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Studies in brief: Beckington, Cheddar, Rimpton and Marston Magna

SRA Annual Report 2020-21: Studies in brief – Beckington, Cheddar, Rimpton and Marston Magna

Activities in 2020-21

Beckington

Extensive investigations were carried out in 2019-20 into flooding problems in the historic village of Beckington near Frome. Investigations were led for the SRA by Mendip District Council working in collaboration with Wessex Water, Somerset County Council’s Highways Department and the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group SouthWest (FWAG SW). As described in last year’s SRA annual report, partners and contractors surveyed land, watercourses, roads and drainage systems.

In 2020-21 Mendip’s Flood Risk Consultant and her team prepared a bid to the SRA Board for funding for a two-phase follow-up scheme. Phase one, design of high-priority improvements. Phase two, delivery and implementation. This bid was approved in March 2021. Its aim is to give Beckington improved resilience to surface water flooding, through works including:

  • repairs to parts of the culverted system
  • improved access for maintenance
  • some upstream measures to reduce sediment-loaded run-off and debris entering the culverted system
  • fixing foul sewer misconnections (funded by Wessex Water)

A campaign is also planned to make villagers more aware of their riparian responsibilities for future maintenance.

Cheddar

A study of flood risks in and around Cheddar was produced for Somerset Rivers Authority by Somerset County Council and contractors JBA Consulting (and described in last year’s annual report). In 2020-21, it was planned to hold a big public event in Cheddar Village Hall to discuss the study’s findings and to outline possible next steps. Coronavirus pandemic restrictions meant that such an event could not be held; the aim now is to hold one at a safe and suitable point later in 2021-22.

Rimpton and Marston Magna

Somerset County Council’s Highways Department commissioned WSP to survey the catchment of the Mill Stream which flows west through Rimpton, and then alongside and under the A359 in Marston Magna, near the church and village hall. The SRA Board approved funding for this work in March 2020. The survey’s purpose is to identify improvements and strategies that will reduce flood risks to people’s homes and local roads.

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