a main river, flood or sea defence, or makechanges to any structure that helps control floods,must submit plans to the Environment Agency andapply for a Flood Defence Consent. Details areavailable on https://www.gov.uk/flood-defence-consent-england-wales. They are also likely alsorequire Coast Protection Act 1949 Consent fromSuffolk Coastal or Waveney District Councilswhichever is the relevant Maritime Local Authorityand / or Planning Permission.

Under the Land Drainage Act 1991 Suffolk CountyCouncil is responsible for ordinary watercourseregulation or land drainage consent in areas thatare not managed by the Internal Drainage Boardswithin Suffolk. As with the flood defence consentabove, construction or alterations within awatercourse requires consent.

For information about the need for consents andthe consenting process see Appendix Bhttp://www.greensuffolk.org/about/SFRMP/

Where obstructions or alterations are made withoutconsent, or in a manner contrary to a consent, theconsenting body has powers to enforce theirremoval or take remedial action.

2.8 Keeping a Register of keyflood risk assetsFlood Risk Assets are structures or features which areconsidered to have an effect on flood risk. Anexample could be an embankment protectingproperties and therefore decreasing flood risk, or anundersized culvert in a residential area, which mayactually increase flood risk during high rainfall. SuffolkCounty Council is required to ensure there arerecords of all significant assets available for use by riskmanagement authorities and for inspection by thepublic at all reasonable times. It will take many yearsbefore this register is sufficiently comprehensive to beof real value in flood risk management. Steps areunderway to develop a register within the countycouncil and to link up existing registers held by other

authorities. Unlike major assets associated with fluvialor tidal flooding or coastal erosion, there has oftenbeen much confusion over the ownership andmaintenance responsibility of local flood risk assets.This is likely to be due to local drainage infrastructurecommonly being hidden underground or along landboundaries, where landowners do not realise oracknowledge that they have any responsibility. TheAsset Register is a way to address this problem andensure that residents are aware of assets in their areaand have information to enable them to contact theassets’ owners when there are problems. There are no

Principles applied to issue ofordinary watercourse consents

l The guiding principle whenconsidering structures inwatercourses will be to resist pipingand culverts and, indeed, to removepipes to restore open watercourseswherever possible.

l The consideration of an applicationfor consent will take into account thefact that while a pipe may allow theflow of water, it may not be able toprovide the storage capacity of anopen watercourse in times of heavyrain and may be more difficult tomaintain.

l The consent will consider andcontrol the impact of the structure toup and downstream flows as well asassessing the impact on waterquality and ecology. Whererelevant, applicants will need todemonstrate compliance withenvironment legislation and theWater Framework Directive.

l When consents are issued, a recordof the new/ amended structure willbe kept along with details of thoseresponsible for it.

29


set criteria for what defines an asset as significant butthe most important consideration is its location, floodhistory at a site and the consequences of its failure.New sustainable drainage assets will be recordedand asset data is also captured through localstudies, such as Surface Water Management Plansand flood investigations.

2.9 Designation of key flood riskAssetsSuffolk County Council, the Environment Agency,Internal Drainage Boards and the District Councilsare defined under the Flood and WaterManagement Act as ‘designating authorities’. Thatis, they may ‘designate’ features or structures wherethe following four conditions are satisfied:

1. The designating authority thinks the existenceor location of the structure or feature affectsflood risk, or coastal erosion risk.

2. The designating authority has flood orcoastal erosion risk management functionsin respect of the risk which is affected.

3. The structure or feature is not designated byanother authority.

4. The owner of the structure or feature is not adesignating authority.

If an asset becomes ‘designated’ its owner cannotalter or remove it without first consulting thedesignating risk management authority. The aim ofdesignating flood risk assets is to safeguard themagainst unchecked works which could increaseflood risk in the area. Designating of features orstructures is not something that will be doneregularly but only when there are concerns aboutthe asset. All proposals for designation will bediscussed by the Suffolk Flood Risk ManagementPartnership in order to ensure consistency acrossthe designating authorities.

Note: designation of an asset does not meanthere is a duty on anyone to maintain it in itscurrent condition.

2.10 Emergency Planning andResponseAs well as trying to minimise flood risk throughregulatory activities and use of operational powers,there is a need for robust plans to manage a floodemergency and recover after it.

There is a National Flood Emergency Framework forEngland which provides guidance on developinglocal emergency plans. Emergency planning inSuffolk is coordinated by the Suffolk JointEmergency Planning Unit (JEPU) that contributesthrough the Suffolk Resilience Forum to multi-agency flood plans. These are developed to helpall the organisations involved in responding to aflood to work better together.

The Environment Agency, working alongside theMet Office, has a key role to provide forecasts andwarnings of flooding from rivers and the sea. Fordetails see https://www.gov.uk/prepare-for-a-flood.

Flooding from surface water or intense rainstorms ismuch more difficult to forecast accurately andthus only general bad weather warnings are issuedby the Met Office. These are used to direct theactivities of emergency responders, particularlyhighways authorities.

The Environment Agency and other asset operatingauthorities also have a role in proactive operationalmanagement of their assets and systems toreduce risk during a flood incident.

JEPU also has supports the efficient delivery of civilpreparedness and business continuity services withinlocal authorities, working closely with emergencyservices, the Environment Agency and otherrelevant bodies in the event of flood emergencies,assisting as appropriate in evacuation, rescue andrecovery after a flood. The unit has staff based indistrict and borough councils and centrally in theCounty Council and provides expertise to enablecouncils to meet their statutory responsibilities

Collectively JEPU, activity in preparing for, dealingwith and recovering from flooding incidents involves:

l Developing Community Risk Register and SuffolkEmergency Plans.

30


31

l Develop Business Continuity Managementarrangements.

l Develop arrangements for Civil Preparednessinformation available for public use.

l Maintain system for warning, informing andadvising public in event of any emergency.

l Provide advice and assistance to businessesand voluntary organisations about businesscontinuity management.

l During and after an emergency, JEPU willcoordinate county, district and boroughcouncils, particularly with respect to surface andgroundwater flooding and flooding from ‘nonmain rivers’; work with the other Category 1 and2 responders as part of the multi-agencyresponse to floods.

l Coordinate emergency support from thevoluntary sector.

l Liaise with central government departments.

l Liaise with essential service providers.

l Open rest centres.

l Manage the local transport and traffic networks.

l Mobilise trained emergency social workers.

l Provide emergency assistance.

l Deal with environmental health issues, such ascontamination and pollution.

l Coordinate the recovery process.

l Manage public health issues.

l Provide support and advice to individuals.

l Assist with business continuity.

An increasingly important part of the role of JEPU,supported by the Environment Agency andvoluntary organisations, is to encourage theformation of local emergency groups. If acommunity is at risk from flooding it is advisable tocreate an Emergency Plan which details who canbe contacted to lead and assist in anemergency, what equipment is available and thelocation of premises that can be used asemergency accommodation. Advice andassistance is available through the JointEmergency Planning Unit at District and Boroughcouncils and at the Suffolk Community

Emergency planningworkshop


32

Emergency Preparedness Site, Get Prepared Now(www.getpreparednow.co.uk).’

In the event of an emergency or major incidentSuffolk County Council as the highways authority willaim to provide:

l the means to transport people through its contactswith local bus, coach and taxi operators and the inhouse fleet to assist with evacuations, and helpinguninjured survivors at the scene of a major incidentto travel home or to a place of safety.

l assistance in management of the transportationnetwork to restore the flow of traffic in the eventof an evacuation or away from the area of anincident. This includes providing equipment such

as barriers, cones and signs and setting up andmarking route diversions (service provided byWorks Contractors in conjunction with the Police)and changing traffic signal controls to improvethe flow of traffic.

l use of the Suffolk Traffic Control Centre facilitiesand established media contacts to keep staffand the public across the county informed ontravel related matters, plus detection systems toenable management of traffic on the roadnetwork.

l the means to inspect repair or clear thehighway network through the provision of staff,materials and equipment sourced throughcontractors.

Flooded garden in Ipswich


33

The area of The Fens located within Suffolk isrelatively small but this belies its importance.Water management in this area is critical tomaintain flood risk at an acceptable level and,as a consequence, to ensure the continuedaccessibility to the area for a wide range of humanactivities including agriculture. The identification ofLead Local Flood Authorities as having a key rolein surface water management has given riseto a review of how the management of surfacewater in Suffolk can be integrated with that for theFens. There will be continuing dialogue betweenpractitioners to ensure that plans are developedjointly to maintain progress in furthering keyaspirations for the Fens and Suffolk generally. To thisend an objective and associated action has been

identified in Section 5 to cover this. It will beimportant to ensure that lessons learned fromsurface water management in the Fens areincorporated into any flood risk proposals in Suffolk.

The sections below provide information on the Fensarea, management plans and aspirations.

3.1 The Fens AreaThe Fens cover a large area of eastern England,stretching from the Wash out to Lincoln,Peterborough and Cambridge, with a small areastretching into the northwest corner of Suffolk.

Four different rivers – the Witham, Welland, Neneand Ouse, carry water from surrounding uplandsthrough the Fens and into the Wash.

3.2 Management Plans forthe FensThe Environment Agency has developedCatchment Flood Management Plans for theAnglian Region with the aim of taking a broad viewof flood risk at catchment level over the next 100years. Factors such as climate change, futuredevelopment and changes in land use and landmanagement were taken into account indeveloping sustainable policies for managingflood risk in the future.

The Fens area is covered by four differentCatchment Flood Management Plans (CFMPs);one for each of the fenland catchments of theNene, Welland and Glen, Witham and Great Ouseand also by the Wash Shoreline Management Plan(SMP). All five plans recommended that anintegrated plan is produced specifically for theFens in order to develop a sustainable, integratedand long term flood risk management approachfor this landscape area. There was also a need forany future plan to bring together organisations andother plans and projects from across the Fens.

3. The Fens Policy

Figure 3.1 Map of Fens area


Since the development and approval of theCFMPs, the legislative framework for flood riskmanagement landscape has changedconsiderably, providing opportunities to developa more integrated approach to upland andlowland flood risk and drainage managementfrom all sources.

The introduction of the duty for LLFAs to produceLocal Flood Risk Management Strategies (localstrategies) provides an opportunity for integratingand delivering the aims for the Fens. The Fens isalso recognised as a strategic area in the AnglianFRMP as to enable partners to consider flood riskmanagement across boundaries and work in a co-ordinated way to manage flood risk. Localstrategies are considered an appropriate vehicledue to their key role in setting objectives andidentifying priorities and funding needs for localflood risk management. Local strategies will also bedriven by LLFAs in partnership, will undergo publicconsultation and will be informed by CFMPS, SMPs,SFRAs and other relevant strategic and localdocuments. It is therefore considered a morepractical approach to ensure that flood risk anddrainage management of fenland areas is coordinated across the relevant local strategies.This is in preference to creating an additional,overlapping single strategy for the Fens,managed within a national, rather than localgovernance framework.

Local strategies will integrate the needs andopportunities of the local Fens and fenlandcommunities with those of the rest of the localLLFA area, and promote a consistent approachacross the Fens as a whole. This consistencyis crucial, for example, to IDBs, who often spanmore than one local authority and whosepractices will be similar throughout their area.The LLFAs of Lincolnshire, Peterborough,Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have thereforeagreed to work together closely to achieve thisaim. Forest Heath District Council has beeninvolved on behalf of Suffolk County Council sinceSuffolk’s fenland is principally located in this area.

3.3 Background to the FensLocalised drainage took place in the fenlandlandscape from as early as the medieval period.

However, large scale drainage of the Fens firstbegan in the 17th Century, when the ‘Fens’ as wenow know it began to take shape. Today thisartificially drained landscape is home toapproximately half a million people. The Fenscover an area of almost 1,500 square miles,divided between eleven District and five CountyCouncils. For comparison, figure 3.2 depicts howthe Fens landscape might look now had thearea not been drained from the medievalperiod onwards.

The Internal Drainage Boards within the Fens havebeen established over many years because of thespecial water level and drainage managementneeds existing within this area, and the particularneed for lowland and inland local flood riskmanagement activities. These local works arefunded in the main from funds levied locally byIDBs, and present an effective example of theGovernment’s ‘localism’ agenda.

Well maintained coastal and fluvial flooddefences, supporting an extensive drainageinfrastructure are essential in promoting sustainablegrowth in the Fens. Housing, jobs and services thatmeet the needs of the market towns and the ruralcommunities can only happen if drainage andflood risk is well managed. Growth in the Fens willneed to be embraced in a sustainable way;balancing development needs with the need topromote and protect open spaces, naturalhabitats, landscapes, the built environment andthe unique qualities of the Fens. It is thereforeessential that ‘Flood Risk Management Authorities’,utilities and local communities continue to workclosely with local planning authorities, so thatconsideration of sustainable drainage in particular(and flood and water management in general) arean integral part of the planning and developmentcontrol process.

Farming contributes significantly to the success ofthe local economy, supporting a large numberof businesses involved in the production of foodand rural tourism. The important role that farmingplays in the Fens is emphasised by the steadydecline in self-sufficiency in the UK, and theGovernment’s renewal of the food securityagenda. The Fens account for 50% of all Grade 1agricultural land in England, producing 37% of all

34


35

Figure 3.2: An illustration of the Fens before drainage

This illustration depicts how the fens landscape might look nowhad the area not been drained from the medieval periodonwards,. It has been created using geological, height andcontour information in conjunction with advice and guidancefrom Cambridgeshire County Council’s Ecologist.

This is for illustration purposes only and not to scale.

Salt water habitats,estuary, meres,marshland

Fresh waterhabitats,woodland

Fresh waterhabitats,marshland,rivers andcreeks

Fresh water lakes


vegetables and 24% of all potatoes grown in thecountry, as well as enough wheat to make 250million loaves of bread every year. The area alsosupports significant livestock, dairying and outdoorpig production. This supports a large well-established food processing industry. It is critical,therefore, that appropriate flood risk and drainagemanagement measures are taken to protect thisnationally important food production area.

In addition to food production, the Fens is popularfor tourism, attracting more than 15 million visitorsa year. The Fens provide a unique and rich habitat

for wildlife and include the Ouse and Nene Washeswhich while providing flood storage capacity,also retain important wetland for birds. There arealso major transport networks, road and rail, as wellas houses, critical infrastructure, water, gas andelectricity that would be affected if fenland areaswere to flood. The Fens also contain heritage sitesand form three sides of the Wash, whichis internationally designated for animal and plantbiodiversity. There are also numerous local sites,ranging from SSSIs to Local Nature Reserves whichneed to be protected.

3.4 AspirationsTo reflect the importance of the Fens as a highly productive andprecious resource, the following aspirations have been identified for thewider area in respect of flood risk and drainage management:

l Continue to ensure that appropriate flood risk and drainagemanagement measures are taken to protect the nationally importantfood production areas in the Fens.

l Ensure that where appropriate, current levels of protection aremaintained in the Fens taking into account climate change.

l Manage flood risk and drainage in accordance with principlesof sustainable development.

l Ensure that new development in flood risk areas is appropriate andincorporates adequate flood resilient measures, so that adverseconsequences of flooding are not increased.

l Contribute towards the protection and enhancement of theenvironmental heritage and the unique landscape character ofthe Fens, including biodiversity.

l Support promotion and use of the waterways and other areas in theFens for tourism and recreation.

l Develop effective dialogue with local communities to facilitate theirinvolvement in flood risk management in the Fens.

l Work with local planning authorities to help them grow the economyin the Fens, through the early consideration of flood and watermanagement needs.

36

4.1 Historic floodingThe most notorious flood in recent memory was the1953 tidal flood (see photo right),which resultedfrom high tides combined with a severe storm inthe North Sea. It resulted in over 307 lives being lostin the eastern counties, (40 in Felixstowe) andwidespread damage to properties, agriculturalland and the natural environment in Suffolk.

A similar magnitude tidal surge was experienced inDecember 2013 but fortunately without strongwinds. With the benefit of modern early warningsystems and evacuation of vulnerable areas, nolives were lost. However, over 200 properties wereflooded across the county together with manyhectares of farmland, roads and infrastructure. Aswell as overtopping defences, this surge resulted invarious breaches to existing defences, some ofwhich were not cost-effective to repair. This scale offlooding could easily occur again.

Unlike areas of the country such as Gloucestershire,Hull and Cumbria, in Suffolk there have been fewrecent severe fluvial or surface water floodingevents that have been worthy of national presscoverage. However, in 1993 there was widespreadfluvial and surface water flooding across Suffolkresulting in many flooded properties, especially inthe south and east of the county.

There have been 1095 incidents of surface waterflooding reported in the period January 2012 –August 2015 caused by heavy and/or prolongedrainfall particularly during the wet winters of 2012/13and 2013/14 and again in summer 2015.

Past records are valuable as it is necessary to lookback over a long time period when assessing floodrisks. They clearly illustrate that localised floods haveand will continue to happen in many areas of thecounty under severe weather conditions andclimate change is likely to make them morefrequent and more severe. Our aim is to try topredict and reduce the risks where possible andhave emergency plans in place to deal with theexceptionally severe event. Unlike a tidal surge,flooding caused by localised heavy rainfall is hardto predict and as yet there are no adequatewarnings available to allow evacuation of an areaat risk from this type of event.

Whilst there is good data on past river and seafloods, our information on historic surface waterflooding is much more limited. Availableinformation was collated as part of the SuffolkPreliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA)24 process.The data available was inconsistent, but was usedto provide an initial indication of where floodinghas been recorded in the past.

It will be important to consider the relativesignificance of incidents of flooding on a county-


37

4. Assessment of local flood risk

1953 floods

Lowestoft Station Square flooded as result oftidal surge in December 2013


wide basis and alongside this strategy we have set-up a flood incident reporting process. This permitsa better understanding of where the mainproblems are and where the focus of future helpshould be placed. The data collected through theflood incident recording process is being used tosupplement the current information on historicflooding. This information together with that derivedfrom any flood investigations and surface watermanagement plans undertaken will be reviewedon a regular basis to guide priorities for future work,

One task will be to review the historic floodinginformation held to see whether it might be

possible to identify locations where flood mitigationmeasures could be implemented. Property floodresilience measures such as flood doors and airbrick covers can, in appropriate situations, and ifused correctly, provide effective resistance toflooding at minimal cost.

Groundwater flooding is viewed as being aproblem in the northwest corner of Suffolk nearBrandon. This area comes within the Fens areawhich is managed by the Ely Group of InternalDrainage Boards who will be consulted on allmatters relating to flood risk management inthe area.

38

Above: Example of a flood gate installed at anindividual property

Above: Example of a flood gate installed toa communal car parking area

20.http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/assets/suffolk.gov.uk/Emergency%20and%20Safety/Civil%20Emergencies/SUFFOLKPFRAREPORTFINAL.pdf

Extract from the Suffolk PFRA20:

‘Potential flood risk has been identified primarily from national sources. The Flood Map for SurfaceWater gives an indication of the areas where surface water would be expected to flow or pondduring two different rainfall events (with a 1 in 30 and a 1 in 200 annual chance of occurring) andincludes a national allowance for drainage capacity in urban areas. The urban undergrounddrainage system would be expected to be removing a proportion of rain falling, thus reducingflood volumes apparent on the ground surface. This dataset has been used as the ‘locally agreedsurface water information’ defined in the PFRA guidance document.

The data from the Flood Map for Surface Water (Figure 4.2) has been used to develop maps foruse in GIS systems. For each of the rainfall events two maps have been produced; one identifyingareas where flooding is greater than 0.1m (surface water shallow) and one identifying whereflooding is greater than 0.3m (surface water deep).


39

4.2 Potential risk of floodingThe Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) wasundertaken by the County Council to satisfyobligations under the Flood Risk Regulations 2009.This work identified key areas in Suffolk where thepotential risk of surface water flooding is thought tobe greatest.

This has allowed us to rank the main towns/villagesat risk in the county. Figure 4.2 illustrates this datashowing the total population at risk. Theidentification of the location of these clustersprovides a very useful starting point as to whereparticular effort should be focused in respect offurther investigations and flood risk reduction.

NB. It does not, however, mean that these arethe only areas with the potential to flood andcause damage.

See Figure 4.4 for summary information on thepotential flooding locations and the likelypopulation that would be affected.

4.3 Interactions between thedifferent sources of floodingWhilst the primary focus of this strategy is localflooding (surface, ground and small watercoursessuch as ditches and streams), flooding in Suffolkcan arise from a number of different sources.To members of the public suffering from flooding,the source of the water may seem irrelevant, butfor each source there will be a different responsibleorganisation – see Chapter 2 for details.

Where the source can be clearly identified, theresponsible organisation will be the main point ofcontact. However, as is often the case, where it isnot easy to ascertain the source or where multiple

Figure 4.2: Suffolk Surface Water Risk Priority Areas map


40

Figure 4.1: Surface water flood risk in Suffolk, together with record of reported incidents in the past 3 years.

Using this information it is estimated that around 2200 properties may be at risk from surface water flooding in a 1 in 100 year

rainfall event. This number rises to well over 5000 in a 1 in 1000 year event.


41

sources are involved, the Lead Local FloodAuthority will take the lead and work with partners toinvestigate and deal with the issue in a mannerappropriate to the level of risk.

The flood incident reporting process will haveprovision within it for the collection of informationto enable, where at all possible, the responsibleorganisation for flooding to be identified.Where the flooding satisfies the criteria for carryingout a full investigation (see section 2.4.2) and it hasnot been possible, based on information obtainedthrough a flood incident report, to establish thesource, this would need to be done as part ofthe full investigation.

The full investigation will take account of allelements of information such as stakeholders’historic records, hydraulic model output and,critically, information obtained from members ofthe public at the time of the flooding incident.Parish Councils, landowners and the public will becrucial to helping us increase our knowledge andunderstanding of localised flooding.

It is important to note that tidal flooding representsa significant problem in Suffolk where the

consequences are likely to be very serious,albeit infrequent. Suffolk is ranked number 3 inthe national list of critical tidal flooding locations.

In addition to current focus on tidal flooding, therewill be full co-operation between partners wherethere is an interaction between the sea andsurface water. In some areas, the ability of surfacewater to drain into the sea is limited during veryhigh tides, thus increasing the risk of flooding fromtwo sources at once.

Flood water and river catchments do not respectcounty boundaries and thus close liaison withsurrounding Lead Local Flood Authorities is essentialto managing all sources of flood and coastal risksin a sustainable and holistic way. Whereappopriate we will collaborate with neighbouringcounties on cross-border projects.

4.4 Prioritisation of areas acrossthe county where resources willbe focusedIt is not feasible to look in detail at every potentialflooding location straight away. The resources tomanage flood risk are finite and it is therefore

Bungay Sluice, River Waveney


42

Flooding type Description Responsibleorganisation

Coastal flooding Tidal flooding represents a significant problem in Suffolkwhere the consequences are likely to be very serious,albeit infrequent

Environment Agency

Ordinary watercoursese.g. streams and ditches

Local, generally smaller watercourses Riparian owners.

Internal DrainageBoards in their areas

Main rivers Principal watercourses and strategic smaller watercourses (see map Section 2.7.2)

Environment Agency

Reservoirs Large water pounds which have embankments representa potential flood risk

Environment Agency

Surface water flooding High intensity rainfall gives rise to overland flow of surfacewater which can pond in low lying areas giving rise toflooding. This is also known as pluvial flooding


Sewer flooding The public sewer system has a finite capacity and attimes of heavy rainfall surface water entering designatedsurface water sewers, combined sewers (ones whichreceive foul and surface water flows) and designated foulsewers which are subject to penetration of surface waterthrough misconnections etc can become overloadedgiving rise to surface flooding

Anglian Water

Groundwater flooding Geological conditions can cause surface water which hasinfiltrated into the ground to emerge at certain locationsin the form of wells etc. Also high water tables can bepresent in locations where there are particular groundconditions. This type of flooding generally occurs afterlong periods of rainfall as water builds up in undergroundaquifers ultimately causing an increase in flow in featuressuch as leets (groundwater-fed watercourses)


Highway flooding Highways have extensive drainage systems and at timesof heavy rainfall either hydraulic overload or perhapsinadequate maintenance can give rise to ponding ofwater which can in turn have an impact on property. Thepresence of deep water on roads can also give rise toproblems for road users causing flooded roads to beclosed at certain times

Suffolk County CouncilHighways England

Railway flooding A rare occurrence, but at times of heavy rainfall there isthe potential for hydraulic incapacity or poormaintenance to give rise to flooding which can affectrailway operations

Network Rail

Figure 4.3: Potential flooding sources and responsible organisations


43

necessary to identify locations where the focus ofeffort will derive the maximum benefit in termsof overall flood risk reduction in Suffolk.

The identification of the flooding clusters shown inFigure 4.2 offers an initial level of priority in relationto surface water flooding but there are other keyfactors which will have a bearing on whereresources should be concentrated:

l Population concentration. The main aim of thestrategy is to reduce flood risk for the greatestnumber of Suffolk residents.

l Proposed development activity. This will give riseto the consideration of drainage arrangements/opportunities in particular areas which mightoffer a way of reducing existing flood risks.

l Locations for capital investment. Any capitalproject might offer opportunities for flood riskreduction through modification of constructionproposals. Conversely, where specific flooddefence investment is being made, there maybe opportunities to modify the project toprovide wider benefits to other stakeholders,thus encouraging additional investment.

l The location of static and touring caravan sitesbecause of their particular vulnerability.

l Historic surface water flooding.

l Groundwater flooding.

l Main river flooding. Information on main riverflooding is derived from the EnvironmentAgency ‘Flood Map’ and is considered in detailin the Anglian Flood Risk Management Plan andCatchment Management Plans.

l Tidal flooding. Information on tidal flooding isderived from the Environment Agency ‘FloodMap’ and is considered in detail in the ShorelineManagement Plans.

l Ordinary watercourse flooding. There is currentlylimited data available on this and, like surfacewater flooding, will benefit from future records oflocal flooding incidents.

l Anglian Water records of sewer flooding. WaterCompanies provide information to Ofwat onflooding experienced on the public sewerage

network, referred to as DG 5 information.Anglian Water’s investment in reducing floodingfrom the public sewerage network is focussedon historic flooding locations.

l Environmentally protected sites, historicbuildings and monuments. National datasetsare available which provide the location ofstructures and sites which are vulnerable toflood damage. It is worth noting that flooding isnot always detrimental to environmental sites.

The risks from coastal erosion are excluded fromthis list, being outside the scope of this strategy.However, the management of flood and coastalerosion risks need to be integrated and there willneed to be close liaison between responsiblebodies on a county basis to decide investmentpriorities. This will be achieved by closer workingbetween the Suffolk Flood Risk ManagementPartnership and the Suffolk Coast Forum.

Based on information currently available, a prioritybanding has been identified for surface waterflooding using currently available information.

We are continuing to undertake more detailedsurface water management plans for these townsand villages. These will provide the means ofinvestigating, in more detail, the locations at riskwithin these towns and villages, the reasons whythey are at risk and whether there is a sustainable,cost-effective means of reducing the risk – either inthe short or longer term. The level of investigationwill be appropriate to the perceived risk and willfollow the national guidelines for undertakingsurface water management plans21.

As can be seen from Figure 4.3, Ipswich andLowestoft have been identified in Band A ofpriorities as the population potentially at risk fromflooding is significantly higher than the other mainlocations and have already been the subject of adetailed Surface Water Management Plan22. Thisinvestigatory work will give rise to theimplementation of actions to reduce flood risk inthe Ipswich area. A project is underway in Lowestoftlooking at all flood risks (tidal, fluvial and surfacewater) due for completion by 2019/20.

Having carried out further surface water

21 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/flood-risk-management-information-for-flood-risk-management-authorities-asset-owners-and-local-authorities22 http://www.greensuffolk.org/assets/Greenest-County/Climate-Ready/Flooding/Ipswich-Surface-Water-Management-Plan-Report.pd.pdf


44

management plans, all related data will becompiled in a GIS database to enable practitionersto develop a visual impression of problems andopportunities on a spatial basis. Large amounts ofrelevant information have already been loadedinto the Suffolk Surface Water GIS which will beavailable to other partners as needed.

When this Strategy was first published in 2013, thenumbers of properties at surface water flood riskwere overestimated. Subsequent refinement of riskmaps produced more accurate figures - althoughthey remain estimates based on the best availableinformation at this time.

Other areas where a surface water managementplan has been or is in the process of beingundertaken are:

l Lowestoft

l Newmarket

l Leiston

l Needham Market

l Sudbury/Great Cornard

As well as the locations listed in Figure 4.4, we willcontinue to monitor all other areas at risk and whereaffordable solutions are available will do all we canto reduce risks. This will require the co-operation oflocal communities and all partners.

4.5 Catchment FloodManagement Plans23

The paragraphs above largely concentrate on therisks from surface, ground and ordinarywatercourse flooding (the Lead Local FloodAuthority responsibilities). However, as noted above,the management of these risks will need to bealigned with wider flood risk priorities – as detailedwithin the Catchment Flood Management Plans(CFMPs), and now incorporated into the AnglianFlood Risk Management Plan (FRMP)24. The FRMPfocusses on river and tidal flooding and flooding

Priority Priority group Location Properties at risk

1 A Ipswich 275

2 A Lowestoft 110

3 B Newmarket 90

4 B Sudbury/Great Cornard 70

4 B Haverhill 70

6 B Bury St Edmunds 50

7 C Felixstowe 40

7 C Needham Market 40

8 C Woodbridge 38

9 C Stowmarket 25

11 C Hadleigh 20

12 C Brandon 10

Figure 4.4: Initial identification of surface water priority areas based on properties at risk from 1 in 100 year flood risk. Based on National Updated Flood Map for Surface Water (2013).

23. www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/06/10/pb13546-surface-water-guidance/24. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/flood-risk-management-plans-frmps-2015-to-2021


45Figure 4.5: Map showing risk from rivers and sea (from Anglian River BasinFlood Risk Management Plan).


46

Notes:

* Figure quoted is for 0.5% annual probability of a tidal flooding risk.

** The Fens and The Broads are quoted in their entirety making it difficult to quote a Suffolk specific figure. Similarly the Mid Colneand Stour rivers, covering parts of north Essex and South Suffolk (including Stratford St Mary, Nayland, Bures and Hadleigh) are alsoquoted together.

risk from reservoirs, but also includes flood risk fromsurface, ground and ordinary watercourse.

There are CFMPs covering the river catchmentsacross Suffolk:

l Broadland Rivers.

l East Suffolk.

l Great Ouse.

l North Essex.

The area covered by the East Suffolk CFMP isentirely within the county of Suffolk.

Figure 4.5 shows the collated data contained inthe FRMP covering the Anglian River Basin District,which includes Suffolk. It illustrates the level of risksto properties identified in the plans. Full details ofthese risks, plus risks to agricultural land and criticalinfrastructure, together with proposed actions todeal with them, are contained within the individualplans.

Catchment Flood Management Plansgive an overview of the flood risk across each river catchment. They recommend ways ofmanaging those risks now and over the next 50-100 years. They consider all types of inlandflooding, from rivers, ground water, surface water and tidal flooding, but not flooding directly fromthe sea, which is covered in Shoreline Management Plans. They also take into account the likelyimpacts of climate change, the effects of how we use and manage the land, and how areascould be developed to meet our present day needs without compromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs.

Definition of CFMPs from Environment Agency website


47

This chapter sets out the primary objectives andactions which will be taken forward to makeprogress in the reduction of risks associated withflooding. The overarching aim will be to ensure asustainable approach that supports, and wherefeasible enhances, the economy, environmentand society in Suffolk.

In stating these objectives we considered threeoptions for flood risk management:-

Do nothing – potentially more properties will floodand for those already at risk of flooding they willpotentially flood to a greater depth and/or morefrequently.

Maintain – keep pace with climate change sothat there is no net increase in flood risk; existingflood infrastructure will need to be improved over

time and all new development will need to takeclimate change into account.

Improve – take action to reduce the number ofproperties that would potentially flood and thepotential impacts of that flooding.

After discussions with key stakeholders, we proposeto take a pragmatic approach to reduce thecurrent flood risk and ensure that we do nothingto make this worse in the future.

Where possible we will work with the population ofSuffolk to reduce the risks, recognising the limitedresources available for flood and coastal riskmanagement and other priorities within the county.

The ways in which we hope to achieve this aresummarised in the following table and developedin the table overleaf sections.

5. Objectives for managing floodand coastal risk and options toachieve them

Sustainable drainage system in Ipswich


48

Objective Actions to achieve the objective

1 To improve the understanding offlood and coastal risks and ensureeveryone understands their rolesand responsibilities in reducingthe risks.

This strategy will provide a clear explanation of the roles of floodrisk management authorities as well as the important roles thatresidents, businesses and land managers can play.

Property owners will be involved in decisions about flood riskmanagement in their areas.

Develop clear and consistent guidance for the public tounderstand the risk of flooding, explaining the actions that residentsand businesses can take to manage the residual flood risk andbecome more resilient to flooding.

Develop greater understanding of surface water flood risksby building up a better record of where flooding occurs andthrough targeted detailed investigations (surface watermanagement plans).

Continue to publicise a simple process for recording all floodingincidents so residents and Parish Councils can help us understandexisting problems.

Continue to utilise a consistent approach to recording of floodassets and make this readily available to all interested parties.

Ensure any risks that are recognised but cannot be reduced in theshort-term are registered with the Joint Emergency Planning Unitand affected residents are helped to prepare for flooding.

2 To work together (both statutoryorganisations and the public) toreduce flood and coastal risks,using all available resources andfunds to the greatest benefit.

Continue to work in partnership through the Suffolk Flood RiskManagement Partnership and the Suffolk Coast Forum.

Continue to explore and make use of opportunities for sharingfinancial burdens and resources associated with the provision offlood and coastal risk management through the new nationalpartnership funding and local initiatives.

Collectively we will work with local communities who wish tocontribute to short term improvements. At the same time planahead to anticipate and reduce future flood risks.

Property and business owners will be encouraged to protect theirproperties if they are at risk from flooding. We will provideinformation and advice on this and promote and support theformation of local emergency groups to prepare for flooding.

3 To prevent an increase in flood riskas a result of development bypreventing additional waterentering existing drainage systemswherever possible.

Building on government guidelines on sustainable drainage we willpromote the local SuDS guidance which will emphasise that thereshould be no increase in surface water flow from futuredevelopment.

Ensure that planning decisions are based on up-to-dateinformation about all flood risks and that there is a consistentapproach to surface water management in new development as aresult of Planning Authorities consulting with the LLFA on surfacewater drainage matters.

Continued on next page


49

Objective Actions to achieve the objective

3 Continued from previous page. Ensure that this Strategy informs Local Plans/planning policy andvice versa.

Look for opportunities to separate surface and foul water incombined sewers to relieve the pressure on the sewerage network.

4 Take a sustainable and holisticapproach to flood and coastalmanagement, seeking to deliverwider economic, environmentaland social benefits, climatechange mitigation andimprovements under the WaterFramework Directive.

Promote the concept of water cycle management and multi-functional spaces that will hold flood water, provide space forwildlife and local green space as part of the master planningprocess.

Work with partners to ensure that all planning and other relevantguidance documents include reference to relevant advice onthese issues.

When undertaking any flood risk management schemes,ensure consideration is given to all relevant plans and policies, e.g. CFMPs, SMPs, RBMPs, SFRA, FRMP and the impact onprotected environments.

Link all flood and coastal risk management with the River BasinManagement Plan and thus deliver improvements in water bodystatus (water quality, quantity and aquatic ecology) whereverpossible.

Provide advice to homeowners about sustainable watermanagement at a domestic scale.

5. Encourage maintenance ofprivately owned flood defencesand ordinary watercourses, andminimise unnecessary constrictionsin watercourses.

Provide guidance and administer a process for consenting of newstructures and maintenance of existing structures on watercourses.This process will discourage further blocking of watercourseswherever possible.

Ensure riparian owners are aware of their duties to keepwatercourses flowing freely.

Provide support and guidance to people who wish to maintain orimprove flood defences on private land.

Record all appropriate structures/assets on watercourses so thatownership and responsibility can be identified in the event of afuture problem with flooding.

6. To share information on the latestand best ideas for flood andcoastal management.

The Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership and theSuffolk Coast Forum will share and where relevant publiciseexemplars of successful flood and coastal management to aidlocal decision making.

The Partnership will utilise and promote good practice guidance,for example the Drainage Channel Biodiversity Manual: integratingwildlife and flood risk management.*

7. To ensure that proposals andpolicies in this strategy areproperly integrated with the rest ofthe Fens area

Develop effective communication between Suffolk County Counciland all organisations with responsibility for flood risk managementin the Fens area where water management is particularly critical.

* Published by the Association of Drainage Authorities and Natural England


50

Some further background information aboutthese objectives and their delivery is given inthe following sections.

5.1 To provide a clearexplanation of everyone’sresponsibilitiesIn the past, the way that flooding has beenmanaged has been fragmented and notcoordinated.

A primary issue was the absence of a singleorganisation having overall responsibility for surfacewater management and the upshot of this was theidentification of Lead Local Flood Authorities ashaving that responsibility. This responsibility is nowenshrined in the Flood and Water ManagementAct 2010. However, other responsibilities remainwith existing organisations and to the layman theissue of flood management is still very confusing.

Chapter 2 outlines the roles and responsibilities ofthe various flood risk management authorities andother stakeholders, as well defining what riparianowners, the public and businesses should do tocontribute to managing flood risk' after 'contribute.Stakeholders can be defined as anyone who maybe affected by the problem or solution or will beinterested in the problem or solution. They can beindividuals or organisations and include the public,businesses and communities.

The Act requires the Lead Local Flood Authority towork with all interested parties.

The Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership andthe Suffolk Coast Forum will be the main vehiclesfor co-ordination and collaborative working. In theevent of any uncertainty, the County Council willinvestigate flooding to identify who is responsiblefor action. Where necessary the County Council willcoordinate discussions about a resolution to theproblem in discussion with responsible authoritiesand local residents/businesses/landowners.

All parties have contributed to the development ofthis strategy.

There are a number of local examples of effectiveengagement and communications andcommunities working with risk management

authorities to deliver real benefits on the ground,particularly in relation to coastal risk management.The experience from these will be used to informfuture collaborative working and will be widelyshared with others.

5.2 Involving residents andlandowners in flood riskmanagementThere is a lack of understanding on the part of thepublic on issues associated with drainage andthe management of flood risk generally.The administration of surface water has beensimplified by recently implemented legislation butmost people still to find it difficult to understand thecomplex issues of water management. There isa need to provide concise and clear guidance toaddress this and clarify the roles and responsibilitiesof riparian owners and land managers.

Residents, businesses and property developersalso need a better understanding of the issuesassociated with funding and installation ofresistance/resilience facilities to premises whereflooding is likely to occur. No matter how muchmoney is spent on flood defences and drainage,there will always be a residual risk of flooding inextreme rainfall events. Everyone needs tounderstand their own risk and decide whether to takeindividual measures to protect their property orprepare in other ways for possible flooding.

The information that will be provided to residentsand businesses will make clear that significantprogress can be made in flood risk reduction ifpeople in Suffolk are willing to make their owncontribution, both in terms of practical help andfunding. The statutory flood risk authorities will makeprogress in a wide range of aspects but individualsdoing what they can to help will be a very powerfuladditional source of improvement.

Residents must ensure that any development oftheir personal property does not give rise toincreased flows into surface water systems toensure there is no increase in flood risk elsewhere.will be very beneficial. Some of these issues aresubject to planning law but residents are in aposition to assist in reducing flood risk through the


51

use of SuDS such as permeable driveways throughuse of permeable driveways, swales, rain gardensetc.

There are a number of relevant guidancenotes/pamphlets available which provide clearinformation to non-professionals on all aspects ofwater management. Arrangements will be madefor this information to be more widely distributed,particularly via partners’ websites.

Some of the identified topics which require bettercommunication are:

l Riparian owner responsibilities.*

l Installing and operating flood protection andresilience measures to individual properties.

l Opportunities for individual property owners toassist in reducing flood risk, such as reducingimpermeable surfaces in gardens and use ofgreen roofs.

l Individuals acting as ‘eyes and ears’ to noticescreens blocking-up and culverts overflowingand reporting flooding incidents.

l Preparing for flooding – the production ofemergency plans, etc.

5.3 Working together to useresources and funding in anintegrated way and in so doingderive enhanced overall benefitChapter 6 outlines the main funding mechanisms forflood and coastal erosion risk management. TheSuffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership and theSuffolk Coast Forum working together with relevantstakeholders and community groups will identifyschemes and collectively seek appropriate funding.The challenge will be to use existing funding streamsin a more coordinated way so as to derive additionalbenefit in terms of overall flood risk reduction.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management is alreadybeing taken forward through the Suffolk CoastForum and work is underway to streamline the waythe various authorities utilise their human andfinancial resources for coastal managementand integrate relevant strategies and plans. Thisextends to working closely with local communitygroups to deliver and/or maintain smaller scaleprojects on the coast and estuaries. The SuffolkFlood Risk Management Partnership is trying to takea similar approach in the inland situation.

Surface water management is a newer disciplinefor many and thus there is a need to provideappropriate tools and training to all professionalsinvolved in surface water management to enablethem to develop an understanding of issues.

5.4 Ensuring a balance betweenthe identification of high levelplans and the resolution oflocal floodingThere is a danger that focussing on high levelplans and strategies will delay actually makingprogress ‘on the ground’ with flood risk reduction.The success of the overall flood risk reductionstrategy will require the demonstration to allresidents who have knowledge/experience ofproblems that progress is actually being made onflood risk reduction at their local level.

Resilience measures can be described as those which make iteasier and quicker to undertake a clear-upfollowing a flooding inundation.Such measures could include for instanceinternal house walls which are constructed insuch a way as to enable them to be flusheddown after a flooding event. A cement, ratherthan plaster, based surface material to a wallwith a waterproof paint application could beconsidered as a resilience measure.

Resistance measures can be described as those which preventwater getting into property. These couldinclude dams located at individual propertydoorways/air brick flaps and also moreregionalised measures such as theinstallation of temporary dams to provideflooding protection.

* The Environment Agency has recently updated its Living on the Edge, a guide to rights and responsibilties of riparian owners -see https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/454562/LIT_7114.pdf


52

There of course will be a need to establish long termactions for ensuring that flood risk does not increase.The development of SuDS guidance is obviously animportant requirement which will have a majorimpact on flood risk for the medium and long term,but work on this will need to be done in tandem withthe consideration of solutions to moreimmediate problems.

A primary objective for our work will be an overallreduction in flood and coastal risk in the whole ofSuffolk. From a practical point of view it makessense for resources to be focused not just on thepriority areas in terms of the number of propertiesat risk, but also based on the likelihood of beingable to implement flood risk reduction.Data collected both on risks, actual flooding andinvestment plans will be incorporated into GIS so asto facilitate improved spatial understanding of allrelevant information and focus future investigationsin areas where the most activity is planned.

The Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership, ledby the County Council, will work with anycommunity who wishes to contribute to solutions toexisting flood risks. There are a number of exampleswhere this has already happened both along thecoast and inland. Lower cost, natural floodmanagement solutions are generally moreappropriate in these circumstances.

5.5 Commitment, on acatchment-wide basis,to preventing an increase inflood risk as a result ofnew developmentUrban creep (the increase of paved areas andextensions which results in increased flowsbeing discharged to surface water systems) andclimate change will give rise to an increase in thequantity of rainwater which will have to be dealtwith in sewers and watercourses. One calculationsuggests that these factors, even without newdevelopment generating additionalimpermeable areas, are likely to give rise to anaverage 1% year on year increase in flows beingreceived which raises the prospect, in the

medium/long term, of significant overloading ofexisting drainage systems. To avoid thisincreasing flow causing a worsening flood riskwould require significant investment inconventional system upgrading.

Water companies will need to be more innovativein their approach to surface water managementand are moving away from conventionalunderground drainage solutions to investment insustainable drainage (SuDS). This is just oneexample of the increasing focus on the use ofSuDS and in support of this Suffolk will be aiming fora zero overall increase in flows being received bysewers. It is, however, recognised that this may notbe feasible in all situations.

The achievement of this aim will have to beconsidered in relation to the entirety of the publicsewerage system, watercourses and rivers within Suffolkas there may be incidences where the zero increasecannot be achieved but where a reduction in currentflows would be possible. This aim is in line with otherstakeholders’ objectives notably:

Greenfield Flow can be described as the natural overlandflow generated prior to urbanisation(Amount varies with location but iscommonly of the order of 5 litres persecond of flow per hectare.)

Brownfield Flow can be described as the flow of surfacewater to receiving systems that is generatedwithin an urban environment (Commonlysignificantly greater the Greenfield Flow.)

Anglian Water’s StrategicDirection Statement:

“Over the next ten years we aim to makesure that none of the properties in ourregion are at risk of sewer flooding, dueto sewer overloading.”


53

The move to achieving the ‘greenfield’ pre-development flow rates would represent a stepchange in surface water management, reversingthe trend which has given rise to ever increasingflood risk, habitat loss, biodiversity reduction andreduced recharge of underground aquifers.

Figure 5.1 illustrates the water cycle from naturalwater balance, through urbanisation and backto water-sensitive urban design water balance.Our aim will be to achieve the latter situationwherever possible.

5.5.1 The preparation of SuDS guidance toestablish requirements/opportunitiesassociated with new development.

There are now specific requirements within theplanning legislation for managing surface water inrespect to any new development. Local SuDSguidance has been produced and a protocoldefining how the planning authorities and LeadLocal Flood Authority will work together to achievethe most appropriate solution in each site (seeSection 2.5) .There is still more to be done to informand encourage developers to consider surfacewater drainage at an early stage in planning a siteand to develop multi-functional systems..

Planning Authorities ultimately have responsibility forthe approval of drainage designs submitted for

new development. The County Council will be aStatutory Consultee for major developments andwill do all it can to support planning authorities inmaking good decisions..

5.5.2 Blue Corridors – Green Infrastructure

”Blue corridors” encompass the idea that both newand existing development, particularly within theurban environment, is planned aroundwatercourses, overland flow paths and surfacewater areas to create a network of corridorsdesigned to facilitate natural hydrological processesthat minimise flooding, enhancing biodiversity,improving access to recreation and helping toadapt to climate change. One of the key aims andbenefits of developing blue corridors is to provide anetwork of multifunctional ‘blue/green’ spaces andcorridors within the environment. They offer thepotential to allow land to perform a range offunctions and provide a far greater range of social,environmental and economic benefits than mightotherwise be delivered. Planners are already familiarwith the provision of ‘green infrastructure’ and thetwo should be complementary25.

The blue corridors concept is an important one.Essentially it is about protecting natural overlandpaths for water flow in flood conditions.Where urbanisation has occurred over those

Figure 5.1: Returning to a natural water balance

25. http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/35033


54

paths, to be aware of this, and make provision indesigning areas where flood water can accumulatewhen rainfall exceeds that which the drainagesystem was designed for. These paths need to becreated away from buildings so that excessiverainfall does not give rise to property flooding.

Drainage systems can only be designedeconomically to cater for rainfall events ofa realistic magnitude but inevitably there will be‘freak’ storms when the design capacity isexceeded. Previous practice took little accountof this but with the improved understanding it ispossible to designate flow routes around propertiesto cater for this situation. Roads - perhaps withraised kerbs and alternative vehicle cross-overdetails - are an obvious way of providing for thiswith often minimal inconvenience being caused.

Design parameters for calculation of the capacityof the surface water system and flood exceedancepaths will be provided in the SuDS Guidance.

5.5.3 The integration of surface watersystem design into all stages of thedevelopment process.

To ensure that the maximum benefit can begained in respect to issues such as availabilityand quality of water, enhancement of human andnatural environments and flood risk reduction, it willbe necessary to think about all water related issuesat the earliest stage of master planning and at allsubsequent stages. The SuDS/Drainage guidelineswill establish principles and processes to ensurecomplete integration of all water related designissues into the overall project design process.

Figures 5.3 and 5.4: Illustrations of blue corridors in practise

“Water is an essential part of our natural and built environment. The way we live, work andplay to varying degrees are influenced by the availability and quality of water. Increasinglywe need to embrace water management as an opportunity rather than a challenge.Successfully delivered sustainable drainage provides communities and wider society withbenefits set within the context of adapting to climate change, development and improving ournatural environment.”

Extracted from ‘Planning for SuDS – Making it happen’ (CIRIA report C687, 2010)


55

5.6 Ensure planning decisionsare properly informed by flood riskand that there is a consistentapproach to flood riskmanagement in new development As well as the provision of advisory guidelines, thereis a need to ensure that the evidence base usedto determine planning decisions is consistent andup-to-date. The Lead Local Flood Authority hasdeveloped a system for reporting and recordinglocal flooding incidents and the local flood assetregister (see sections 2.6 and 2.8) making thisreadily available to all who need to see it.

The Environment Agency continues to develop andpublish flood26 (river, sea and surface water) andcoastal erosion maps.27

Surface water risk mapping and the results ofdetailed surface water management plans will bemade available to all who need it. A methodologyfor data sharing between partners and thusensuring all decisions are made using the bestavailable information.

5.7 The adoption of a holisticapproach to flood and coastalerosion risk managementThe advantages to be gained from thinkingholistically about all aspects relating to watergenerally have long been recognised. We live ata time of climate change where on occasion wehave less water than we need for humanconsumption, food production and to maintainflows in rivers and then, paradoxically, at othertimes too much water in the form of flooding.Water is also a key component of manynatural environments.

The Partnership will be looking to consider issuesassociated with water supply, land irrigation andflooding ‘in the round’. An example of this wouldbe a situation where flooding was being caused toproperty as a consequence of overland flow fromfarmland. A possible solution might be theprovision of a water storage area toaccommodate the flood water which could then

be used at some later stage for irrigation or forenvironmental enhancement. This approachmight encourage funding from a landowneror environmental body as beneficiaries fromthe scheme.

The holistic approach will also be used in thecontext of new development and investmentleading to multiple benefits and thus multiplefunding sources.

An example of this might be a situation wherea public sewer is overloaded to the extent thatproperty flooding is occurring. A possiblesolution might be to prevent rainwater from houseroofs entering the public sewer locally bydisconnecting downpipes and divertingsurface water to rain gardens and/or perhapsa permeable pavement.

Possible benefits to be gained from suchan approach:

l Resolution of a public sewer related floodingproblem without having to resort to costlyunderground system upgrade (Benefit toAnglian Water in terms of capital cost).

Anglian Water has declared initiatives toincrease the understanding of the public inthe ‘value’ of water.

26 and 27 https://www.gov.uk/prepare-for-a-flood


56

l The introduction of interesting features such asrain gardens to enhance the local environment(benefit to local residents).

l Incorporating, into the surface water systemdesign, features such as surface attenuationlocated within the highway which could havea dual role to support traffic calmingarrangements. (Benefit to highway authority insharing costs associated with providing trafficcalming facilities).

l Incorporating source control/attenuationfeatures such as permeable pavements whichcan additionally be used for highway drainage.(Benefit to the highway authority if perhapsflooding from the highway has been a problemin the past).

l Funding of ongoing maintenance by a numberof organisations. (Benefit to Anglian Waterthrough reduced maintenance costsassociated with new assets).

An innovative project to demonstrate Holistic WaterManagement in the River Deben catchment isbeing trialled in Suffolk – seewww.greensuffolk.org/HWMP

This seeks to take a more natural approach toflood management alongside more traditional

method as well as improving water quality andecology and enhancing local water resources.

Any partner working on one aspect of flood andcoastal management will need to considerappropriate plans from other partners.Equally, every effort will have to be made toidentify external stakeholders’ investment plansthat could provide opportunities for flood andcoastal management.

5.8 Encouraging the maintenanceof privately owned flood defences In the coastal situation many landowners arerealising the importance of contributing to themaintenance and improvement of privatedefences. They have recognised that publicfunding for this is likely to be limited unless largenumbers of properties benefit from the defences.In order to facilitate this activity the EnvironmentAgency, district councils, Natural England, theMarine Management Organisation, Suffolk CountyCouncil Rights of Way and other relevant partnershave been working together to coordinate adviceand guidance to landowners and simplify thenecessary consenting processes for landowners tobe able to take action. This approach is beingreplicated inland.

Repairs toflood bank


57

5.9 Encourage ordinarywatercourse maintenance andminimise unnecessaryconstrictionsThe maintenance of ordinary watercourses isvariable across Suffolk. Before embarking on plansfor capital spending on watercourse assets it maybe necessary to initiate a review of howmaintenance is being carried out presently, bywhom, and what actions need to be taken toensure that assets are being used to their fullcapacity. There may be a particular issue withregards to the maintenance of culverts andassociated trash screens which if not done ina timely manner can give rise to localised flooding.There are opportunities for local communities toidentify such issues and help resolve them byregular local activities.

There is a clear role for riparian owners to ensurewatercourses are kept flowing. But in manysituations, especially where ditches remain dry forsome of the time, residents do not recognise theimportance of the watercourse and their riparianresponsibilities until the extreme rainfall event givesrise to flooding. There are numerous cases ofditches near properties becoming blocked bythe tipping of garden rubbish (see Figure 5.5) andflow restricted by the addition of un-consentedculverts, etc.

In Section 2.4.5 we outline the clear guidingprinciple to reduce unnecessary constrictions inwatercourses and prevent additional constrictionswherever possible. But to achieve this, riparianowners must understand the need to seek advicefrom the consenting authorities before undertakingany works that may constrict flow.

5.10 To obtain as muchinformation as possible on thelatest best practice initiativeswithin the ‘industry’ as a wholeThe Pitt Recommendations, and related initiativessuch as the implementation of the Flood andWater Management Act, have given rise to aprofound change in the way that surface watermanagement is carried out in England and Wales.

Through links with neighbouring Lead Local FloodAuthorities, the Local Government Association andrelevant professional bodies, the Council andpartners will share experiences and learn fromothers. A particular focus for key staff will beunderstanding best practice in the industry as awhole through continued participation inconferences, attendance at training courses andthe obtaining of information from governmentsources .

In order to inform community decisions, we willshare examples of successful local floodmanagement projects between the flood riskmanagement partners and other interested groups.

Improved maintenance of allsurface water assets offersthe opportunity to generatea reduction in flood riskwithout the need forcapital expenditure

Figure 5.5 Example of partially blockedwatercourse behind houses in Ipswich


58

5.11 Preparing forflood emergenciesThere will be an ongoing requirement to ensurethat flooding emergency response procedures arecomprehensive and up to date. Work on thePreliminary Flood Risk Assessment and the IpswichSurface Water Management Plan have identifiedkey areas at risk of surface water flooding and thisinformation will need to be incorporated in currentemergency response plans which are focussed ontidal and river flooding. When morecomprehensive information becomes availablethis will be incorporated into the Suffolk ResilienceForum plans.

A key aspect of emergency planning is thepromotion of local emergency groups andprovision of information to enable thepublic and businesses at risk of flooding tohelp themselves.

5.12 To ensure that the Strategyproposals/policies integrate withthose for the FensAs detailed in Section 3, the Fens area of Suffolk willrequire a particular focus when considering

policies and practices which can be utilisedcounty-wide. Effective communication processesare already in place to ensure that properdialogue takes place on aspects of commoninterest but there will be a need to develop theseto ensure that, particularly, the specialist expertisethat the practitioners involved in water levelmanagement within this special area is properlyintegrated into overall flood risk strategies.

5.13 Prioritisation of keyactions identifiedThe key objectives and related actions identifiedabove will not all progress concurrently and it istherefore necessary to establish priority in carryingthem out – based on the costs of delivering themin relation to benefits achieved, practical andfunding considerations.

The Action Plan (Appendix 1*) lists actions, anassessment of costs/benefits and likely timescalesfor delivery.

Putting in new drainage pipe in Long Melford

* The Action Plan is a working document that will be regularly updated and monitored. It will be a separate document,held on the website www.suffolk.gov.uk/flooding, but is an integral part of the strategy.


59

It is important that the local strategy sets out howthe proposed actions and measures will be fundedand resourced within Suffolk. It is also important toidentify what funding mechanisms are available toSuffolk County Council and its partners to pay forthe flood risk management measures that are setout in the strategy. Effective practicalimplementation of flood and coastal policyobjectives require adequate resources both for themanagement and response activities of lead localflood authorities as well as for capital projects.

The following chapter provides a summary ofavailable forms of funding that are being

considered and will also help to identify any furtheractions that will be needed to ensure thatparticular funding alternatives are feasible.

6.1 Government funding Government funding is administered throughDefra, the Environment Agency and theDepartment for Communities and LocalGovernment (DCLG). Defra is committed to a six-year programme of capital investment to improvedefences up to 2021, of £2.3bn nationally. Figure6.1 below identifies the various streams of fundingopen to risk management authorities. The figures in

6. Funding & delivery of plan

Figure 6.1 – Diagram of FCERM funding. The figures in this diagram are the 2014/15 budgetallocations.

Central Government Funding –the main figures in this document

Environment Agency

Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk management

£795.3m

DCLG

Lead Local Flood Authorities

Internal Drainage Board/Local Authority

SFA

(£2

0.7m

)

Co

re D

efr

a R

eta

ine

d (

£9.4

m)

LSSG

(£1

5.0m

)

Gra

nt-i

n-A

id

(£75

0.2m

)

Defra Local Levy

Other income

Partnership Funding

Local Authority

Other sources of funding –excluded from main figures but shown in ‘other funding for FCERM’

FCERM Funding


60

the diagram are the 2014/15 national budgetallocations.

The current situation of government flood riskmanagement funding is summarised below:

l Defra expects to spend £2.3bn over the next 6years on flood and coastal erosion riskmanagement in England.

l The Defra money includes ‘programme’ spend,such as maintenance, flood forecasting, andincident response, and ‘admin’ spend onEnvironment Agency staff and office costs.

l Defra currently funds lead local flood authoritiesto carry out their responsibilities under the Floodand Water Management Act. For Suffolk CountyCouncil, this equated to £147,000 in 2015/16 tospend on local flood risk managementactivities.

6.1.1 Defra’s Partnership FundingapproachIn May 2011, Defra introduced a new policy, 'Floodand Coastal Erosion Resilience PartnershipFunding', better known as `Partnership Funding`.The policy describes an approach to the fundingof projects that requires the project costs to beshared between national and local fundingsources. Government funding is only available forprojects for which the qualifying benefits outweighthe costs.

The overall objectives of the partnership fundingarrangements are to better protect morecommunities and to deliver more benefits by:

l encouraging total investment to increasebeyond levels affordable to Government alone

l enabling more local choice, and encouraginginnovative, cost-effective options to comeforward in which civil society may play a greaterrole

l increasing levels of certainty and transparencyover the national funding for individual projects,whilst prioritising action for those most at risk andleast able to protect or insure themselves

The Partnership Funding arrangement means that

the maximum amount of Flood and ErosionCoastal Risk Management Grant in Aid (GiA))available to any project can be calculated basedon the outcomes it is expected to achieve,expressed as a Partnership Funding Score. Thisrepresents the percentage of project costs that hasbeen secured and hence the size of any fundinggap. Once other sources of funding are added, aproject will require a score of 100% or more inorder to be considered for funding.

Partnership Funding means that organisations andcommunities that have a financial stake inmanaging risk, and remain involved throughout thelife of their investment, have an incentive tomanage project costs throughout the project lifecycle. Partnership Funding helps to deliverinnovative approaches to managing flood andcoastal erosion risks. It encourages efficiencies andreduction in costs, and promotes solutions thatbring together the different aims of partners andpotential investors. In turn this will deliver benefitswider than those related to flooding or coastalerosion alone.

Flood and coastal erosion risk management grantis administered through the Environment Agency.The allocation of available funds is managedthrough the Regional Flood and CoastalCommittees (RFCC). It is important to note thatthere are always more schemes proposed thanfunding available and the RFCCs play a role inagreeing priorities and can allocate extra fundingfrom the local levy (see below) to support specificschemes.

6.2 Funding SourcesAs outlined above, in order to attract DefraPartnership Funding it is often necessary to findadditional contributions to a project to strengthenthe bid. The following information outlines otherpotential sources of funding that a projectdeveloper can consider. It is important to note thatfunding contributions need to be in place at thetime of a bid.

Outlined below is a summary of the principlesources of funding that may be available (correctat the time of writing).


61

6.2.1. Local Levy

Local levy funding is raised through the Council Taxand its level is determined by the Lead Local FloodAuthorities (LLFAs) on the RFCC. The levy can be usedas a discretionary contribution as a partnershipcontribution to projects. It can also be used to supportthe maintenance budget; to deliver small scaleprojects and undertake initial project development.

6.2.2 Drainage rates and special levies

The amounts raised are linked to the local levy anddetermined by the RFCC. There is a generalprinciple of using these funds on maintenance offlood assets in the areas in which the levy is raised.

l Drainage rates are collected from agriculturalland and buildings within the Internal DrainageDistricts

l Special Levies are issued on District and UnitaryAuthorities within the Internal Drainage District

6.2.3 Local Authority Funds

Funding from local authorities for capital schemesor maintenance activities is discretionary andtherefore funding has to compete with a widerange of other priorities. Where it can be shown thatinvestment delivers more than one benefit then thiswill strengthen the case for funding allocation.

The County Council funds many floodmanagement activities through its role as ahighway authority and coastal authorities investsignificantly in coastal defence schemes.

6.2.4 Parish and Town Contributions

There is potential for Parish Councils to raise aprecept towards contributions for FCERM fundingand this approach has been explored by a fewcouncils.

6.2.5 Community Infrastructure Levy

The Community Infrastructure Levy came into forcein April 2010 and potentially could provide Suffolk’scouncils with an alternative source of funding forflood defence schemes. It allows local authoritiesto raise funds from new development in their areain order to pay for the impact that thedevelopment has on local infrastructure.

Local authorities can use this funding forinfrastructure needed to support the development;

it can be used to construct new infrastructure,increase the capacity of existing infrastructure orrepair failing existing infrastructure. The Planning Act2008 includes a broad definition of theinfrastructure that can be covered by this schemeincluding transport, flood defences, schools,hospitals and parks.

Suffolk County Council and the District Councils willlook into how this funding could be used to fundflood alleviation schemes within the county.However, it must be recognised that there will beother demands on this source of funding, manywith a higher priority than flood alleviation

6.2.6 Section 106 funding – DeveloperContributions

Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act1990 allows a local planning authority to enter intoan agreement with a landowner or developer inassociation with the granting of planningpermission. A Section 106 agreement is used toaddress issues that are necessary to make adevelopment acceptable, such as supporting theprovision of services and infrastructure. This meansthat any flood risk which is caused by, or increasedby, new development could be resolved andfunded by the developer.

6.2.7 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP):

The LEP is an organisation that aims to create jobsand remove the barriers to economic growth thatexist in Suffolk and Norfolk. One of the barriers thataffect a number of growth locations is flood risk. Assuch it is recognised there may be synergiesbetween investment in flood risk mitigation andincreases in economic output and resilience. Thissource of funding is particularly suitable for FCERMprojects delivering economic growth andregeneration – see Lowestoft example below.

6.2.8 Farmers and landowners

Landowners, especially those directly at risk fromflooding, have a range of opportunities to supportschemes. These can include direct financialinvestment or donations “in kind”, for examplematerials such as locally sourced clay or land forwater storage. Other valuable partnershipcontributions can also be use of equipment andlabour resources.


62

6.2.9 Private business contributions

Private funding of flood and coastal erosionschemes can either be a direct investment in aprivate scheme or as a contribution to apartnership project. A recent governmentannouncement provides tax incentives to thosecontributing to partnership schemes.

6.2.10 Water company funding

Water and sewerage companies have severaloptions for financing improvements to the waterservices infrastructure. The main route is through thewater company’s capital programme, which runsin five year Asset Management Plan (AMP) cycles.The water company formulates a submission toOfwat to determine allowable expenditure in thefollowing AMP period. It will become increasinglyimportant to align the priorities in this strategy withthese AMP submissions.

The focus of their investment is a cost beneficialapproach to reducing sewer flooding to those onthe DG5 register (internal flooding of propertiescaused by overloaded sewers during a rainfallevent not exceeding 1 in 30 years).

Traditionally water and sewage companies haveonly been allowed to invest in their own assets.However, following a series of recent Ofwat pilots,using sustainable drainage to help reduce sewerflows and treatment costs, an integratedpartnership approach is likely in future AMP cycles.

In addition to becoming partners in capitalinvestment, water companies are a key partner inproviding contributions in kind to support flood riskschemes - for example undertaking sewermodelling since they have the relevant skills anddata.

6.2.11 Utilities

Where utility providers have assets at risk offlooding, and a scheme would reduce that risk,there is potential to negotiate with the utilitycompany to contribute some funds. This would bebased on the value of assets at risk, loss ofrevenue, industry regulator imposed penalties, andthe cost of repairs in the event of damage.

6.2.12 European Funding

The two main sources of European funding are theEuropean Regional Development Fund &European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development.These funds are primarily focused on job retentionand creation. One key priority for these funds is topromote corporate, agricultural and communityresilience to flooding and climate change

6.2.13 Trusts, Foundations, Landfill CommunityFunds, Big Lottery.

National and local charitable funds may beavailable, notably when the flood project deliverswider environmental or community benefits.

The Coastal Communities Fund is one example.This is administered by the Big Lottery, and basedon the Crown Estates annual marine estate surplus.This fund aims to encourage the economicdevelopment of UK coastal communities byawarding funds to create sustainable economicgrowth and jobs. Application windows are sporadicand the qualifying criteria have varied over theyears.

Case Study 1: Rural Defence ProjectA small market town is at a 1 in 20 risk ofbeing flooded, and a £2 million scheme hasbeen prepared by the LLFA that wouldprotect 75 homes to a 1 in 200 yearstandard, achieving £10 million in long termbenefits.

The comparatively low cost benefit ratiomeans that the project has in the past beendeferred and remains low priority.

Under payment for outcomes, the schemehas the potential to attract approximately£900,000 of the necessary funds throughFlood Defence Grant in Aid (rather than thefull £2 million). In addition, the scheme willbe supported by the Regional Flood andCoastal Committee whose members vote toprovide a further £500,000. With a reducedand clear funding goal to aim for the LLFAand local community groups work hard toraise the remaining £600,000 required toallow the scheme to go ahead.


63

6.3 Prioritisation and distributionof funding It is highly unlikely that sufficient funding will beavailable to finance all of the mitigation measuresthat might be desirable in the areas of Suffolk thatare at risk of flooding or coastal erosion. It followstherefore that some decisions will need to bemade about how available funding will bedistributed.

As set out in this strategy Suffolk will primarily take arisk-based approach to the prioritisation ofresources, generally focussing investment ofresources in the areas of highest risk.

Decisions on how funding is to be distributed willrequire the agreement of multiple agencies, butinevitably such decision making will be determinedby the assessment and ranking methodologies ofthe individual funding bodies, each of which islikely to have its own values and priorities.

In many instances, the cost effectiveness ofmeasures will be a significant factor. If a lot ofproperties and people can be protected for arelatively low cost then that would normally beconsidered to be an effective way of spendinglimited financial resources, rather than protecting asmall number of properties through theimplementation of a resource intensive project.

Where there are simple and less expensivemeasures that can be easily undertaken, thesemay come forward at an earlier stage simplybecause they are possible and affordable withinthe timescale of currently available and/oremerging funding streams.

It may be possible to attract third party funding toprojects where the wider benefits are alsobeneficial to that party. This can be possible evenwhere the focus of the funding is for non-flood riskbenefits e.g. the funding of open space on a newdevelopment that can also be used as a floodstorage area. In such circumstances mitigationmeasures may need to be spatially linked to thefunders’ development, in order that they wouldbenefit from the expenditure.

In some circumstances, it may simply beimpractical to protect properties that are at severerisk of flooding, because of the high cost of doingso, relative to the benefits that might result. In areaswhere flood mitigation measures are unlikely to beaffordable or practical, the partners will endeavourto advise landowners and businesses how theymight adapt their property to become moreresilient.

All of the above factors mean that developing arigid strategy for prioritising expenditure, basedpurely upon risk may not be possible.

Case Study 2: Lowestoft Flood ManagementProjectA project is currently in development inLowestoft to protect the town from tidal,fluvial and surface water flood risks. As wellas protecting existing houses and business, akey aim of the project is to support the town’seconomic regeneration and development.The key areas at flood risk are identified forinward investment.

The estimated cost of the project is £25-30million, but under the current partnershipfunding criteria, the project will only attractabout £8million of Defra Grant in Aidfunding.

The RFCC has supported the project with£2.8million of levy; Suffolk County andWaveney District Councils are contributingaround £5million from own funds.

The Local Enterprise Partnership, withevidence provided by the project team,recognise the economic potentialgenerated by the flood protection schemeare adding a further £10million to thefunding pot. Any further funds required arelikely to be raised from private companies,investors and developers.


64

The primary purpose of this report is to set out thestrategy for reducing flood risk in Suffolk but if this isdone with sensitivity, good design and planning it ispossible to derive significant benefits countywide inthe context of sustainability, environmental andsocial improvement.

The Suffolk Climate Action Plan 2* sets out thecounty’s contribution to creating the ‘GreenestCounty’. It supports a radical, pro-active approachto environmental issues which are be mirrored byobjectives and related plans of action identified inthis Suffolk Flood Risk Management Strategy.

This document sets out some parameters whichhave particular relevance for water.

l Recent UK Climate Projections 2009 predict thatby 2080 the East of England will experience:

l 3.6 ºC increase in average summertemperature.

l 20% increase in winter rainfall leading toincreased winter flooding.

l 20% decrease in summer rainfall leadingto summertime droughts and impacts oncrop yields.

l At a local level, the future implications of theseclimate projections could include:

l Increased coastal and flood-plain floodevents leading to damage to property anddisruption to economic activity.

l Water shortages.l Higher incidence of damage to

transportation, utilities andcommunications infrastructure caused byan increase in the number of extremeweather events (e.g. heat, high winds andflooding).

Effective surface water management will give riseto improved water cycle management generallyand also derive benefits for the human and naturalenvironments. In addition to this there areopportunities for deriving benefits in terms ofcarbon use reduction.

The environmental benefits that can be achievedin relation specifically to flood risk reduction needto be considered in the wider context ofsustainability in Suffolk as embodied in ‘SuffolkClimate Action Plan 2’ which outlines the county’scontribution to creating the “Greenest County”.

The benefit which can be achieved for the humanand natural environments through water sensitivedesign will need to be a continuing ‘thread’ in thestrategy. In fact an innovative approach to surfacewater design can often reverse the ‘not in my backyard’ mentality to proposed drainage infrastructureactivity, creating elements such as ponds and raingardens that people actually want to have in theplaces where they live and work.

7. Achieving county wideenvironmental benefits througheffective flood and coastalrisk management

In 2008 the Suffolk Strategic Partnershipdeveloped the new community strategyfor 2008-2028 called “TransformingSuffolk”. It has a 20 year vision:

By 2028 we want Suffolk to be recognisedfor its outstanding environment andquality of life for all; a place where eachperson can realise their potential, benefitfrom and contribute to Suffolk’s economicprosperity and be actively involved in their community.

Extract from ‘TransformingSuffolk 2028’28

* http://www.greensuffolk.org/about/suffolk-climate-change-partnership/

28 . https://www.ipswich.gov.uk/sites/default/files/scd07_-_suffolk_community_strategy.pdf


65

Surface water management has been historicallyregarded as something that has to be sorted outat the end of the development design processalmost as an afterthought. The strategy shouldencourage emphasis on the positive benefits thatcan be achieved through early consideration ofsurface water issues.

Water resource planning, urban sceneenhancement, biodiversity, carbon use reductionare all important areas where drainage engineersare able to provide considerable assistance topeople from other disciplines.

The key areas to focus on will be water cyclemanagement, opportunities to enhance both thenatural and human environments andopportunities for reducing carbon use.

7.1 Water cyclemanagement opportunitiesThe South East of England is already sufferinga shortage of water for human consumption andthis situation will be exacerbated by climatechange and the planned increase indevelopment in the region. The object of watercycle management is to make better use of thewater that we have. Even Suffolk, noted as arelatively dry county, experiences times of rainfallsufficient to cause flooding and what is required isto manage water surplus and shortage effectively.

In the context of flood risk reduction this argues fora complete change in the way that we deal withnew development and endeavour to deliver floodrisk reduction and these new practices are beingemployed increasingly.

Source control is the primary means of supportingimproved overall water management through

An Important Notefor Developers

The creative use of water can giverise to an increase in propertyvalue maximising income from

new development.

Planning for waterThere is a finite capacity within theenvironment, and it cannot simplyprovide more and more water. Equally,there is a limit to the amount of wastewater that can be safely returned toour rivers and the sea without havinga detrimental impact on the environment.Furthermore, we know that extremerainfall can overwhelm drains andovertop flood defences. Climate changeis bringing fresh challenges as patternsof rainfall are predicted to change, withmore intense rainfall events. We mustalso make sure that water infrastructurecontributes to the shift to a low carboneconomy that is essential if greenhousegas emissions are to be reduced.Planning for water has to take intoaccount these natural constraints, andfactors such as the timing and locationimposed by the development itself.

Extract from Water Cycle StudyGuidance - Environment Agency 2009

The paradigm shift, which willbe required if the ‘industry’ is tomake real headway in floodrisk reduction, will only occurwhen key professionals suchas planners and developersstart to appreciate thatearly involvement of drainagespecialists can offer real benefitin furthering the aspects thatthey perceive, from their ownperspective, to be important.


66

better surface water management. Source controlcan take a number of forms but the basicphilosophy is to emulate the natural pre-urbanisation situation where water is held closeto where it falls rather than being rushed overimpermeable surfaces and into sewers from whereit can be disposed of, rather than used. This canbe achieved in a number of ways:

l Ground infiltration – where ground conditionspermit the passing of rainwater into the ground,which has a number of benefits:l Reduced loading on receiving surface

water sewers.l Possibility for recharging underground water

aquifers (The use of underground sourcesof water to feed into water supply isbecoming more important. Groundinfiltration can provide a means oftopping-up these supplies of water so thatthey can be used at times of watershortage. Aquifer re-charge is alsobeneficial in respect to maintaininghealthy flows in watercourses that are fedprimarily from underground sources and inso doing contributing to themaintenance/enhancement ofbiodiversity).

Note: Ground infiltration is generally not possible inareas where there is a high water table or heavyclay soils.

l Roof gardens and living walls.

l Water features such as ponds and rills.

l Rain gardens.

l Underground storage of storm flows.

l Swales (open ditches or indentations inlandscaped areas to provide attenuationof flow).

The benefit of source control to water cyclemanagement can be summarised as:

l Reduction in peak flow to sewersand watercourses.

l Reduction in flood ponding volumes (pluvialflooding reduction).

l Retention of water in the catchment forrecreational use, biodiversity enhancement,potential water supply improvement, etc.

7.2 Human environmentenhancement potentialHuman beings have an affinity to water, and builtenvironments that use water effectively aregenerally regarded as being of greater interestas places for people to live and work. This isevidenced by the focus of development adjacentto the sea, rivers, canals, docks, and lakes.

Good design in respect to surface watermanagement can often improve the human andnatural environment. Where a significant volume ofattenuation is required for surface water it might bepossible to design more facilities which haverecreational value for humans. Fairlands Lakes inStevenage for instance (see figure 7.1), are part ofthe surface water management system but theyhave been designed in such a way that they havebecome recognised as a regionally importantrecreational facility. Separate areas have beendesigned to cater for wildlife in soft engineeredareas, model boating, sailing and also for fishing.

Climate change will bring about changesin rainfall with warmer drier summers andwetter warmer winters. Rainfall may occurin heavier downpours which could lead tomore flooding and droughts. It ispredicted that the amount of water inrivers and groundwater reserves willdecrease which could lead to shortfallsin water supply. Reducing water useplaces less demand on decreasingresources and reduces carbon emissionsas water supply and treatment processesuse energy.

Extract from ‘Water Resources Strategy for Englandand Wales 2009’ Environment Agency


67

Green roof on a shed

Detention Basin, Ipswich

Swale

Infiltration basin in dry state, Ipswich

Some examples of SuDS that increase infiltration. The two above are taken from a practical example atLambs Drove, Cambourne, Cambridgeshire29, the others in Ipswich.

(Courtesy of Cambridgeshire County Council)

29. See http://www.susdrain.org/case-studies/case_studies/lamb_drove_residential_suds_scheme_cambourne.html


68

7.3 Natural environmentenhancement potential

See also section 5.5.2 in respect of green-blueinfrastructure provision.

The availability of good quality water is oftena critical factor in maintaining bio-diversity innatural environments. Effective surface watermanagement can support the preservation ofthose existing environments that need a supplyof clean water by maintaining the quantity andquality of the surface water that they need, but

also has the potential for generating new waterbased environments. For example, a design for anew development, may require not only sourcecontrol surface water management featureslocated within a development but also perhapsthe further attenuation of water in ‘regional’facilities such as lakes, ponds or water meadows.This offers the opportunity to create an asset whichnot only satisfies the surface water managementrequirements but also deliver an environmentaland water quality (WFD) improvements.

There are a number of examples where watermeadows have been used to attenuate flow fromnew development to protect receivingwatercourses from the inundation of surface waterwhich would have caused environmental damageand property flooding. These meadows provide therequired attenuation almost un-noticeably and asnaturalised areas are very valuable for both waterreliant and dry flora and fauna.

Figure 7.1: Angling area within a recreational complex in Hertfordshire

Develop and maintain ecologicallyresilient landscapes to allow climateadaptation and redistribute habitatsand species.

Extract from‘Suffolk Climate Action Plan 2’


69

An additional benefit of designing facilities whichenhance biodiversity is that environmentalcharities, e.g. Wildlife Trusts, may be happy to takeon responsibility for some element of the ongoingcosts of maintenance of the asset, thus reducingthe ongoing funding liability.

In fluvial and tidal flood management, the practiseof ‘making space for water’ and working with the

natural environment (for example encouraging saltmarsh in front of coastal defences) have beencommon practise for many years anddemonstrate that working with nature is not onlyeffective but often the cheapest option for localflood management.

Figure 7.2: Water Meadows in Bury St Edmunds in dry state (left) and after heavy winter rainfall(right). An example of natural sustainable drainage

Case Study: River Quaggy, Sutcliffe Park, southeast LondonA series of flood alleviation works along the culverted River Quaggy within Sutcliffe Park reinstatedthe channel along its previous meandering alignment. The old culvert was retained toaccommodate excess water. The previously underused park was converted into a substantial floodstorage area which alsoincorporates a diverse rangeof park and wetland habitats.As well as reducing flood riskto 600 properties and 4000people, the project is seen asan excellent example of amultifunctional solution toflood risk that works withnatural processes. The workswere completed in 2004 and Sutcliffe Park is nowrecognised by conservationgroups such as the National Trust. Photographs of the watercourse before and after restoration30

30. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anglian-district-river-basin-management-plan


70

7.4 Carbon usereduction potential

In order to deliver Suffolk’s vision to bethe Greenest County, it is essential thatall flood and coastal managementauthorities aim to reduce their carbonfootprint. Sensitive flood and coastalmanagement can assist asa consequence of:

l The reduced embedded carbon insoft engineered flood risk reductionmeasures when compared toconventional solutions usingreinforced concrete, metal etc.

l The minimisation of the pumpingrequirement for surface water andthe consequent reduction in theneed to use energy. (Keeping water aboveground for as long as possible using sourcecontrol features integrated with naturalsurface flow paths can minimisethe requirement to pump surface waterto a ‘disposal’ point, minimising thelikelihood that pumping will be requiredin the system).

l The reduced energy needed for watertreatment by minimising the amount ofsurface water entering foul/combinedsewer systems.

l Water storage areas and wetlands (includinginter-tidal areas) for flood management alsoact as areas of carbon capture.

7.5 Things which residents andbusiness owners can do to assist

There are a number of ways in which localresidents and business owners can makea contribution in regards to water sustainability,which if repeated on a wide scale could besignificant at county level.

People who are currently experiencing floodproblems may be more motivated towards someinnovative surface water management methodsbut for others it is unlikely that flood risk alleviationin itself would be a sufficient motivation. What isrequired is the identification of facilities that havea dual role, being aesthetically pleasing as well ashaving a role in flood reduction and landscape/biodiversity enhancement.

There are a number of arrangements thatcould help:

l Rainwater harvesting (e.g. using water butts) –a very easy way of reducing flow received bythe sewers and watercourses, while at the sametime reducing potable water consumption.

l Rain gardens – aesthetically very pleasingnaturally planted areas that serve asattenuation for rainwater by slowing the flow ofwater passing to receiving sewers, but alsofacilitate evapo-transpiration from plants andallow water to penetrate into the ground for

Some degree of climate change isinevitable and ‘locked-in’ through CO2

emissions to date, as a result of time lagsin the climate system. Adapting ourinfrastructure, communities andbusinesses to the impacts of future climatechange, such as increased frequency ofwinter flooding and summer heat waveevents, will foster resilience and minimisethese projected impacts locally.

Extract from ‘Suffolk Climate Action Plan 2’

Rain garden design


71

irrigation of vegetation (see example onprevious page).

l Ground infiltration of one type or another –arrangements that enable rainwater to bepassed into the ground rather than to a seweror watercourse.

l Use of drive and pathway materials thatfacilitate the direct passing of flow into theground. Gravel type drives give rise to far lessif any flow passing into sewers.

7.6 The WaterFramework Directive

This Anglian River Basin Management Plan31

outlines the pressures facing the water environmentin the Environment Agency’s Anglian region, andthe actions that will address them. It was preparedto satisfy the requirements of the Water FrameworkDirective, and is the second of a series of six-yearplanning cycles.

The objectives which are relevant to this local floodrisk management strategy are:

l to prevent deterioration in the status of aquaticecosystems, protect them and improve theecological condition of waters;

l to achieve at least good status for all waterbodies by 2015. Where this is not possible andsubject to the criteria set out in the Directive,aim to achieve good status by 2021 or 2027;

l to promote sustainable use of water asa natural resource;

l to conserve habitats and species that dependdirectly on water;

l to progressively reduce or phase out therelease of individual pollutants or groups ofpollutants that present a significant threat to theaquatic environment;

l to progressively reduce the pollution ofgroundwater and prevent or limit the entryof pollutants;

The Anglian River Basin District is a unique environment; the landscape ranges from gentlechalk and limestone ridges to the extensive lowlands of the Fens and East Anglian coastalestuaries and marshes. Water is essential to the maintenance of the rivers, lakes, estuaries,coasts and groundwater that underpins these landscapes and their wildlife. And it is vital tothe livelihoods of those who live and work here. In the past there has been considerableprogress in protecting the natural assets of the river basin district and in resolving many of theproblems for the water environment. However, a range of challenges remain, which will needto be addressed to secure the predicted improvements.

The main challenges include:

l point source pollution from sewage treatment works

l the physical modification of water bodies

l diffuse pollution from agricultural activities

l water abstraction

l diffuse pollution from urban sources

l the introduction and spread on non-native/invasive species.

In order to meet these targets, it is important for everyone to play their part now and in thefuture. River basin management is an opportunity for this generation – for people andorganisations to work together to improve the quality of every aspect of the water environment– to create an environment we are all proud of and can enjoy.

Extract from the Anglian River Basin Management Plan

31. http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/PDF/GEAN0910BSPP-E-E.pdf


72

l to contribute to mitigating the effects of floodsand droughts.

It is clear from the above that flood and coastal riskmanagement activities have the potential to helpdeliver some of the improvements needed. Some examples of relevant actions that riskmanagement authorities, land managers and thepublic can take to overcome the challenges are:

l Prevent pollution. It is essential to avoidpollutants from industrial and domestic drainsentering watercourses (everything fromhazardous industrial chemicals to pouring oildown household drains). This can be achievedthrough education as well as regulationand any activities relating to watercourse.The correct application of infiltration SuDS willalso assist in pollutants reaching watercoursesand aquifers.

l Reduce sediments getting into water bodiesthrough landscaping and use of SuDS andmanaging activities and soils prone to run-off.

l Protect and enhance wildlife – both throughwetland creation schemes (could be part ofSuDS) or by taking appropriate precautions withlocal flood management schemes.

l Save water – as outlined in Sections 5.4, 5.7and 7.1 there is a clear need to think aboutflood management in a holistic way, looking atthe whole water cycle.

l Avoid further artificial modifications to waterbodies The use of more natural forms of floodand coastal defences is widely promoted andused where applicable, not only to deliver theaims of the Water Framework Directive but alsobecause they are the most sustainable andleast expensive option. The principle stated inSections 2.4.7 and 5.9 to reduce structuresin watercourses (in part through the consentingprocess) will also help to deliver this aim.Flood management activities should also lookfor opportunities to remove existing barriers and,for example, introduce additional fish passes.

l Avoid introduction and spread of non-nativeinvasive species. Any flood risk managementactivity must be carried out in a manner toreduce the introduction and spread of invasivespecies in and around the water environment –e.g. floating pennywort (see picture below).This can be achieve by ensuring operators areaware of the risks and ways to overcome them aswell as educating the public about the issues.

The Environment Agency is providing a range ofmaterial in this respect, see www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/wildlife/31350.aspx

Floating pennywort (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) ©GBNNS, thanks to British Waterways


73

Monitoring, reviewing and updating this Strategyand the associated action plan, will be essentialboth to ensure it continues to be ‘fit for purpose’but also as a way of demonstrating success indelivering reduced flood risks to the people ofSuffolk.

The Suffolk Flood Risk Management Partnership’sfirst strategy was adopted in 2013. This review, threeyears later ensures the contents are compatiblewith current legislation and new information/plans.Alongside this document is the action plan – whichis reviewed at each Partnership meeting using atraffic light system to indicate progress:

For Red and Amber actions there will be a shortexplanation of why the action has yet to becompleted.

The latest iteration of the action plan is availableon www.greensuffolk.org/SFRMP and the progress isscrutinized by the Suffolk Joint Flood Scrutiny Paneland through other local authority politicalprocesses as appropriate

Suffolk County Council also reports annually tocentral government relevant information onflooding, flood risk management and other mattersrelated to the Flood and Water Management Act,as required within Section 18 of the Act.

8. Next Steps

Red: no progress hasbeen made

Amber: action ongoing butnot complete/someprogress madetowards it

Green: action completedsatisfactorily


74

Key Achievements 2012 - 2015Notes

Developed and promoted processes for reporting,recording and investigating flooding and flood assets.

Developed and disseminated local guidance on surfacewater management and SuDS in new developments andimplemented new legislative requirements.

Developed and agreed policies for consenting of structureson watercourses and designation of flood risk assets.

Promoted guidance to riparian owners, businesses andhouseholders to help their understanding of flood risk,understand their responsibilities and prepare for flooding.

Includes publication of booklet What to dobefore, during and after a flood

Taken all opportunities to learn from other partnerships andshare good practise – e.g. through Suffolk Coast Forum,Local Government Association, workshops and conferences.

Undertaken modelling and associated practical activities toreduce flood and coastal risks in the following areas:

• Ipswich Lovetofts Drive & Stonelodge Park

• Lowestoft Major project covering tidal, fluvial and surfacewater risks. Expected completion 2020.

• Newmarket • Needham Market • Leiston• Debenham

SWMP complete ongoingMini-SWMP completedPart of Holistic Water Management Project– ongoing.

• Pin Mill• Tunstall• Chevington• Woodbridge• Boxford• Sudbury & Great Cornard

ongoingSWMP commencing December 2015

• Ipswich Tidal Barrier Major Environment Agency Project due forcompletion 2017.

• Deben Estuary Plan and associated works Plan complete 2015. Works ongoing

• Felixstowe Central coast protection works Complete

• Lowestoft South Beach coast protection works Ongoing

Undertaken S19 Investigations into significant flooding in:• Terry Gardens, Kesgrave• East Street, Sudbury• Lawshall• Kirkley Stream area, Lowestoft• Langar Park area, Felixstowe

Recommendations within the S19 reportsare taken forward by the relevant partnersand monitored by the Suffolk Flood RiskManagement Partnership.


75

Notes

760-ESE-230112

Designed and printed by EFMS Design & PrintPhone: 01473 260600

If you need help to understand this information in another language please call 03456 066 067.

If you would like this information in another format, including audio or large print, please call 03456 066 067.

Dac ave i nevoie de ajutor pentru a în elege aceast informa ie într-o alt limb , v rug m s telefona i la num rul 03456 066 067

Bengali

Romanian

Lithuanian

, , , 03456 066 067. Russian

Polish

Portuguese03456 066 067 03456 066 067

03456 066 067

03456 066 067

03456 066 067

03456 066 067

suffolk flood risk management strategy

Documents