SRA Annual Report 2021-22: Highways referrals and soil visits
In ‘Highways referrals’ SRA partners look for answers to highway flooding problems in better management of land nearby. Cases generally involve Somerset County Council’s Highways Department and the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group SouthWest (FWAG SW), with the former referring problems on to the latter. Highways officers may be told about matters by various sources – for example, residents or parish councils – or they may spot issues themselves, when they are out and about. (As indeed may FWAG SW advisers).
In 2021-22, FWAG SW were asked to investigate reports of surface water run-off in eight places:
Mendip
Bathway near Chewton Mendip, Cheddar Road and A39 crossroads.
Somerset West and Taunton
Kilve, A39, 200 metres east of Sea Lane.
South Somerset
Blackford, Manor Farm Road; Castle Cary, Torbay Road; Chard, St Mary’s Close; Charlton Horethorne, Blackford Road; East Coker, Green Lane and Holywell crossroads; West Coker, Gooseacre Lane and A30.
Cases have a range of different outcomes. At Blackford, for example, issues reported with mud were judged to have been a strange one-off, as the land in question was well-cultivated and in good condition. At Bathway, Charlton Horethorne and Kilve, advisers discussed detailed suggestions for improvements. At Kilve, for example, the site in question sits at the foot of a long, steeply sloping field. When it was visited, it had very recently been re-seeded. Temporary filter fencing was proposed as a way of reducing surface water run-off and sedimentation, before re-assessing later. At Castle Cary, Chard, East Coker and West Coker, matters are still being looked at.
In two other places – Carhampton, near Orchard Close and South Petherton, Whitfield Lane and Carey’s Hollow – a FWAG SW adviser returned to see how matters were progressing after visits in previous years. In Carhampton, fresh plans have been drawn up for a swale and bund to slow water and a ditch to collect water, and one farmer has agreed to take further measures to reduce run-off from land above.
In South Petherton, landowners have previously taken various measures to try to reduce run-off onto roads, but the situation is complicated by soils in this area being very sandy and light, and Carey’s Hollow being an extremely sunken lane, up to 10 metres below its adjoining fields. More recently, the farmer has agreed to install a buffer strip, and has discussed ideas to further slow run- off, such as planting cover crops in fields that would otherwise be left bare over the winter.
Soil visits
Better soil husbandry helps to reduce the run-off of surface water. Keeping soil in good health also brings obvious benefits to farmers. One visit was made this year to Ham Hill Farm, on heavy Denchworth clay north of Combe St Nicholas, near the A303, where it was suggested that a few more spring cultivations could be tried to improve the infiltration of water into the soil. The farmer is interested in joining one of the Government’s new Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS), the Sustainable Farming Incentive.