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Adoption agreement

As part of Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 the SuDS Approving Body (SAB) under section 17 has a duty to adopt providing the constructed SuDS meets the National Standard as published by the Welsh Government and any local design criteria of the SAB.

Within Schedule 3 there are a number of exceptions to the SuDS being adopted by the SAB:

  1. A drainage system constructed under section 114A of the Water Industry Act 1991.
  2. To any part of a drainage system which is a publicly-maintained road or becomes a publicly-maintained road.  Under section 63 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 roads that have Suds features as part of their drainage system will be deemed as ‘streets with special engineering difficulties’. (Section 27)
  3. It does not apply to a drainage system which is designed only to provide drainage for a single property.

There will be a number of conditions set with the permission granted and as part of these the developer and land owner will need to enter a legal agreement for the future adoption of the SuDS and any easements required prior to work commencing on site.

The agreements will be constructed using Section 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 and section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972. Within the agreement commuted sums will be required in line with the conditions imposed.

It is important to note that a legal agreement shall be required prior to the granting of permission for SuDS schemes that are to be adopted under Schedule 3.