What the New 2025 SuDS Standards Mean for Developers
SuDS 2025: What Developers Need to Know
The 2025 update to Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) guidance is reshaping how planning departments assess surface water management. Local planning authorities are now asking developers to evidence capacity, water quality, biodiversity uplift, amenity value, resilience and maintenance — not just hydraulic performance. That means earlier and better-grounded evidence in your planning pack.
The quickest win is commissioning site-specific evidence up front. Two items will do the heavy lifting: verified permeability results via Infiltration Testing and an overarching risk screen via a Phase 1 Desktop Study. Together they prove feasibility for soakaways and identify constraints like contamination, perched groundwater or made ground that could undermine a SuDS design.
Why Infiltration Testing is now a must-have
- Demonstrates whether infiltration drainage is viable (and at what design rate).
- Prevents costly redesigns when councils reject generic infiltration assumptions.
- Supports SuDS reports, soakaway sizing and attenuation strategies.
Where Phase 1 fits
- Flags contamination or geology that limits infiltration or triggers treatment trains.
- Combines historic land use mapping, flood data and regulatory constraints.
- Gives planners confidence your drainage concept is safe and deliverable.
EnviroSolution provides rapid, UK‑wide Infiltration Testing and quick-turnaround Phase 1 Desktop Studies so you can submit SuDS-compliant evidence the first time. Reduce RFIs, compress timelines and keep budgets under control.