SRA launches Community Flood Action Fund for Somerset

Small grants for works to reduce flooding are now being offered directly to Somerset communities by Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA).

The SRA’s new Community Flood Action Fund will help people with good local knowledge of flooding problems take the initiative and get things done.

Up to £200,000 a year is being made available for practical actions with obvious benefits that can be achieved quite quickly.

The Fund is aimed at not-for-profit organisations, such as town and parish councils, charities, social enterprises and community benefit societies.

Councillor Mike Stanton, Chair of Somerset Rivers Authority, said: “The SRA is about working together with different people and different places, to get more done on local priorities. As it says in the SRA’s Strategy, one quality that sets the SRA apart is its practical enthusiasm for ideas that come from communities for dealing with flooding problems.

“With this new Fund, we’re putting our money where our mouth is. We’re expecting it to be very popular, we know lots of places across Somerset are interested, so please take a look. Help us to help you get things done.”

Application packs for Community Flood Action Fund grants of between £3,000 and £20,000 are now available through the Grants section of this Somerset Rivers Authority website.

The deadline for the first round of applications is 25 February 2025. Successful applicants will get funding from April. Three more funding rounds are due later in the year.

The Grants section of the SRA website also includes details of some other possible sources of Somerset flood-related funding, such as grants for training and equipment.

The photograph at the top of this page shows part of an earlier SRA-funded maintenance project in West Somerset: here local contractors clear excess vegetation from a stream at the back of Carhampton’s recreation ground.