SRA Annual Report 2025-26: Financial summary
All numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand.
SRA funds at the start of the 2025-26 financial year (April to March)
Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) gets funds every year from two sources:
1. Council tax, raised for the SRA by Somerset Council. For 2025-26: £3,113,000. The average Band D household charge is £14.65.
2. £10,000 each from the Parrett and Axe Brue Internal Drainage Boards. Making £20,000.
Fresh SRA funds for 2025-26 thus equalled £3,133,000.
The SRA also carried forward funds from previous years: £3,149,000 already allocated to ongoing projects as part of the SRA’s overall Enhanced Programme of works, and £983,000 for contingency.
Available SRA funds for 2025-26 thus totalled £7,265,000.
How the SRA allocated its funds for 2025-26
For 2025-26, the SRA Board added 13 schemes and activities to the SRA’s ongoing Enhanced Programme of works, making total funds for that £6,158,000 (84.8% of the year’s available funds of £7,265,000).
£200,000 (2.7%) was allocated to the SRA’s new Community Flood Action Fund.
£320,000 (4.4%) was allowed for staffing and overheads.
£587,000 (8.1%) for contingency.
How SRA funds were spent in 2025-26
SRA funds were spent as described in the SRA Annual Report 2025-26 and as outlined below.
Workstream 1: Dredging and River Management, £2,588,000 (57.1%).
Workstream 2: Land Management, £441,000 (9.7%).
Workstream 3: Urban Water Management, £622,000 (13.7%).
Workstream 4: Resilient Infrastructure, £303,000 (6.7%).
Workstream 5: Building Local Resilience, £290,000 (6.4%).
Sub-total: £4,319,000
Community Flood Action Fund, £75,000 (1.7%).
Staffing and overheads, £215,000 (4.7%).
Total £4,534,000
This is the highest yearly total spent by the SRA since 2016-17.
Funds not spent in 2025-26 have been carried forward into 2026-27 either for ongoing projects in the SRA’s overall Enhanced Programme of works or as contingency.