Sustainable drainage systems to become mandatory

The Department for Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs will begin a consultation regarding how to implement the new policy, with the expectation for sustainable drainage systems to become a requirement for new developments beginning in 2024.

SuDS are a nature-based solution to drainage problems. SuDS can vary from installing permeable surfaces to creating rain gardens to building attenuation ponds. Whichever method is used, SuDS will capture water and then filter that water slowly into the ground. Benefits of SuDS include keeping water from mixing with sewage, improving biodiversity, and easing pressure on current drainage systems – all while absorbing carbon.

The quality of future SuDS would be evaluated by a SuDs approving body, which the government has nicknamed SAB.

The decision to make SuDS mandatory by 2024 was announced in by DEFRA yesterday in a review document of recommendations for the implementation of Schedule 3 to The Flood and Water Management Act 2010.

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Sustainability