£6million Taunton flood defence project “now much closer”
Somerset Council’s Executive Committee has reaffirmed its commitment to improving flood defences along two sections of the River Tone in Taunton.
The council has been working with the Environment Agency on a £6 million project to help protect homes and businesses in Taunton from flooding.
More design work will now be done and it is hoped to start work in 2026, at the places lined in red on the map at the top of this page.
The project is wholly funded by sources outside of the council, including the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Homes England and Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA).
The aim is to improve flood defences along two stretches of the left bank of the River Tone in the North Town area of Taunton, by building a reinforced concrete flood wall.
Doing this will provide increased protection to hundreds of homes.
It will reduce flood risks to key sections of the A3027, including Bridge Street, Staplegrove Road and Station Road, and vital buildings and services like North Town Primary School, the police station, swimming pool, Town Council and sheltered housing in the area.
It will also protect both the Greenbrook Terrace and Wood Street regeneration sites and enable the continued redevelopment of Firepool.
Somerset Council’s Executive Committee heard at a meeting on 1 October that the concrete wall would be finished with brick to fit in with nearby homes and the design of existing flood protection features locally.
The planned defences are part of the wider Taunton Strategic Flood Alleviation Improvements Scheme, known as TSFAIS for short. TSFAIS is part of Somerset’s 20 Year Flood Action Plan, which was drawn up during the devastating floods of 2013-14 and has since been overseen by Somerset Rivers Authority. TSFAIS’s history has been extensively covered in reports to SRA Board meetings (most recently in March 2025) and in SRA Annual Reports (as in the report for 2024-25).
Somerset Council inherited involvement in TSFAIS from Somerset West and Taunton Council and before that from Taunton Deane Borough Council.
Councillor Graham Oakes, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Public Health, Climate Change and Environment, said: “This is an incredibly important phase in in Taunton’s flood defence programme and it is great news for these residents, businesses and essential services that we are now much closer to putting a spade in the ground.
“We estimate that a flood event could cost the local economy up to £50 million, so that underlines how crucial this initiative is.
“You can put a price on the damage but you cannot put a price on the distress and disruption flooding causes to people’s lives. That’s why it is vital we get this work done.”