SRA Annual Report 2021-22: Financial summary
Background
For its first full year of work in 2015-16, Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) had Interim Funding of £2.7 million from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Somerset’s local authorities and Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium. In December 2015, the Government proposed that Somerset County Council and Somerset’s district councils should be given the power to raise what is known as a ‘shadow precept’ of up to 1.25% of 2016-17 council tax, to fund the SRA – and only the SRA. SRA money is strictly ringfenced for SRA purposes. The Government’s move was approved in the House of Commons in February 2016.
The figure of 1.25% was chosen because it came close to matching the SRA’s initial budget of £2.7 million.
The SRA is still reliant upon an annual shadow precept and its level is still pegged to that initial £2.7 million, although the actual amount of money raised has gone up. In 2021-22, it was £2.922 million. In other words: the level of the charge is frozen, it has not gone up since 2016-17, but as the number of households in Somerset increases every year, more people pay, so the total amount rises. The Parrett and Axe Brue Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) also choose to contribute £10,000 a year each.
2021-22 Local Partner Funds
As stated above, the SRA receives annual funding from two sources. Firstly, council tax. Somerset’s local authorities raise money for the SRA through a shadow precept. Secondly, the Parrett and Axe Brue IDBs make contributions.
In 2021-22, from these two sources, the SRA received Local Partner Funds totalling £2,941,586 (£2,921,586 from the shadow precept, £20,000 from the two IDBs – £10,000 each).
In March 2021, the SRA Board agreed to top up that total of £2,941,586 with funds moved out of contingency, and thereby set a budget of £3,440,000 to cover the SRA’s 2021-22 Enhanced Programme of works. Further funds, also carried forward from the previous year, were allocated to staffing (four full-time staff), a new part-time Technical Adviser post, administration and overheads. The 2021-22 Enhanced Programme contained 21 schemes and activities, all designed to advance Somerset’s 20 Year Flood Action Plan. The table below shows how much money was allocated to each workstream within the Flood Action Plan:
Spending of Local Partner Funds in 2021-22
Since its launch in January 2015, the SRA has received Local Partner Funds of just over £20m. It has used these funds to deliver 203 actions and initiatives, described in this and previous Annual Reports available in the Flood Risk work section of the Somerset Rivers Authority website. Many actions and initiatives are completed within one financial year. Some require longer-term research, design, planning and implementation, so take longer.
During 2021-22, coronavirus pandemic restrictions continued to affect delivery, so less was spent than originally expected. The table below shows all of the Local Partner Funds held by the SRA at the beginning of the 2021-22 financial year and the SRA’s total spend during the year. Remaining funds are carried forward into future years.
Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (HotSWLEP) Somerset Flooding project
Following the Somerset floods of 2012 and 2013-14, the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (HotSWLEP) allocated £13,049,000 of Government Growth Deal funding to a project known as Somerset Flooding. Since the SRA was launched in 2015, this Growth Deal funding has been channelled through the SRA. Its purpose has been to help the SRA and its partners achieve some of the main ambitions and objectives of Somerset’s 20 Year Flood Action Plan.
To complement HotSWLEP’s Growth Deal funding, the Somerset Flooding project has had to secure significant local match funding. The project’s total budget is more than £40 million. Other money has come from SRA Local Partner Funds, Sedgemoor District Council, Somerset West and Taunton Council, local Community Infrastructure Levy charges on new developments, the Environment Agency, Wessex Water, central Government sources (Flood Defence Grant in Aid, New Homes Bonus), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the EU’s Triple C initiative.
The SRA has now spent all the £13,049,000 Growth Deal funding it was allotted. The last £1,372,866 was spent in 2021-22. Total spending on the Somerset Flooding project during 2021- 22 financial year was £4,871,660, because of additional contributions from other sources.
