Scheme information
reduce flood risk to the town centre
benefit residents
keep the town open for business in times of flood and help maintain Guildford’s thriving economy.
enhance the riverside environment and improve accessibility
make Guildford a more attractive place to live, work and visit
gather your local knowledge and experience
understand your priorities so we create a scheme that everyone can value and benefit from
Guildford Borough Council
Surrey County Council (the lead local flood authority)
Thames Water
central government (Grant in Aid)
Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee
local councils
others that benefit from the scheme
Why Guildford?
Guildford has a long history of flooding from the River Wey. Significant floods have caused damage to homes and businesses. They have also disrupted vital infrastructure such as roads and utilities.
The risk of flooding in Guildford will get worse with climate change. It is only a matter of time before we see another serious flood.
The Guildford flood alleviation scheme (FAS) will:
Partnership working
Guildford Borough Council are developing plans to regenerate Guildford town centre.
These plans will:
This work has been shaped by extensive community stakeholder engagement.
You can see Shaping Guildford’s Future website for further details.
The proposed flood alleviation scheme will support Guildford Borough Council in their aspirations to meet the current and future needs of the community.
We have also been working with Surrey County Council to make sure the scheme helps to meet wider Surrey County Council objectives.
Progress to date
In 2018, we shared our early scheme proposals. These proposals included an option to reduce flood risk by putting flood walls and embankments within the north end of the town centre.
Working with Guildford Borough Council, we have expanded the scope of our assessment to make sure flood risk is reduced to as much of the town centre as possible.
We have since held engagement events in April 2024, February 2025 and most recently in January 2026 in order to:
We will continue to use this feedback to inform the detailed design of the scheme.
Next steps
During 2026, we will continue to work with partners, landowners, businesses and communities to better understand local requirements and, where possible, build them into the scheme.
Our proposals, flood defences totalling 2km in length through the town centre, will work to manage flood risk in Guildford while not increasing flood risk elsewhere. The defences will be integrated into the current urban environment and we will lower some areas of the riverside to create more space for water.
We will also be making modifications to Town Bridge and improvements to the area around Walnut Tree footbridge with a new elevated walkway, as well as replacing Millmead footbridge. These changes will improve water flow.
The scheme will bring additional environmental benefits to the area. We are considering whether fish passes should be included at Unstead and St Catherine’s weirs upstream of Guildford. This will improve fish passage along the River Wey.
We will continue to look at how to sustainably manage surface water flood risk by working with:
Using this information and your feedback, we have combined these findings to develop an option that balances the needs of the community.
Timescales and funding
We are currently in the appraisal stage of the project to help find the best scheme design, which we expect to last into 2026. We have developed outline designs in consultation with partners, landowners, businesses, and the general public. We aim to submit our Outline Business Case for the scheme in spring 2026. We will then develop the detailed design and seek formal approvals such as planning permission.
Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, The Ministry of Justice, Guildford Borough Council and Surrey County Council have contributed financially to help develop the scheme proposals. The scheme can only be built once more significant funding commitments have been made towards the construction phase. This is likely to use a combination of funding from:
We will develop comprehensive project costs as we progress through the detailed design phase of the project.
Temporary flood barriers
We have temporary flood barriers available. We have identified an area around Mary Road and William Road in Guildford where we might be able use the barriers in the right circumstances. We used temporary flood barriers in December 2019 and February 2020 when flows in the River Wey were high. This helped to reduce flood risk to properties in the area.