Certain areas of Stafford Borough are at risk from flooding. The Council is required to consider the water environment and flood risk at all stages of the planning process. We have been working with other Staffordshire Councils to prepare the Southern Staffordshire Councils Water Cycle Study – Phase 1 Scoping Report (pdf 7.5mb), which was published in February 2020. Further work will be progressed when site options are identified for Stafford Borough through the New Local Plan 2020-2040.

For planning applications within flood zones 2 and 3 (the areas most likely to flood), the Council requires a “sequential test” to be completed, including consideration of a range of alternative sites. The applicant must show how alternative sites outside flood zones 2 and 3 have been considered and why the application site is considered suitable.

The Council has produced a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA). This document has been jointly produced with Lichfield District, South Staffordshire and Cannock Chase Councils. The purpose of an SFRA is to assess and map all forms of flood risk from groundwater, surface water, sewer and river sources, taking into account future climate change predictions, and use this as an evidence base to locate future development in low flood risk areas.

Appendix A - Geo Maps A1-D4*

*You will need to open Appendix A documents A1 - D4 in Adobe Acrobat as they comprise interactive elements.