SRA End of Year Report 2015-16: Financial Analysis

In 2015/16, Somerset Rivers Authority spent £1.285m of its £2.7m funding (shown in the table below after rounding as £2.699m), leaving an underspend of £1.414m.

The largest element of the underspend – £608k – is in respect of dredging, which began in April 2016 and is likely to be completed by the end of July 2016.

A programme of works is in place to spend the remainder of the Enhanced Maintenance Programme money in 2016/17. These works are due, largely, to be completed by December 2016, with a few smaller projects expected to complete by March 2017.

The balance of the underspend – £219k – was set aside to assist in the development of a Long Term Funding Solution. Given the recent Government announcement about SRA precepting legislation, this provision is likely not to be needed. Once a legislative schedule is confirmed, this £219k will be put back into the SRA’s programme to deliver additional works on the ground.

The SRA and IDB have spent their full staff allocation: a small overspend of £2k was estimated at year-end as a result of the need to use temporary staff.