Developing in Southwark (SE1) carries significant risk. The borough is predominantly Flood Zone 3, protected by the Thames Barrier, but it’s still subject to strict national and local policy on the location of new housing in flood zones.

The client’s sites were subject to a high-profile legal ruling, demonstrating that even council-approved developments remain vulnerable where national flood risk policy is viewed to not be applied rigorously. In that legal challenge, the court found that flood risk policy had not been properly considered, forcing the scheme back to the drawing board.  This is where Aegaea were then invited to support the project. We had no prior engagement or association with the project until this decision was made. Leading to the client team looking for additional flood risk assessment and sequential test consultants. 

For Leathermarket CBS, a client committed to delivering high-quality community homes, this precedent meant that a standard “desktop” Sequential Test would not withstand scrutiny. The risk was not just planning refusal, but the prospect of a Judicial Review overturning a successful decision months or years later, delaying the delivery of much-needed housing across both sites.

It is important to note, no true definition of the Sequential Test exists in the National Planning Policy Framework or the Planning Practice Guidance – Flood Risk and Coastal Change. Therefore, working closely with the Local Planning Authority (LPA), we negotiated and agreed on the precise parameters of the Sequential Test with reference to the blueprint & guiding policies associated with the test within the National Planning Policy Framework, to ensure they would be accepted for both schemes.

This consistent, transparent methodology provided a defensible framework that could be applied across both projects while responding to the heightened scrutiny created by recent legal rulings.