VITAL upgrades to two key parts of Somerset’s flood defences won’t be carried out until the spring and summer of 2025.
The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) has been working with the Environment Agency (EA) to make numerous improvements to the River Sowy and King’s Sedgemoor Drain (KSD), which divert water from the River Parrett and the River Cary out into the Bristol Channel.
Numerous improvements have been carried out over the last two months, removing silt from the river banks and bridges to increase capacity and thereby ensure water can flow off the moors more quickly.
The SRA board stated in June that it hoped some of the improvements would be completed before the end of the calendar year, while others would have to wait until mid-2025 to see the light of day.
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Three months on, the board heard in Bridgwater on Friday, September 20, that each element of the project will now begin in the spring or summer of 2025 to allow “surety of delivery and costs”.
The two outstanding elements of the current programme concern improvements to the Chedzoy tilting weir and the Back Ditch outfall, which both lie between Bridgwater and the Polden Hills.
Both structures are maintained by the Parrett Internal Drainage Board (IDB) and are located on land owned by its vice-chairman, Tony Bradford. Around £150,000 was earmarked for these improvements, which will reduce the amount of agricultural land affected by flooding in this section of the Somerset Levels and Moors, and thereby reduce the amount of lost income for farmers.
This prompted criticism from both Mr Bradford and the SRA board, which stated in January that it was “not walking away from it” and was “determined to get this done”.
Caroline Murray and Iain Sturdy from the Somerset Drainage Board Consortium (SDBC) told the SRA board on September 20 that they were recommending the outright replacement of both structures rather than refurbishing the existing parts.
They admitted, however, that this would cost £250,000 – up to £100,000 more – and could not begin until March 2025 at the earliest.