Growth Deal funding

SRA Annual Report 2020-21: Growth Deal funding

Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership funding 2014-2021

The award of £13.049 million of Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Growth Deal funding to the Somerset Levels & Moors Flood Action Plan was announced on a visit to Somerset on 3 June 2014 by Owen Paterson, who was then Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).

The move was welcomed by Cllr John Osman, then Leader of Somerset County Council and Chair of the Leaders Implementation Group spearheading work on the Flood Action Plan. “This is great news,” said Cllr Osman. “Without the money we cannot make the Plan a reality and this considerable sum will allow many things to move forward.”

With Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) being launched on 31 January 2015, the Flood Action Plan was expanded across Somerset, and the SRA inherited the £13.049m Growth Deal funding.

Dredging

The Flood Action Plan said that “dredging of the Rivers Parrett and Tone has been identified locally as a key element in reducing future flood risk”. After the Environment Agency dredged 5 miles (8km) of the Parrett and Tone in 2014, the SRA used Growth Deal funding to help pay for more pioneer dredging in 2016, 2019 and 2021. For more details see pages 7-10 of this report.

LEP Growth Deal funding also paid for an important study from consultants HR Wallingford
into Future Dredging Opportunities in Somerset. It was this report that prompted the SRA to invest LEP money into trials of water injection dredging techniques in 2016. This was the first time these methods were used on a UK tidal river in conjunction with a sophisticated silt-monitoring programme. The trials’ success led to water injection dredging becoming the SRA’s preferred choice for the crucial job of maintenance dredging. It is quicker, cheaper, has less environmental impact and is less disruptive for local people than traditional methods of excavation.

Dredging works have been delivered for the SRA by the Parrett Internal Drainage Board (IDB), working closely with the Environment Agency and Natural England. They have helped to protect homes, businesses, land, roads, and infrastructure across a large part of the Somerset Levels and Moors that were badly affected in winter 2013-14 and summer 2012.

River Sowy – King’s Sedgemoor Drain (KSD)

The Flood Action Plan proposed to improve the entire River Sowy-King’s Sedgemoor Drain (KSD) system, while balancing a range of interests. The main aim was to increase the amount of water that could be evacuated through the Sowy-KSD, so as to relieve pressures on the River Parrett and the River Tone, and enable upstream and downstream pumping stations to be operated earlier. This would confer operational flexibility in times of flood and benefit places such as Langport, Muchelney, Thorney, Moorland and Fordgate.

Sowy-KSD works funded with LEP money have so far included infrastructure improvements at Beer Wall near Othery, Chedzoy Flap near Chedzoy, Egypt’s Clyse near Greylake and dozens of sites around the Westmoor and Moorlinch Raised Water Level Areas, plus de-silting at Parchey and Dunball. For more details see pages 11-15.

All of these works have been delivered for the SRA by the Environment Agency, working closely with the Parrett IDB and Natural England.

Bridgwater Tidal Barrier

The Bridgwater Tidal Barrier project is led by the Environment Agency and Sedgemoor District Council. Giving them £2million of LEP Growth Deal money as a contribution towards project costs helped speed up progress to the submission in December 2019 of the Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) that is required to build the Barrier. A decision on the TWAO is awaited from the Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Few other places in the UK are as vulnerable to tidal surges as Bridgwater, and climate change is predicted to increase the dangers. The Barrier and downstream defences have been designed to protect Bridgwater and nearby communities for the next 100 years, against tides that have a 0.5% chance of occurring in any year. It is hoped to start construction in 2022-23. For more details, see pages 19 and 20 of this report.

Taunton Strategic Flood Alleviation Improvements Scheme (TSFAIS)

In 2016-17 the SRA used Growth Deal funding from HotSWLEP to support the progress of the Taunton Strategic Flood Alleviation Improvements Scheme (TSFAIS). In four other years, the SRA has made contributions from its Local Partners Funding.

As well as the two initial short and medium term TSFAIS priorities discussed on page xx, a
third project is awaiting the appointment of a project manager. This is Longrun Meadow flood attenuation improvements. The plan is to optimise floodwater storage at Longrun Meadow through building 1,500 metres of raised embankments up to 1.8 metres high, with an inlet and outlet system for greater flexibility in flood management and control. The aim is to reduce flood risks to 687 properties, in Taunton town centre and parts of North Town, Firepool, the Priorswood and Crown Industrial Estates, Bathpool and (because of the ways that tributaries interact) Tangier.

This project is being led by Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWTC) with Environment Agency support. In total, the delivery of TSFAIS’s first three initial priorities will reduce flood risks for 1414 properties.

Longer term, TSFAIS’s aim is to create extra protective capacity by combining bigger and better flood defence walls in Taunton with a new area for storing up to 1.8 million cubic metres of water at Bradford on Tone.

As well as being a key part of the Flood Action Plan, TSFAIS is important to SWTC’s programme for regenerating Taunton town centre, bolstering Taunton’s Garden Town status and boosting Taunton Vision 2040.

River Brue Catchment

The SRA has used LEP Growth Deal money to part-fund two Brue Catchment projects: the refurbishment of North Drain Pumping Station and the installation of a new surface water pumping station in Field Way, Highbridge. Both of these projects are covered on pages 21-22 of this report.

Land Management

The Flood Action Plan stated: “Every farm and every stream has a part to play in water and flood management in Somerset.”

It was originally envisaged that LEP funding would result in 40 schemes of Natural Flood Management (NFM). In reality, the money delivered 120 schemes, containing many more individual elements countywide, and many different kinds of NFM.

Works were done at the places listed on the following page, and some of them had several schemes. In Brompton Ralph, for example, one farmer was so pleased with the results that he persuaded his downhill neighbour to install some complementary measures.

List of places where NFM schemes were funded by HotSWLEP

  • Aisholt Common, Aller
  • Bishop’s Lydeard, Bower Hinton, Brompton Ralph, Bruton, Brymore Academy
  • Charlton Mackrell, Chilcompton, Chipley, Clayhanger, Combe Sydenham, Compton Durville, Cossington, Croford, Crowcombe, Curry Mallet, Curry Rivel
  • Dillington, Dommett, Donyatt
  • East Combe, East Nynehead
  • Fitzhead
  • Goathurst
  • Halse, Ham Hill Country Park, Hestercombe, Hinton St George, Hoccombe, Houndsmoor, Hurcott
  • Langford Heathfield Nature Reserve, Launcherley, Lufton (edge of Yeovil)
  • Marcombe Valley, Meare Green, Merriott, Montacute, Milverton
  • Nether Stowey, Northway, Norton sub Hamdon, Nynehead
  • Oake, Over Compton (edge of Yeovil)
  • Pitminster
  • Queen Camel
  • Roadwater
  • Sandford Orcas, Shepton Beauchamp, Staple Fitzpaine, Staplegrove, Stoke St Gregory, South Petherton
  • Tinker’s Bubble, Tintinhull
  • West Buckland, Wigborough, Wiveliscombe

The SRA’s Land Management workstream is led by the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group SouthWest (FWAG SW). Hundreds more activities have followed this initial LEP-backed burst, through initiatives such as the EU-backed Triple C project and the online auctions pioneered by the SRA, FWAG SW, and the Environment Agency.

LEP funding gave Natural Flood Management in Somerset great impetus. Nowhere else in the UK now has such a range, number and sophistication of NFM schemes.

Conclusion

At the end of March 2021, 91% of the HotSWLEP Growth Deal funding of £13.049m that was awarded in 2014 for Somerset Flooding projects had been spent.

The remaining 9% of LEP funding is scheduled to be spent in 2021 on Phase One of the River Sowy- King’s Sedgemoor Drain Enhancements Scheme. Permission to carry this funding through into the 2021-22 financial year was granted by the LEP in October 2020 after a variation request was made.

As the LEP’s £13.049 million has been combined with £25.7 million from other local and national sources, Somerset has benefitted since 2014 from a total investment of £38.7 million into the flood protection works described above.

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