Soakaway pond/reed bed

[Artrax]

Hi all,

I'm building an extension, and one of the requirements for the rainwater is to go to a soak away.

Rather than an underground soakaway, could I leave it open and create a sort of 'pond like' soak away with some reeds and similar plants? Would something like that be allowed?

If I did this, it would be about 20m from my property (and more than 5m from any other buildings), and ideally adjacent to the boundary and a leylandii hedge (on my property). Not sure if a soakaway is allowed that close to a boundary or not? (I've looked at NHBC 5.3.11 and it only mentions distance from buildings, not boundaries.)

Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

 

[Swwils]

No

 

[Artrax]

Thanks! That's really helpful...

Care to elaborate?

 

[Swwils]

Requirement is for a soakaway not a pond and a pond will likely annoy whoever stated that requirement.

 

[Artrax]

Nobody has really stated it as a requirement (yet), but I know I won't be allowed to drain the rainwater into the foul sewer.

It's not really a pond - I just said "pond like". I see these all the time for new estates, in fact there is one just down the road from me for 5 houses, but obviously much larger - I just want one in my back garden!

 

[bernardgreen]

Google for "balancing pond"

These store the water from rainfall on roads and roofs and then allow it to run slowly into small drains or soakaways at a rate that the drain or soakaway can cope with.