Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of producing standards on implementing sustainable urban drainage for (a) landowners, (b) local authorities and (c) businesses.

In June of this year, the Government introduced new national standards making clear that sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) should be designed to cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits in the form of flood prevention and storm overflow reduction, offering reuse opportunities, reducing run off, and helping to improve water quality, amenity, and biodiversity. The standards should be used by local authorities when assessing applications for development which could affect drainage on or around the site, see paragraphs 181 and 182 of the National Planning Policy Framework.