The Government has fulfilled a commitment in the 2016 National Flood Resilience Review with the publication of a Surface Water Management Action Plan.

This follows on from the inclusion of surface water flooding in the National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies for the first time in 2017.

Surface water flooding is a significant risk affecting 3.2 million properties in England and a growing challenge as climate change brings more frequent heavy storms. New developments are increasing the need for drainage, while an ageing sewerage infrastructure is costly to maintain and upgrade.

The Surface Water Management Action Plan (SWMAP) sets out the steps the Government is taking, together with the Environment Agency and others, to strengthen surface water management. The key themes are:

• improving risk assessment and communication;
• making sure infrastructure is resilient;
• clarifying responsibilities for surface water management;
• joining up planning for surface water management; and
• building local authority capacity.

Necessary to go much further on surface water management with more co-ordinated action

According to the Plan, while action has been taken in recent years to strengthen the assessment of surface water risk and the Environment Agency has improved its surface water flood risk mapping, it is still “necessary, however, to go much further.”

The Government wants to see coordinated action by all those with responsibilities for managing land, rivers and drainage systems, including national and local government, water companies, landowners and businesses.

The water and sewerage companies are flagged up as “having a particularly important role to play as they are responsible for much of the drainage network.”

The Plan includes actions to:

• review the surface water related performance commitments for water and sewerage companies;
• review the resilience of infrastructure networks against extreme surface water flood scenarios; and
• consider the surface water related findings of the National Infrastructure Assessment.

It also seeks to clarify responsibilities, pointing out that in practice, many people are not aware that Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) have the leadership role on surface water flooding. The responsibilities between the different parties can become blurred, particularly when the source of flooding is unclear, with disputes between partners over the responsibility for surface water assets “quite common”, the Plan says.

Two key aims included in the Plan are building local authority capacity and driving action by water and sewerage companies on drainage and wastewater planning.

Not all Lead Flood Authorities have "skills or capacity to carry out their surface water management responsibilities"

Eight years on since county and unitary authorities were first given Lead Local Flood Authority responsibilities, the Plan says:

“It is clear that not all LLFAs have the skills or capacity to carry out their surface water management responsibilities effectively and recruitment and retention of staff is a challenge.” This includes evidence of skill gaps in drainage engineering knowledge and data collection, interpretation and sharing.

On funding, the Plan says further action is also needed to ensure that local authorities can access funds from suitable sources, particularly for capital projects.

The Plan says the Government will review the funding sources which are available for surface water risk management and consider whether the funding mechanisms areappropriate. The Government is looking at current partnership arrangements via flood defence grant in aid ahead of a review of funding needs beyond 2021.

Data sharing – Defra will step in if insufficient progress is made

The Plan also says that where the Government feels insufficient progress is being made, Defra will step in if necessary to strengthen regulatory powers, including on issues around data sharing.

The Environment Agency will work with Lead Local Flood Authorities, insurance companies and water and sewerage companies about accessing and sharing the data they hold and the modelling they have completed, with the objective of making this information more accessible to the public and using it to improve the surface water maps.

“If problems with data sharing persist, Defra will consider commencing Environment Agency and Lead Local Flood Authority powers to enforce the provision of information”, the Plan says.

The Plan also highlights the provisions in Defra’s strategic policy statement on water which requires water industry regulator Ofwat to “challenge and incentivise water and sewerage companies to improve planning and investment to meet the drainage and wastewater needs of current and future customers, and to develop an innovative mix of solutions.”

This could include promoting, adopting or maintaining sustainable drainage systems or co-investing in flood risk management, working creatively with partners “upstream” as a means of effectively draining their area and delivering multiple benefits where possible.

"Water industry must ensure that Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans are fit for purpose"

The water and sewerage companies already have to deliver against common performance commitments, some of which relate to surface water.

Led by their representative body Water UK, the water and sewerage companies,will develop Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan (DWMPs) via Water UK’s 21st Century Drainage Programme to improve the long term planning of drainage and wastewater services.

The overall DWMP framework is due to be finalised in September 2018, with fully developed DWMPs by the end of 2022-23.

Ofwat has set out clear expectations on drainage and wastewater for companies’ business plans for the 2019 Price Review, including taking a system-wide approach to understanding, planning and managing risks to the delivery of wastewater services and using outputs from the 21st Century Drainage Programme.

The Surface Water Management Action Plan says:

“The water industry must ensure that Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans are fit for purpose and deliver significant improvements to drainage of wastewater.”

Defra will consider stronger regulatory footing for DWMPs in event of insufficient progress

Defra is expecting the companies to set out a clear roadmap for the production of DWMPs in their AMP7 business plans for Ofwat’s 2019 Price Review.

“Defra will work with the Environment Agency and Ofwat to review water and sewerage companies’ progress on development of DWMPs and consider putting them on a stronger regulatory footing if sufficient progress has not been made”, the Plan says.

The significant role sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) can play in surface water management is also highlighted in the Plan, which refers to the provisions set out in the revised National Planning Policy Framework published in July.

An Inter-Ministerial Group on Flooding has overseen the work to develop the Surface Water Management Action Plan and will continue to monitor progress on implementation.

The Government is also planning to publish its response to the independent review of Multi-Agency Flood Plans by Major General Cross, which included surface water flooding, later this year.

Click here to download the Surface Water Management Action Plan