Foreword by Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) Chair Councillor Mike Stanton to the SRA Annual Report 2023-24
I’m pleased to introduce the ninth annual report of Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA). Here you will find details of dozens of SRA-funded activities across Somerset between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, all done to reduce the risks and impacts of flooding. The SRA was launched in January 2015 following the devastating flooding that hit Somerset over the winter of 2013-14 and the production of a 20 Year Flood Action Plan. The five workstreams you will see featured in this report reflect that Plan’s objectives, and the need to approach varying problems across Somerset in different ways.
A decade on, a lot has been achieved, but there is still much more to be done. 2023-24 showed climate change intensifying flooding problems across our county, lashing with more force and unpredictability. Total up all the places hit countywide – like the Cam valley in May, West Somerset and the Tone catchment in September, Shepton Mallet and Croscombe in October, Brue settlements for months in the winter – and many more properties flooded than in 2014. This time round, we saw no big national or regional commotion about this flooding, because it was often so scattergunned, but we know from talking to people affected that their experiences were still shattering.
Partners in the SRA are Somerset Council, the Axe Brue and Parrett Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs), the Environment Agency, Natural England, Wessex Regional Flood & Coastal Committee, and Wessex Water. To help strengthen our partnership, and keep going above and beyond what partners can achieve individually for Somerset, we have drawn up a new strategy for 2024-34, evolved from the 2014 Flood Action Plan. Our core purpose (to “reduce the risks and impacts of flooding”), our core principles (“acting on local priorities, working together, doing extra”), our five objectives and our catchment approach are all covered in the SRA Strategy section of this report (page 45 in the main printed version).
For 2023-24, the SRA got just over £3million through council tax, and the IDBs contributed £20,000. The sums we get are still tied to the level at which they were set in 2016-17. They still enable much good work to be done, but in real terms their value has decreased, while demands upon the SRA’s funding and our partners’ funding have increased. The Environment Agency locally, for example, gets less than half what it bids for from central government for maintenance.
As we approach the SRA’s 10th anniversary, we face some hard constraints and challenges, but as a partnership we are determined to push on with a range of initiatives within Somerset catchments. Plans include following up on fresh modelling we commissioned for the River Brue lowlands, and encouraging more organisations to apply to us for grants big and small.
I trust that this report will show you how much Somerset Rivers Authority has been doing for you across Somerset and suggest what we might achieve together over the next few years. As ever, please get in touch with us if you have any comments or questions.