Our Director of Operations, Jo Bradley, was in Leeds recently for a meeting, and she was pleased to see some brand-new SuDS being delivered in the City centre. They were large devices and the contractors seemed to be taking care to deliver them well. Sadly, there were other developments very nearby that could have had SuDS too, but that had conventional drainage, and green spaces that didn’t contribute to stormwater management. But this shows a welcome shift to SuDS in new developments, and it feels, anecdotally, as if this shift is occurring in many towns across England. As Jo travels between meetings and site visits, on the train and in the car, she has noticed more SuDS popping up on new residential and commercial developments. The quality of the SuDS devices varies and some of them are less good, but the shift in the right direction is welcome. Now we have to build on it, and to make sure that these schemes are maintained well, so that they look beautiful for years to come, and continue to create habitats for wildlife. As people become more familiar with high-quality SuDS creating attractive places for them to live and work, they will come to expect them and start to ask for them when they are choosing a new home, or relocating their offices. In the absence of mandatory SuDS, this shift in hearts and minds is our best hope to get a full roll-out of SuDS everywhere, and to get local people to become custodians for their local schemes. Have you got SuDS near your home or office? Do you spend time weeding or litter-picking to keep them looking good?
