Please find below information about the SRA Annual Report. The full report can be read by clicking on the picture below.
In the report, you will find details of dozens of SRA-funded activities across Somerset between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, all done to reduce the risks and impacts of flooding.
As you may recall, the SRA was launched as a partnership in January 2015 following the devastating flooding that hit Somerset over the winter of 2013-14 and the production of a 20 Year Flood Action Plan.
We fund extra flood-related work over and above that which the Environment Agency, Internal Drainage Boards, Wessex Water and other agencies are able to do.
A decade on, we have achieved a lot, but there is still much more to be done. 2023-24 showed climate change intensifying flooding problems across our county, and recent rains suggest another worryingly unpredictable winter to come.
Summarised in the annual report is the SRA’s new Strategy for the next ten years. Our focus is now on whole river catchments, which we were unable to do before the advent of the unitary Somerset Council.
We face some hard constraints and challenges (not least financial), but we are determined to push on with a range of schemes and activities across river catchments in Somerset.
One pilot initiative being launched soon, which may be of particular interest to you, is a small grants scheme for local flood risk reduction measures. This scheme will be known as a Community Flood Action Fund, and grants will be disbursed from April 2025. We will be in touch with more details about how to apply in December.
