SRA Annual Report 2022-23: Financial Summary
Background
The SRA gets annual funding from two sources. Firstly, council tax. In the 2022-23 financial year, £2,941,205 came via Somerset County Council and the four district councils (Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, and South Somerset). Secondly, the Parrett and Axe Brue Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) each gave £10,000. Local Partner Funds thus totalled £2,961,205.
In March 2022, the SRA Board moved extra funds out of contingency and set a budget of £3,089,000 for the SRA’s 2022-23 Enhanced Programme of works. Further funds of £304,000, carried forward from the previous year, were allotted to four full-time staff and a part-time Technical Adviser, administration and overheads, and Flood Action Plan review work. The total budget was £3,393,000. The 2022-23 Enhanced Programme contained 21 schemes and activities, all designed to advance Somerset’s 20 Year Flood Action Plan.
Find out more about Flood Action Plan review work during 2022-23.
Many actions and initiatives are completed within one financial year. Some require longer-term research, design, planning and implementation.
Spending of Local Partners Funds in 2022-23
Here is a breakdown of SRA spending during 2023-23, workstream by workstream.
The SRA’s spending in 2022-23 totalled £5,890,000.
By workstream, it was as follows:
Workstream 1, Dredging and river management, £3,718,000, that is 63.1% of the total.
Workstream 2, Land Management including Natural Flood Management, £420,000, that is 7.1% of the total.
Workstream 3, Urban Water Management, £294,000, that is 5% of the total.
Workstream 4, Resilient Infrastructure, £1,021,000, that is 17.3% of the total.
Workstream 5, Building Local Resilience, £115,000, that is 2% of the total.
Spending in these five workstreams made a sub-total of £5,568,000.
To this sub-total was added SRA core work and development, £76,000, that is 1.3% of the total, and SRA administration and staffing, £246,000, that is 4.2% of the total.
SRA finances at the start and the end of the 2022-23 financial year
The table below summarises the SRA’s financial position at the start and the end of the 2022-23 financial year.
At the start of the 2022-23 financial year, the SRA possessed total allocated funds of £10,517,000.
Spending £5,890,000 in 2022-23 meant the amount carried forwards to the 2023-24 financial year was £4,627,000.