Flood Risk Management

Flooding can be devastating for homes and businesses and can, in exceptional circumstances, endanger human life. The risk of flooding in the borough is likely to increase in the future due to changes in the climate and increased development producing more paved surfaces.

What is Flood Risk Management?

Following the national flooding in 2007 new legislation has been introduced to manage the risk of flooding. In 2007 not all the flooding came from rivers and particularly in Solihull the problems were caused as much by surface water flooding than by rivers bursting their banks.

The Floods and Water Management Act (2010) has designated Solihull Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority. This means that Solihull Council has a number of responsibilities including flooding from surface water, groundwater and ordinary water courses. The Environment Agency is responsible for flooding from main rivers like the River Blythe.

Solihull Council has completed a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment which identifies flood risk in the borough. You can view this document on this page.

Our Flood Risk Responsibilities

Solihull Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority for the borough. Solihull Council is responsible for covering three types of flooding:

• groundwater flooding, caused when heavy or prolonged rainfall makes the groundwater table rise above its normal level;
• surface water (rainfall) runoff, which flows from, or over, surfaces such as roads, roofs and patios that cannot easily absorb water;
• ordinary watercourses which cannot contain large volumes of surface water runoff during or after heavy rain.

The responsibilities of the Lead Local Flood Authority include:

• investigating and publishing reports on significant floods in the borough;
• recording flood assets and identifying those responsible for maintaining them, as well as designating any features which have a significant impact on flood risk so they cannot be removed or replaced without consent;
• working with organisations such as the Environment Agency and water companies to develop a local flood risk management strategy for managing surface runoff, groundwater and ordinary watercourses throughout Solihull;
• ensuring that developments drain in a manner which does not increase flood risk elsewhere, as well as trying to reduce the risk of flooding wherever possible;
• the power to request information regarding flooding from any organisation or person;
• the power to commission works to prevent surface water runoff and groundwater flooding;
• consenting changes to ordinary watercourses.

Householders are responsible for protecting their property from flooding. We will look to provide support and guidance to householders at risk of flooding but it may not be technically or financially possible to provide flood-alleviation schemes to residents.