Climate Adaptation Is Lagging: Build Resilience Into Your Planning Pack

Adaptation is now a planning test

As national assessments warn that the UK’s adaptation progress is too slow, planning officers are increasingly asking developers to evidence resilience: flood pathways, heat risks, drainage performance, and the durability of materials and landscaping. Submissions that treat climate risk as an afterthought face delays; those that address it head‑on move faster.

A Phase 1 Desktop Study is the most efficient way to bring climate and environmental risks into one place. It sets out flood context, ground stability and contamination risks, sensitive receptors, and regulatory constraints. Where infiltration‑led SuDS are possible, measured Infiltration Testing turns resilience from aspiration into design reality—demonstrating capacity, exceedance routing, and maintenance that will still work in 10–20 years.

Assess, adapt, evidence

Translate risks into design choices: raise thresholds or regrade where overland flow is shown; specify heat‑resilient planting; select materials with proven performance in wet‑dry cycles. Then connect those choices back to evidence from the Phase 1 Desktop Study and infiltration tests in your planning statement. This closes the loop for officers and reduces RFIs.

On a recent riverside plot, this evidence‑to‑design chain secured consent in a single consultation round. The scheme demonstrated it would remain functional during intense rainfall events without pushing water onto neighbours—because infiltration capacity and exceedance routes had been proven and illustrated from day one.

Make resilience cost‑neutral

Many resilience measures are cost‑neutral when considered early. EnviroSolution’s fast Phase 1 Desktop Study and Infiltration Testing help design teams make better choices sooner, strengthening the planning case and delivering long‑term value.