Balanced and ecological SuDs approach

A combination of transport planning and sustainable drainage expertise from Motion helped secure approval for Silverleaf Group, who plans to build up to 35 dwellings in East Sussex.  The development will provide much-needed housing, including some affordable homes on land at Coopers Green, Uckfield.

One of the main obstacles was finding an outfall for surface water.  Justin Owens, Group Managing Director at Silverleaf Group, comments, “Surface drainage was a challenge due to the constraints of the site, but the Motion team adopted a multi-faceted approach to get all the relevant decision makers onboard and to agree a plan that everyone found acceptable.”

Pragmatic advice

Motion Director, Neil Jaques, explains, “The site had no obvious outfall.  Infiltration was not possible, therefore soakaways were not viable and there were no watercourses immediately adjacent to the site that were in our control.”  Neil adds, “After exploring all the options, we proposed a connection to the highway drainage network.  The County Council has introduced a new policy allowing this if stringent conditions are met.”

Justin Owens continues, “We’ve worked with Motion for a number of years, and we value the pragmatic advice and problem-solving attitude they bring to complex schemes like this.”  Motion’s sustainable drainage strategy also included permeable paving in the car parking areas and private access roads, and an attenuation pond.  Neil comments, “It is a wet pond, so this provides additional ecological benefits.  It can also help with filtering out solids and silt, as the sediment is collected in the bottom of the pond, preventing it from discharging downstream.”

Image credit: © ECE Architecture

This article first appeared in the Sustainability Special Issue of Insight