Alternative Sites Consultation

This site has a watercourse along the northern boundary. The catchment area is too small for the watercourse to have the flood plain automatically mapped. Therefore should this site come forward it will require a flood risk assessment (FRA) to level 2 standard to clarify the flood plain extent and easement width required for this watercourse.

The site is sensitive in terms of protection requirements for 'Controlled Waters'. It is located on solid geology of the Pennine Upper Coal Measures formation, consisting of bands of alternating mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. The more permeable strata will contain sufficient groundwater to support drinking water abstractions and thus the whole formation is now classified as Principal Aquifer under the new Water Framework Directive typology. There are no drift deposits overlying the solid geology locally and the soils predominantly consist of fine to coarse loamy silts, with intermediate leaching potential. Furthermore, the site is located 1.5 km south westerly from a STW public supply borehole and as said above there is a watercourse bordering the site to the north, with the river Avon some 500 m to the east.

Should this site come forward further site specific investigation will need to confirm the exact geology and soil conditions locally, as well as depth to watertable, ground drainage potentials and any contamination legacy from previous developments. There could be Made Ground across the site or indeed impacts from the adjacent railway line. As part of any planning application for a residential development, we would like to see a site investigation and risk assessment condition to assess risks to controlled waters. Based on those findings, we can then also better advise on future drainage options (e.g. to ground or not). The Environmental Health department at the Council has the remit to protect human health, so they will need to get involved too.

This site has a watercourse along the northern boundary. The catchment area is too small for the watercourse to have the flood plain automatically mapped. Therefore should this site come forward it will require a flood risk assessment (FRA) to level 2 standard to clarify the flood plain extent and easement width required for this watercourse.

The site is sensitive in terms of protection requirements for 'Controlled Waters'. It is located on solid geology of the Pennine Upper Coal Measures formation, consisting of bands of alternating mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. The more permeable strata will contain sufficient groundwater to support drinking water abstractions and thus the whole formation is now classified as Principal Aquifer under the new Water Framework Directive typology. There are no drift deposits overlying the solid geology locally and the soils predominantly consist of fine to coarse loamy silts, with intermediate leaching potential. Furthermore, the site is located 1.5 km south westerly from a STW public supply borehole and as said above there is a watercourse bordering the site to the north, with the river Avon some 500 m to the east.

Should this site come forward further site specific investigation will need to confirm the exact geology and soil conditions locally, as well as depth to watertable, ground drainage potentials and any contamination legacy from previous developments. There could be Made Ground across the site or indeed impacts from the adjacent railway line. As part of any planning application for a residential development, we would like to see a site investigation and risk assessment condition to assess risks to controlled waters. Based on those findings, we can then also better advise on future drainage options (e.g. to ground or not). The Environmental Health department at the Council has the remit to protect human health, so they will need to get involved too.

The watercourse to the west of the proposed site has an associated flood plain. There may be approximately 10% of the site lying within flood zone 3 and therefore restricts the amount of developable land. A significant detailed hydraulic modelling will be required for a level 2 standard FRA to be undertaken.

Any design of this proposal should ensure that there is no inappropriate development in the flood plain and ensure there is sufficient easement adjacent to the watercourse. We would also seek enhancements to the water course corridor where possible

The development of this site will require detailed FRA to illustrate how surface water run off will be controlled at green field rates. A holistic drainage design scheme must be developed to demonstrate that there will be no increase in surface water to the adjacent watercourse. As with all the sites SuDS must be utilised and none use fully justified.

As with all sites over one hectare in size a Flood Risk Assesment will be required to cover site drainage and to consider the watercourse that bisects the centre of the site.

The site is occupied by a large area of flood zone 1. However there will be flood plain associated with the watercourses on the site. Currently there is no indicative flood plain information available because the catchments are less than 3.0km2. Flood plain and easements will have to be determined as part of a level 2 Flood Risk Assesment. We will need to agree green field rates of run off via substantial control of surface water run off.

Although the majority will be developable because it lies within Flood Zone 1, this large potential allocation drains in 2 directions to 2 main rivers, therefore there will be flood plain implications for the site.

A detailed level 2 FRA will be required to determine the precise flood plain extent as well as assessing site surface water drainage. The Environment Agency has hydraulic models of the river systems that can be used in the production of the site FRA.

If infiltration drainage is not possible and drainage scheme will have to ensure that the site development does not produce any cross catchment transfers. (i.e. moving surface water from one catchment to another.)

The site is sensitive in terms of protection requirements for 'Controlled Waters'. It is located on solid geology of the Bromsgrove Sandstone formation, consisting of permeable sandstone strata. These will contain sufficient groundwater to support drinking water abstractions and thus the whole formation is classified as a Principal Aquifer under the new Water Framework Directive typology. There are also permeable Sand & Gravel deposits overlying the solid geology locally and the soils predominantly consist of deep, well drained, coarse, loamy and sandy soils, with a high leaching potential. Furthermore, the site is located some 2.5 km south westerly and south easterly from two STW public supply boreholes and there is a stream adjacent to the northwest, with the river Sowe adjacent to the west.

As this is a very large 400 ha area, further site specific investigation will need to confirm the exact geology and soil conditions locally, as well as depth to water table, ground drainage potentials and any contamination legacy from previous developments (incl. historic landfill sites) or Made Ground accumulations. As part of any planning application for a residential development, we would require to see a site investigation and risk assessment to assess risks to controlled waters. Based on those findings, we can then also better advise on future drainage options (e.g. to ground or not). Again, the Environmental Health department at the Council has the remit to protect human health, so they will need to get involved too.