Contents of Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) Annual Report 2024-25
The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) Annual Report 2024-25 covers activities funded by the SRA between the start of April 2024 and the end of March 2025.
Download a PDF of the illustrated version of the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) Annual Report 2024-25 – 48 pages, 6 MB. This file may not suitable for users of assistive technology.
Download a PDF of a text only version: SRA Annual Report 2024-25 TEXT ONLY version – 40 pages, 0.3MB. This version is more straightforwardly accessible and easier and cheaper to print.
Alternatively, use the links in blue in the sections below to explore different parts of the Report.
Note: the version of the Annual Report spread across pages on this website is very closely based on the 48-page print and PDF version but does not reproduce it exactly. For example, some graphics are missing because they do not work so well on screen. Cross-references to page numbers have also been taken out and replaced with links.
Foreword
Foreword by SRA Chair Councillor Mike Stanton
Workstream 1 (W1): Dredging and River Management
In 2024-25, Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) spent £1,140,000 on Dredging and River Management. Most of the projects in this section are complex, so generally take more than a year to deliver. Some are wholly funded by the SRA, some part-funded.
River Sowy – King’s Sedgemoor Drain (KSD) Enhancements Scheme (Phase 1)
Taunton Strategic Flood Alleviation Improvements Scheme
Resetting the River Aller on Exmoor
Workstream 2 (W2): Land Management including Natural Flood Management
Somerset Rivers Authority funds many land management and Natural Flood Management (NFM) activities across Somerset. Various techniques are used, singly or in combinations designed to suit to local needs and conditions. All share the aim of reducing local flood risks, by slowing the flow of water down through catchments to vulnerable areas, in ways that work with nature. This workstream is led for the SRA by the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group SouthWest (FWAG SW).
Natural Flood Management schemes across Somerset
Extra soil and land management visits
Somerset Beaver guidance and recommendations
Somerset Levels and Moors peat trials
Workstream 3 (W3): Urban Water Management
The main aims of the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) Urban Water Management workstream (W3) are to reduce local flood risks and make places better to live and work. Activities in 2024-25 funded or part-funded by the SRA included 37 inspections of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), 33 investigations into local flood hotspots, the distribution of 506 water butts in Chard, and Chard reservoir works.
Local flood risk management measures
Workstream 4 (W4): Resilient Infrastructure
In the Somerset 20 Year Flood Action Plan, drawn up in 2014, two of the six main objectives were about making the county’s infrastructure more resilient. They urged that access should be maintained for people and businesses travelling within Somerset or through the county.
This imperative was picked up in the new Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) Strategy for 2024-34, the second of whose five objectives is to “Maintain access and connections during times of flood for communities and businesses across Somerset”. The SRA therefore deals with flooding along highways as well as waterways.
Enhanced maintenance of road drainage structures
Workstream 5 (W5): Building local resilience
This workstream helps to deliver the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) Strategy 2024-34 by concentrating mostly on ‘working with communities’ and ‘building resilience, encouraging adaptation’. These themes took many forms in 2024-25, through a wide range of events, educational initiatives, and the encouragement of various practical moves.
These moves included getting grants for training and equipment, drawing up
plans for adapting to the water-related impacts of climate change, and creating very localised early flood warning systems.
Grants for training and equipment
Community flood warning systems
Adapting to the water-related impacts of climate change
Community Flood Action Fund
New SRA Community Flood Action Fund for Somerset