The New North South Divide "water-stress"

There is a lot of talk in the news over drought and water shortage, makes a change from flooding and pictures of people cleaning out flooded properties.

The last time we were talking about droughts was in the 1980 when hydrologists were all looking at low flows and hands off flow, busy calculating Q95!

The Yorkshire Drought caused them to change the way their water "resource bubble" was managed so that this type of embarrassment would not happen again.

We have seen water companies drive leakage down and fit water meters for demand side control but what of supply side expansion?

Are we too reliant on groundwater in the south?

Should reservoir expansion have been looked at in the 80 and 90's?

If we look to expand now it could take 20years to be operational.

Could the North and West move water to the south? This has been banded about for many years, back in the wary 90's British Waterways commissioned an EIA to look at the mass movement f water through their network. But issues of ecology and water quality leaving aside costs stopped this project from going forwards.

Back when I was involved in research we tested multiple climate change scenarios against change in reservoir stocks. Bizarrely the impact of uncertainty water demand is more critical than that of climate change.

Water companies could alter their control rules and manage the impacts of climate change.

So what is the way forwards, selling water from north to south?

Better storage?

Better management of a scarce resource?

The debate begins ....

3D Visualisation Update

Enzygo have recently updated their 3D Visualisation sotware to ensure that they keep ahead of the game when it comes to production of photo-realistic images of proposed developments.

The Enzygo Landscape Team have updated their AutoCAD software with the new release of 3Ds Max 2011, the new features of which are listed here.

For further information on Enzygo's 3D capabilities, contact us here, or refer to our website.

Planning Minister Rejects Community Support Instruction

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Bob Neill, has rejected Parliamentary calls for Planning Inspectors to require the Planning Inspectorate to refuse appeals from wind farm developers if there is 'unanimous community opposition to the proposals.'

The Minister stated, "The Planning Inspectorate has an important role to play as the arbiter of potential conflicts between the interests of individuals, or local communities, and the needs of a nation. It would therefore be inappropriate to direct the Planning Inspectorate to refuse a planning appeal solely because of community opposition because there may still be strong national or local policy support for the wind farm."

For the full statement, refer here and for planning or environmental advice on wind farms, contact Enzygo.

For further details on Enzygo's experience with major planning schemes, refer here.

Flood Risk - Five Steps to Success

Flood risk isn't a black box science, you can scope your sites out easily using the following  five steps.

1. Identify the Flood Zone which the site lies within, insert the sites postcode into the EA website CLICK HERE. This will identify if the site is in flood zone 1, 2 or 3a/b.

At this stage you should also contact the local Environment Agency ‘Development Control Officer’ and hold informal confidential discussions about the site in terms of flooding to determine if there are any show stoppers. The local officers can identify these and provide information which you may not be aware of. They can be contacted via 08708 506 506 then select option 2

2. Residential development is classed as ‘more vulnerable’ within PPS25, therefore it is only acceptable within Flood Zone 3a subject to a ‘sequential and exception test’. Sites within Flood Zone 1 would only require drainage assessments; Flood Zone 2 is acceptable subject to a satisfactory FRA. Development would not be allowed within zone 3b.

3. If the site is within Flood Zone 3, check the SFRA to determine local advice and if the site has been reviewed/allocated within the SFRA. e.g. Greater Manchester SFRA CLICK HERE. If the site is allocated then review the constraints, if it is not allocated a more robust FRA is required

4. If the site is within Flood Zone 3, and not an allocated SFRA site, then a more robust FRA is required, as the site may not be suitable for development.

5. The next stage from this would be to contact a FRA consultant [EMAIL ENZYGO] in order to determine if there are any reasons to challenge the SFRA’s assumptions. This may require 1D or 2D flood modelling, or more detailed drainage assessments.

More details on the following can be found from the links below

1. flood risk modelling
2. Sequential and exception tests
3. drainage assessments
4. business continuity and flood risk plans
5. frequently asked questions about flood risk