SRA Annual Report 2022-23: Somerset Community Resilience Day 2022 and Somerset Water Forum
Somerset Community Resilience Day
The fourth annual Somerset Community Resilience Day was held at West Monkton Village Hall in October and was well-attended and well-received. Around 100 people enjoyed a day of talks, workshops and stimulating activities.
Subjects included the SRA’s Flood Action Plan review, riparian rights and responsibilities, climate adaptation, equipment for dealing with flooding and the art of throwing life-saving gear to people in water.
The Lord Lieutenant of Somerset officiated at the prize-giving ceremony for the new Somerset Community Champions award, set up to honour individuals and groups in Somerset who have made their communities more resilient.
Both the resilience day and the award were organised by the Somerset Prepared partnership, which has 11 organisations as full members, and was then co-chaired by the SRA.
Somerset Water Forum
In June, with Somerset Catchment Partnership (SCP), the SRA also part-funded the first Somerset Water Forum. This was a day of presentations and discussions about water-related issues in Somerset, with a strong focus on what Somerset is doing differently.
Subjects included flooding, climate change, farming, water quality and phosphates, ways of working with nature, and lowland peat restoration.
The keynote speaker was Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow, in her role as minister with responsibility for flooding and other water-related matters at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The Forum was chaired by Anthony Gibson of the SCP, and like the resilience day, was a popular get-together.