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A new pro-forma for the national standards for SuDS in England

We have been commissioned by the Environment Agency to create a national SuDS pro-forma.

The aim of the project is to develop a standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) pro-forma that can be used by local authorities (LAs) across England. This will support them in collecting information from developers, summarising and confirming how surface water will be managed sustainably, and ensuring plans align with the recently released SuDS standards.

The pro-forma will also assist developers in navigating the planning process by providing them with the necessary requirements upfront.
 
Expected outputs:

  • One pro-forma for non-major developments
  • One pro-forma for major developments
  • Accompanying guidance to support users in completing the form. These documents will reference existing guidance for specific technical details (e.g., C753 The SuDS Manual, ciriabest, and other non-CIRIA documents).

While many local authorities have created their own pro-formas, there is an opportunity to provide a standardised version that can be used nationally to:

  • Provide greater consistency in data collection and added simplicity for developers
  • Improve the scale and quality of SuDS being delivered
  • Remove the need for local authorities to update their own pro-formas to reflect the new SuDS standards, saving time and money
  • Provide a template for local authorities that do not already use a SuDS pro-forma

This project is being delivered by Arup, the Planning Advisory Service, and the Association of SuDS Authorities (ASA), with an advisory group (AG) made up of housing developers, local authorities, SuDS technical experts, Defra, and MHCLG.

Delivery timeline:

  • Scoping meeting – 20 October
  • Creation of specification for SuDS pro-forma template – End of October
  • SuDS pro-forma workshop – 18 November
  • Production of first draft – Mid to late January 2026
  • Production of second draft – February 2026
  • Project completed – 1 April 2026

Please note: The project completion date stated above relates to CIRIA’s submission of the final drafts to the Environment Agency (EA). The EA is responsible for branding and dissemination of the pro-formas, and aims to publish these documents by the end of May 2026.

For more information, contact Rob Mitton.