Urbanisation is already responsible for growing levels of surface water flooding, which poses a threat to more than three million properties across England, according to the Environment Agency. As local authorities face pressure to champion and accelerate property development in their regions, they must ensure a fragmented approach to flood risk management will not exacerbate the problem.

A successful drainage system is a delicate mixture of interactions between land use, terrain, buildings, highways, drains, sewers, watercourses, rivers and the sea. Any disturbance to this system has a huge bearing on how prone a particular area is to surface flooding, with construction one of the biggest potential sources of disruption.