Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) adoption

A Ministerial Statement was issued by Central Government on 18 December 2014 that detailed changes to the planning system. There is now an expectation that SuDS will be provided on new developments wherever appropriate. As part of these changes it was instructed that, in considering planning applications, Local Planning Authorities should satisfy themselves that there are clear arrangements in place for ongoing maintenance of SuDS over the lifetime of the development.

Developers in Derby have the following possible options for long term SuDS maintenance for developments:

adoption by Derby City Council,
adoption by Severn Trent Water,
adoption by a private management company, and
adoption by homeowners where SuDS exist within privately owned land.

SuDS adoption by Derby City Council

We strongly promote SuDS and in our opinion their use is of paramount importance to ensuring that Derby’s continued housing and employment growth is sustainable. As such, we are currently working towards implementing a formalised policy whereby SuDS can be publically adopted.

At present, we will adopt SuDS as part of the Highway drainage network and have on occasion adopted SuDS on private developments on a case-by-case basis. However, we have aspirations to offer all developers the opportunity to have SuDS serving more than one property adopted by the Council under provisions made in Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. We are currently looking at developer contribution (commuted sum) arrangements for the adoption of SuDS. Further information will be made available on this website when SuDS adoption arrangements are finalised by the Council.

Developers are advised that to be adopted by the Council, SuDS should fit the following criteria:

Be designed and constructed according to current best practice guidance as advised by the Council drainage engineers and the Local Planning Authority.
Be designed so that maintenance is likely to be economically proportionate for the design life of the development.
Be designed so that the SuDS system can be readily accessed at all times by the Council.

To supplement the guidance above, we have produced a Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) design and adoption guidance page. Developers are advised to read this document prior to contacting us to discuss SuDS adoption.