SRA Annual Report 2022-23: Flood Action Plan review
Background and objectives
The Somerset Levels & Moors Flood Action Plan was published in March 2014, in response to that winter’s devastating floods.
The 2013-14 floods cost Somerset an estimated £148 million and – directly or indirectly – affected everybody across the county. When Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) was launched on 31 January 2015, the Flood Action Plan was widened to include the whole of Somerset.
The SRA oversees the Flood Action Plan. The Plan has six main objectives. All actions in the SRA’s annual Enhanced Programmes are scored and ranked against these objectives:
- Reduce the frequency, depth and duration of flooding
- Maintain access for communities and business
- Increase resilience to flooding for families, agriculture, businesses, communities, and wildlife
- Make the most of the special characteristics of Somerset (with internationally important biodiversity, environment and cultural heritage)
- Ensure strategic road and rail connectivity, both within Somerset and through the county to the South West peninsula
- Promote business confidence and growth
The SRA and its partners have worked hard to complete many of the actions within the original Plan. Nearly a decade on from its publication, it needs to be updated to set out strategic SRA priorities, with a plan for how to achieve them in the short, medium and long-term.
Activities in 2022-23
Since April 2022, consultants from WSP have been working on an SRA strategy and action plan with SRA Board members, Technical Group members, staff, partners and stakeholders. Numerous issues covered in various events have included flood risks and protection, resilience and adaptation, ways of encouraging more collaboration across river catchments, climate change, water quality, environmental enhancements and last and far from least, local priorities.
Some unforeseen delays in late 2022 meant the Plan’s expected completion date had to be put back until December 2023. The SRA will be engaging with partners, stakeholders and people across Somerset before a final strategy and action plan is published.