Wealden District Council

Wealden District Council SFRA

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) confirms that strategic policies should be informed by a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) and should manage flood risk from all sources, including cumulative impacts and climate change.

The Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) advocates a staged approach to risk assessment and identifies two levels of SFRA:

Level 1 SFRA: where flooding is not a major issue and where development pressures are low. The assessment should be sufficiently detailed to allow application of the Sequential Test. Level 1 is completed first to understand whether a Level 2 assessment is required.
Level 2 SFRA: where land outside Flood Zones 2 and 3 cannot accommodate all the necessary development creating the need to apply the NPPF’s Exception Test. In these circumstances the assessment should consider the detailed nature of the flood characteristics within a Flood Zone and assessment of other sources of flooding

The Council has produced two Level 1 SFRAs for the district. The first is the North Wealden Level 1 SFRA and the second is the Eastbourne & South Wealden Level 1 SFRA (which was updated in early 2025), on which the Council worked jointly with Eastbourne Borough Council. Both SFRAs have been reviewed and signed off by the Environment Agency and the Lead Local Flood Authority (East Sussex County Council). All SFRAs are being revised in 2025 to ensure they take account of update flood risk mapping that has been issued by the Environment Agency.

Both SFRAs will be used to inform decisions on the location of future development and the preparation of sustainable policies for the long-term management of flood risk. They will also be used by applicants to inform site specific Flood Risk Assessments, in line with the requirements of the NPPF and Planning Practice Guidance on flood risk. The reports can be downloaded below:

The Council also produced a Level 2 SFRA for 32 sites strategic sites identified for potential allocation within the district and which fell outside Flood Zone 1 and / or had some degree of significant flood risk from other sources. The Level 2 SFRA:

Assesses the flood risk to the potential development sites using the latest available flood risk data and climate change uplifts where available.
Provides information and mapping to show flood risk from all sources for each site option.
Provides recommendations for making the site safe from flooding throughout its lifetime where the Exception Test is required.
Takes into account, as far as practically possible, the most recent policy and legislation in the NPPF, PPG and LLFA SuDS guidance; and
Provides further assessment of cumulative development impacts on high-risk catchments as indicated in the Level 1 SFRAs.

The following parties were consulted during the preparation of the Level 2 SFRA:

East Sussex County Council
Environment Agency
Pevensey and Cuckmere Water Level Management Board
Southern Water
Eastbourne Borough Council

The report has been used to inform decisions on the location of future development and should be read alongside the Level 1 SFRAs. The Level 2 report can be downloaded below:

Updated guidance: peak rainfall allowances have been updated in ‘Flood risk assessments: climate change allowances’.

This guidance has been prepared by the Environment Agency for use by local planning authorities and developers preparing Strategic Flood Risk Assessments (SFRAs) and site specific flood risk assessments (FRAs) respectively. It details the changes made to the peak rainfall allowances, why the changes have been made and a list of Frequently Asked Questions.

CCA Peak Rainfall Update – External Briefing

The following documents, that includes various surface water management plans for local and regional areas, also forms part of the evidence base for flood risk management in Wealden District.