Greater flexibility on funding is needed to ensure that SuDS not only deliver but are also affordable for everyone, says Jo Bradley, convenor of British Water’s Sustainable Water Management Focus Group
We all know that sustainable drainage solutions (SuDS) are vital for slowing water flow into our rivers and reducing flooding, alleviating pressures on sewerage systems, reduce mains water demand, creating habitats for nature and cutting carbon.
As with so many other things in the UK right now, what we don’t agree on is how to deliver them efficiently and who pays for them.
Nevertheless, we must find a way because research by the team at CIWEM and Enabling Smart Water Communities identified that that if high-quality SuDS were delivered consistently across around 1.3m new homes, they could generate £247m per year in water, environmental and amenity benefits.
With the government expected to introduce standardised SuDS in all new developments in England later this summer, it’s time to find new ways to fund their delivery and to maximise the benefits that they can add to any development with drainage impacts.
Holding back innovation
Until now the lack of clear specifications and regulatory requirements has meant that the SuDS being installed by developers have been of varying quality, leading to a wide spread of user experiences.
It would be better if, as in Wales, Schedule 3 of the Flood & Water Management Act had been enacted in England. The current rules not only make it harder for manufacturers and suppliers to invest in the development of innovative stormwater management solutions at scale; they also make it more difficult for developers to forecast design requirements and costs.
They can also lead to the delivery of inadequate SuDS schemes, which mean that people that live and work alongside them become frustrated where systems are neglected and fall into disrepair over time.
At British Water, the home of the UK water and wastewater supply chain, we think there are sensible changes to funding mechanisms that can be made to make the design process easier and more affordable, implementation more consistent and maintenance more reliable for everyone.
A new approach
At the moment, the cost of SuDS installation falls primarily on the developers while responsibility for long-term maintenance often passes to local authorities, private companies or other asset owners.
This separation between costs and benefits can create misaligned incentives: developers are incentivised to minimise upfront cost, while those responsible for maintaining the assets may have had little influence during the design stage. The result can be SuDS that meet minimum planning requirements but fall short of maximising their long-term performance and value.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way.
As part of the British Water response to the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan consultation, we talked to our members to find out how they would ensure better,
more financially equitable outcomes that encourage the adoption of SuDS.
The results identified three areas of change that could improve the current business model:
Firstly, we need to ease upfront costs for developers. Where developers are concerned about, or unable to, take on the full upfront cost of adding sustainable drainage to their building plans, it would be useful to explore ways to ease this burden. This could include spreading the costs through the life of the SuDS system, with the building owners taking on some responsibility and paying this back over time.
Secondly, we need a wider range of options for funding the long-term maintenance costs. Clear funding arrangements – whether through local authorities, water companies or private management – are essential to avoid schemes falling into disrepair. Solutions could include adding costs to consumer water bills or making provision in local authority budgets, for instance via a Stormwater Utility Levy.
Finally, we need more focus on actually carrying out the maintenance work. SuDS schemes and assets should be recorded on an asset register with a defined maintenance schedule to ensure that they always operate at full capacity. Although provision for an asset register already exists within the Non-Statutory SuDS Standards, full implementation of Schedule 3 in England would formalise these requirements and strengthen this approach.
SuDS are an important part of the toolkit for development resilience as we enter the age of climate change, with heavier rainfall as well as longer periods of dry weather. Getting the funding mechanisms right for both construction and maintenance will ensure that everyone reaps the benefits of well-designed and delivered schemes.
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