Policy information sourced from the Sutton Hackbridge and Beddington Corner Neighbourhood Plan
EP9 Water Efficient Landscape Design
Where appropriate developers should seek to maintain sufficient water supplies under drought conditions while reducing flood risks during heavy rainfall by providing detailed flood storage and drought resilience measures from the earliest stages of project planning and design, including sustainable urban drainage (‘SUDS’), bio-swales, rain gardens etc:
- maintaining or restoring natural floodplains and maximising the flood storage role of rivers, watercourses, ponds, aquifers and other water features:
- promoting the benefits of measures SUDS for water storage and groundwater recharge, thus increasing soil moisture levels for vegetation, sustaining evaporative cooling and reducing flood risks. Surface water run-off should be directed back to the watercourse rather than to the foul water drainage system;
- reducing demand for irrigation by working with existing natural vegetation on site and using drought resistant planting to create public and private landscapes that are more resilient to higher summer temperatures. Low water use gardens and landscapes can be achieved by imitating the conditions and attributes of London’s vegetated brownfield sites or by working with the existing natural vegetation;
- ensuring that proposed water features such as fountains operate ‘closed systems’ in order to recycle the water; and
- considering the cleaning needs of large surfaces, as this could result in significant water use
For more information please see the Neighbourhood Plan