Flood risk
Surface water flood risk
Surface water flooding affects a large proportion of the District. In recognition of this planning policy acknowledges this situation and various county and local standards have been adopted and apply, which can be viewed under Supplementary Requirements for Surface Water.
Villages within the catchments of the Aldingbourne and Lidsey Rifes are known to have long standing drainage and surface water. As part of new evidence during the examination of the Local Plan consultants were employed to specifically look at these issues and proposes potential solutions both on and off-site to help address these issues. The result of this work was the Strategic Surface Water Management Study: Arun SSWMS Final Report.pdf [pdf] 34MB
SFRA Update 2016
This work was commissioned to update the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment for the District outside of the National Park. This was necessary to support decisions around Main Modifications to the Arun Local Plan 2011-2031 during the period of suspension during the examination process. Below is the SFRA Level 1 published in August 2016 and also a hybrid report incorporating Levels 1 & 2. The hybrid report sets out the current situation regarding flooding from differing sources across the District, supported by Appendices A - I, followed by a broad assessment of strategic sites/locations being considered by the Local Plan with more detailed assessments of the flood risk for each, contained in Appendix J. All maps in the Appendices are at a District level followed by a more detailed version split by the grids identified in Appendix A, apart from Appendix J.
2016s3756 - Arun District Council Level 1 SFRA - Final Report (v2 August 2016).pdf [pdf] 8MB
2016s3756 - Arun District Council Level 1 and Level 2 SFRA (v5 September 2016).pdf [pdf] 9MB
2016s3756 - Arun District Council Final Combined Level 1 and Level 2 SFRA - Final Report (v5 November 2016).pdf [pdf] 9MB
Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (2008)
Arun District Council commissioned consultants, Capita Symonds, to undertake a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) of the District which will support planning decisions and help inform the production of the Council's Local Development Framework.
The main objective of the Arun District SFRA is to provide flood risk information:
- so that an evidence based and risk based sequential approach can be adopted when making planning decisions, in line with PPS25;
- that is strategic, in that it covers a wide spatial area and looks at flood risk today an in the future;
- that supports sustainability appraisals of the local development frameworks;
- that identifies what further investigations may be required in flood risk assessments for specific development proposals.
| Volume 1 User Guide.pdf [pdf] 1MB |
| Volume 2 Technical Report and Maps.pdf [pdf] 4MB |
| Volume 3 Management Guide.pdf [pdf] 492KB |
| Volume 4 Assessment of Sites of Search.pdf [pdf] 483KB |
The Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) for Arun and the Sequential Test, were carried out in 2008 and 2009. Since then, a West Sussex wide SFRA was undertaken by consultants Capita Symonds, on behalf of West Sussex County Council, in 2010. Together, these documents form the evidence base relating to flood risk for the Arun District Draft Local Plan.
More information is held on West Sussex County Council's SFRA and Sequential Test page.
Sequential Exception Test (2014)
This document sets out the approach that has been taken to ensure that the Local Plan has been prepared taking account of flood risk, now and in the future. This paper has helped to inform the Sustainability Appraisal for the Local Plan. As the Local Plan has been progressed the sequential test, and where necessary the exceptions test, have been applied to inform site selection. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (2012) (paragraphs 93 to 108) sets out how Local Plans can help to the meet the challenge of climate change, flooding and coastal change. Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) (2014) (paragraphs 019) sets out how to plan new development taking account of flood risk using the “sequential approach”. Where there are no reasonably available sites, local planning authorities, in their decision making should take into account the flood risk vulnerability of land uses and consider reasonably available sites, applying the “exceptions test” only in circumstances where insufficient land is available in the lower risk extents. This is one part of an integrated process that takes account of many factors, including wider sustainability issues, the realism of site delivery and in response to consultation with the public, business and partner agencies.
Arun Local Plan (2011 – 2031) Sequential Exception Test 2014.pdf [pdf] 189KB
During the suspension period of the Arun Local Plan 2011-2031 examination, further work relating to flood risk was done. As a result of this and due to challenge over the content of the 2014 submitted document, a new document was produced to inform Main Modifications. This reflects the latest information from the new evidence documents, such as any changes to flood extents and as much detail as possible regarding expected delivery.
Seq-Exception.pdf [pdf] 4MB and Seq-Exception Appendix.xlsx [xlsx] 16MB
Sequential and Exception Test (2009)
PPS25: Sequential and Exception Test for the Arun District Core Strategy
The Sequential and Exception Test has been prepared for the Core Strategy in line with Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk. The sequential test is a simple decision making tool to ensure sites at little or no risk of flooding are developed in preference to areas at high risk of flooding. It informs the Core Strategy, which will form a key part of the Arun District Local Development Framework.
Arun Sequential and Exception Test.pdf [pdf] 151KB