Develop a mechanism to promote positive management of rural and urban sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) for biodiversity benefits.
Objective 1: Accelerate ecosystem restoration and regeneration
Priority Action 6. Enhance water and air quality. Undertake water management measures to enhance biodiversity
There is currently no dedicated national mechanism in Scotland specifically designed to promote the biodiversity-focused management of rural and urban Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS).
SuDS delivery is instead guided through a combination of planning policy requirements, engineering guidance (including the CIRIA SuDS Manual), and operational approaches used by Scottish Water and local authorities. While these frameworks recognise multiple benefits of SuDS, including some biodiversity value, there is no single coordinated policy or programme focused specifically on enhancing biodiversity outcomes through ongoing SuDS management.
As a result, delivery remains fragmented across planning, water management, and infrastructure practice, with no defined national mechanism or timetable established for this action.
SuDS can provide important habitat, improve water quality, and support urban biodiversity when designed and managed for ecological outcomes. However, in the absence of a dedicated mechanism, biodiversity benefits are inconsistent and largely incidental, depending on local design choices and maintenance practices rather than a coordinated national approach. Current frameworks prioritise drainage and flood management, with biodiversity typically treated as a secondary benefit rather than a core objective. A national mechanism linking design standards, maintenance requirements and biodiversity targets could unlock significant gains, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas, by turning SuDS into a consistent network of high-quality habitats.
Ensure contaminants of emerging concern that may impact on biodiversity are identified through existing mechanisms with an additional system in place that uses Scottish data to identify new problems.
Represent Scottish interests in UK chemicals regulation to ensure impacts on wildlife from chemical risks are reduced (eg work towards extending current restrictions on lead in ammunition), and contribute to UK chemicals regulatory reform.
Support projects and programmes that complement regulation to address emerging or novel contaminants in the water environment, e.g. The One Health Breakthrough Partnership on pharmaceuticals and the water industry’s Chemical Investigation Programme.
Take an adaptive approach to abstraction and flows management to protect freshwater biodiversity from the impacts of water scarcity in response to future climate change pressures, using the Controlled Activity Regulations and review of abstraction.
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