Independent engineering and environmental consultancy, Royal Haskoning, has won a competitive bid to provide Surface Water Management Planning services and a Water Cycle Study for a consortium of Stafford, Lichfield, Tamworth and South Staffordshire local councils.

The work, when completed, will inform the councils’ planning and urban development strategies for the next two decades by identifying areas at high-risk of surface water flooding. The study will also provide a thorough assessment of surface water flood risk and valuable forward planning information on water resource and sewerage capacity.

A key factor in the decision to appoint Royal Haskoning was the firm’s extensive flood risk management experience, in particular its work with the Environment Agency. Royal Haskoning provides the Agency with national support on both the Strategic Flood Risk Mapping (SFRM) and National Engineering and Environmental Consultancy Agreement (NEECA) Frameworks.

With surface water management only recently coming under the auspices of local authorities, the collaboration of these four councils represents one of the first concerted efforts into surface water flood management planning. The work will direct the course of the communities’ residential and commercial building, transportation, and other major infrastructural projects.

The Surface Water Management Plan itself will be delivered in two stages. The first preparatory phase will comprise the development of a steering committee, consisting of key project stakeholders. Royal Haskoning will then perform high level analytical modelling of flood risk in the four local authority areas.

The second phase will entail a more detailed risk assessment, evaluating the findings from phase one and presenting these to the steering committee for actionable next steps. The project will be entirely funded by the councils, with the first set of evidence to be presented by Royal Haskoning in early Spring 2010.

Naomi Perry, planning officer, Stafford Borough Council, commented:

“Having already experienced this type of flooding in the past, we recognised early on that surface water management planning was a strategic, must-do undertaking that could deliver real benefits to our residents by  identifying opportunities to reduce existing surface water flood risk .

“Royal Haskoning’s expertise in this area will serve us well by creating the visibility that will be needed to enable growth in each of the districts to be delivered ”.

“This is a pioneering effort on the part of these councils to bring to light some of the lesser-understood sources of surface water flooding and develop appropriate Water Cycle Strategies in a way that safeguards their ambitions for local growth and development,” said Mike Stringer, Advice Group Director, Coastal and Rivers Division, Royal Haskoning.