Metro mayors - the long awaited answer to our SuDS prayers?

David Smoker
24 June 2015

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Water & Waste

Could the push towards devolved power regional government and metro mayors be key to achieving the cohesive SUDs retrofit programmes that we so desperately need, asks David Smoker of ACO Water Management.

Without a fundamentally different approach to surface water management, flooding will continue to worsen - but does the UK currently lack the visionaries in high places to drive the retro-fit agenda? 

Already, four million households are at threat of surface water flooding and with the UK population set to reach 70 million by 2018, there will be even greater pressure on urban infrastructure. However, compartmentalisation, particularly across local authority services and planning departments, is impeding joined up thinking.  

"Boris Johnson has flagged up surface water drainage and flood risk management in his London Infrastructure Plan 2050; and the report, published in August 2014, does promise a Sustainable Drainage Action plan"

Over in Philadelphia, the Green City, Clear Waters programme is an exemplar in how to drive SuDS retro-fitting.  Central to its success is Mayor Nutter. 

He and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson have signed a unique federal-city partnership to ensure its success, resulting in a global model for cities embracing green stormwater infrastructure.  

The Philadelphia Water Department has worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, the Streets Department, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, and other public utilities, partners, and agencies to deliver a vision that has been driven from the top.

Do we need our own Mayor Nutters?  Boris Johnson has flagged up surface water drainage and flood risk management in his London Infrastructure Plan 2050; and the report, published in August 2014, does promise a Sustainable Drainage Action plan, which ‘will model and map the potential for retrofitting sustainable drainage across London’ by the end of 2015 (although the Spring Consultation Draft doesn’t seem to have materialised?).

So, could this be a sign of things to come?

"The UK’s resilience to flooding is reliant on vision and influence, without it we won’t just stand still – we’ll be going backwards"

With major cities across the UK starting to make increasing noises towards devolution – will any new “metro mayors” also bring with them the holistic thinking to pull together the disparate factions necessary to achieve the step-change required?

Whether they materialise or not – we desperately need some well informed individuals in positions of authority to understand the necessity and the complexity of SuDS.  The UK’s resilience to flooding is reliant on vision and influence, without it we won’t just stand still – we’ll be going backwards.

David Smoker is a director at ACO Water Management - www.aco.co.uk.