SRA Annual Report 2023-24: River Sheppey Catchment Action Plan
In March 2021, Somerset Rivers Authority gave Mendip District Council (as then existed) funding for a study into the causes of repeated flooding in the sub-catchments of Croscombe and Shepton Mallet.
These sub-catchments include Charlton, Bowlish and Darshill along the River Sheppey, and other places such as Ham, Downside and Bodden. Investigations were led by Mendip’s flood risk consultants Calm Engineering, working with Somerset County Council (as then existed), the Environment Agency and Wessex Water, the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group SouthWest, the Wild Trout Trust and specialist sub-contractors. Work was almost entirely finished by March 2023, its substance and findings as outlined in the SRA Annual Report for 2022-23. The reorganisation of local government in Somerset, that came into effect on 1 April 2023, caused some delays, but a final report was given by Calm Engineering to the new Somerset Council in autumn 2023.
The report found that various interlinked factors prompted local flooding:
- too much rain leading to saturated ground leading to increased surface water runoff and high river levels
- steep-sided catchments with hard surfaces leading to rapid runoff of water
- historic modifications of the River Sheppey channel causing pinch points and back-ups and overflows of water
- silting up of channels and culverts
- blocked drains and culverts
- drains and culverts lacking capacity for too much water
In the Shepton Mallet sub-catchment, the project team looked particularly for measures that could improve matters for people and properties in:
- Charlton
- Frog Lane
- Charlton Road
- Cannard’s Grave Road
- Kent/West Shepton
- Leg Square
- Bowlish
In the Croscombe sub-catchment, for Long Street.
Across the two sub-catchments, numerous problems and possibilities were identified, ranging from culvert rebuilding and weir removing to getting people to stop chucking garden waste into the river.
While Somerset Council is conducting Section 19 investigations into the exact causes of the most recent floods, the report funded by the SRA is being used as a resource in regular working group meetings with local people.
Questions under consideration include which ideas should be progressed, how, in what sequence and by whom.