Moves to end flood prevention plans delay.
A four-year delay to rules meant to prevent new housing developments making floods worse could finally be ended.
Policy has been paralysed, with builders rejecting demands that they should install ponds and grassy hollows to catch water running off roofs.
There is still deadlock on this but it is understood that a deal has been reached over who pays to maintain any new anti-flood landscape features.
Councils will be able to bill owners of new homes for maintenance.
The councils argue this is fair as owners of existing homes have to pay to have their run-off water treated by water firms through the sewerage system.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25676973
I "think" this must refer largely to estates built on floodplains. Carlisle is a prize example of that.
In my own case exactly where rain water goes remains one of life's mysteries. I think that a minor amount from the front maybe fed to the rain sewers with the rest being fed to the rear of the house and then down old wells - can't be soakaways as something would've gone crook after 170 years. 
