Where we work
We are drainage engineers and civil engineering designers working across Cheshire. We have delivered 12 projects here — drainage strategies, SuDS reports, flood risk assessments and highway design, prepared for planning and taken through to approval.
You do not need a consultant down the road from your site. This is desk work built on survey data, ground testing and the local authority’s own standards. What matters is that whoever does it knows what Cheshire West and Chester Council and Cheshire East Council asks for, and what the ground in Cheshire will actually do.
Our projects in Cheshire, in red, against the rest of England. One dot per project, placed within its postcode area rather than at the exact site. Zoom out for the full picture, or ctrl and scroll to zoom.
Civil engineering design in Cheshire
- Drainage design in Cheshire — surface water and foul drainage strategies, attenuation, SuDS and outfall design, sized for your site and your discharge rate.
- SuDS design — sustainable drainage design and the SuDS statement your planning authority expects, with the drainage hierarchy worked through in order.
- Flood risk assessments — site-specific flood risk assessments for sites in Flood Zones 2 and 3, and for sites over a hectare in Zone 1.
- Highway design — access, visibility splays, turning heads and adoptable road design, including Section 38 and Section 278 agreements.
- Percolation testing — BRE 365 soakaway testing across Cheshire, arranged through PT (West Midlands) Ltd so the design and the testing come from one place.
Ground conditions in Cheshire
The Cheshire plain is underlain by the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone — a major aquifer, and permeable where it reaches the surface along the Sandstone Ridge. Almost everywhere else it is buried under thick glacial till, sands and boulder clays from the last glacial advance, which is why the plain is dotted with ponds and meres. That till, not the sandstone, is what a soakaway usually has to get through.
None of that tells us what is under your plot, and no report should pretend otherwise. It tells us what to expect, what to test for, and whether to plan for infiltration or for attenuation and a restricted discharge. A percolation test to BRE 365 settles it, and it is cheaper to do that before the design than to redesign afterwards.
Source: National Character Area, Cheshire Sandstone Ridge. Requirements and ground conditions both change — we check them at the start of every job.
The drainage hierarchy
- 1InfiltrationSoakaway or infiltration basin, if the ground takes it
- 2WatercourseDischarge to a surface water body, usually rate-restricted
- 3Surface water sewerWhere a public surface water sewer exists and has capacity
- 4Combined sewerLast resort, and increasingly refused outright
Every scheme has to work down this list in order, and show why each option above the chosen one was ruled out. The ground is what decides whether you get to stop at step one.
Cheshire at a glance
- Lead local flood authority
- Cheshire West and Chester Council and Cheshire East Council
- Postcode areas
- CH, CW
- Projects delivered here
- 12
- Statutory consultee
- Yes, on surface water for major development
- Percolation testing
- BRE 365, via PT (West Midlands) Ltd
- Case studies
- 3
What Cheshire West and Chester Council expects
Cheshire West and Chester require the designer to certify that the scheme complies with council guidance and to carry that liability on their own professional indemnity insurance — a satisfactory audit by the council does not transfer the responsibility back to them. It is worth knowing who is carrying the risk before the design is signed.
All development within a designated Critical Drainage Area has to alleviate surface water flood risk through the layout itself, not only through the drainage. Their SuDS guidance runs to two volumes: design and technical, and council-specific requirements. Cheshire East is a separate lead local flood authority.
Source: Cheshire West and Chester Council. Requirements and ground conditions both change — we check them at the start of every job.
SuDS design in Cheshire
Drainage is the bulk of what we do, but in Cheshire a large share of it comes with SuDS design attached — because the glacial till across the plain rules out infiltration on most sites, so schemes here are attenuation and SuDS by default.
Where infiltration is out, the scheme becomes attenuation: storage sized for the critical storm, a flow control set to the discharge rate Cheshire West and Chester Council will allow, and treatment stages appropriate to what the water has run over. Done well that is basins, swales and permeable surfacing doing visible work in Cheshire, rather than a tank buried under a car park doing the minimum.
We do this as part of the same job, so the SuDS design and the drainage strategy agree with each other rather than being written by two firms who never spoke. More on SuDS design.
What you need, and when
The work is not one document handed in once. It arrives in stages, and sending the wrong level of detail at the wrong stage is one of the commonest reasons an application stalls with Cheshire West and Chester Council.
- Outline application. A strategy showing the principle: where the water goes, roughly what it will take, and that the site can be drained at all. Detailed calculations are not expected yet, but a strategy that ignores the discharge hierarchy will be questioned.
- Full application. The full surface water and foul scheme with calculations, layout, attenuation volumes and the discharge rate you are asking for, evidenced.
- Reserved matters. The detail that was reserved at outline, now built out against the approved strategy — and it has to match it.
- Discharge of conditions. The final submission against the wording of the condition itself, with the maintenance and management arrangements Cheshire West and Chester Council asks for. This is the stage most people reach us at, often with a condition already imposed.
Where the work lands
- OutlineDrainage strategy: the principle, not the detail
- FullFull scheme, with calculations and discharge rate
- Reserved mattersThe detail, matching the approved strategy
- DischargeSubmission against the condition wording itself
Most people reach us at the last step, with a condition already imposed. That is fine — it is just cheaper to have got the strategy right at the first.
Typical conditions we discharge in Cheshire
Exact wording varies between officers and between applications, but conditions on sites here almost always fall into three shapes:
- Surface water drainage. “No development shall commence until a detailed surface water drainage scheme, based on sustainable drainage principles and an assessment of the hydrological and hydrogeological context of the development, has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.” This is the one that needs the percolation results and the attenuation calculations.
- Foul drainage. A scheme for foul water disposal, agreed before occupation — straightforward on a mains connection, considerably less so on a package treatment plant or where the sewer is at capacity.
- Management and maintenance. A plan setting out who maintains the drainage for the lifetime of the development, and how. Often overlooked, and a common reason a discharge application comes back.
If you have a condition in front of you, send us the wording. We will tell you what it actually requires, before you commit to anything. There is a fuller guide to drainage planning conditions if you want to read up first.
Our work in Cheshire
Past project locations here include Irby, Mount Pleasant Road, Heathfield Avenue Crewe, Barnwood, Flintshire, Bunbury Cheshire and Ocho Rios.
Questions we get asked in Cheshire
Do you need to be local to do this work?
No. It is done from survey data, ground investigation and Cheshire West and Chester Council’s own standards, none of which require us to be nearby. Being the right distance from your site has never discharged a condition; knowing what the authority wants has.
Who is the lead local flood authority for my site?
Cheshire West and Chester Council and Cheshire East Council. They are a statutory consultee on surface water drainage for major development, and they set the local standards and the discharge rate your scheme is judged against.
Can I use a soakaway?
Often not, here — see the ground conditions above. That is a normal outcome, not a failure. Where infiltration is not viable we design attenuation with a restricted discharge, which is what most schemes in Cheshire end up with.
What counts as a SuDS scheme?
Not just a tank in the ground. Cheshire West and Chester Council expects the drainage hierarchy worked through in order, with water quality and amenity considered, and a maintenance plan naming who looks after it for the lifetime of the development.
What holds a drainage scheme up?
Usually the ground testing, and where one is needed, the response time from Cheshire West and Chester Council or the water company — not the design itself. Getting the testing booked early is the single biggest thing you can do to keep a scheme moving.
I already have a planning condition. Can you deal with it?
Yes, and it is most of what we do. Send us the condition wording and the site address and we will tell you what is needed to discharge it.
Get a quote for your Cheshire site
Send us the site address and the condition wording, or the planning reference, and we will tell you exactly what is needed. If you do not need us, we will say so.