How £50m will be spent to protect Somerset from flooding

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) provided funding in early-June for "flood resilience" projects in the aftermath of Storm Chandra, which caused significant disruption across Somerset throughout the winter.

Following this announcement, the council has been working with the Environment Agency (EA), the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) and other partners to determine which projects will be taken forward using this funding.

The final list was agreed by the council's executive committee on Wednesday (September 23) - with around £650,000 being provided up front to support communities ahead of the coming winter.

Of the £50m provided by Defra, £42.5m is capital funding (meaning it can be spent on new infrastructure such as pumps, flood defences or similar work) and the remaining £7.5m is revenue funding (which will cover staffing and related administration costs).

An excavator dredging the River Parrett near Moorland, pictured in January 2025 (Image: Somerset Rivers Authority)

The funding must be spent in its entirety by October 2028, with the council seeking to prioritise projects which are either easy to implement or already at an advanced stage of design and delivery.

A total of 15 projects will be taken forward, with around £1 in every £4 allocated being spent either in Taunton or the wider River Tone catchment.

The full list of projects being funded is as follows:

1. My Community projects (£10m): the council's My Community programme seeks to address flooding in small towns and villages, delivering "bespoke" improvements agreed with local people. These schemes could range from new property defences to repairing existing assets, with the council anticipating "extremely high demand" from affected areas
2. Improving the left bank of the River Tone in Taunton (£7.5m): the council's executive committee voted in October 2025 to push forward with defensive concrete walls on two sections of the River Tone in Taunton town centre. The work - which is expected to take place in early-2027 - will focus on the section near Clarence Street (between French Weir Park and the Tangier bridge) and the section near the former Poundstretcher site (between Riverain Lodge and the Town Bridge)
3. Upgrading flood defences at Firepool Weir in Taunton (£6m): the council intends to raise the lockgate levels and the land around them, as well as creating a higher bund between the River Tone and the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal in the Obridge area of Taunton. This scheme will reduce flood risk for the Priorswood and Crown Industrial Estates and the wider Bathpool area - but it may not be implemented in full by the October 2028 deadline
4. Replacement of Vinney Bridge in Fordgate (£5m): Vinney Bridge crosses the Northmoor Main Drain, which moves water north of the A361 near East Lyng downstream to the River Parrett near Northmoor Green pumping station. The council will replace the bridge and adopt the road above it, providing safer access for residents and allow more water to move underneath it without obstruction
5. Additional maintenance (£3m): due to budget cuts, the EA is not able to carry out a large amount of its desire conveyancing work (i.e. ensuring water can safely and regularly flow away from low-lying areas). The council will step up to deliver additional maintenance on "main rivers", such as the Parrett and Tone
6. Pumping station upgrades (£3m): the EA maintains a network of pumping stations in order to pump water off the Levels and Moors, with additional temporary pumps being employed wherever feasible. Improvements are planned to the pumps at Curry Moor (near East Lyng), Dunball (near Bridgwater), Northmoor Green and Saltmoor (both near Burrowbridge)
7. Additional dredging and desilting (£1m): the Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium (SDBC - which is based in Highbridge) has agreed to deliver additional dredging and de-silting on top of work already being carried out by the EA. The precise location of this work will be confirmed in the coming months, with the efforts intending to remove greater quantities of water away from highly vulnerable areas
8. Local flood warning systems (£1m): at present, flood-prone communities often have little official warning outside of weather forecasts of when they may need to evacuate their properties. The EA and SRA will work together to deliver a more joined-up system, giving residents peace of mind and more time to prepare
9. Flood risk management systems (£1m): the council, in its role at the lead local flood authority, is working with its risk management authority partners to build new systems, allowing more targeted risk management in the future. This will make it easier to assess the benefits of future flood prevention scheme as further funds are made available
10. Additional highway drainage repairs (£1m): the council's highways department has pledged to deliver more repairs to local drains and clear additional gullies over the two-year programme. It will also explore a new road closure warning system in a bid to reduce disruption to motorists
11. Tone Works regeneration work (£700,000): the council's major projects team will look at detailed feasibility studies for bringing the Tone Works complex in Wellington back into use. This funding is on top of reallocated grants provided through the government's levelling up fund
12. Longrun Meadow flood attenuation studies (£400,000): in addition to being a highly popular green space (famed for its willow cathedral and parkrun), Longrun Meadow serves as a vital flood defence for Taunton, slowing the flow of water into the River Tone and nearby streams. The council will undertake initial studies to see whether it can be turned into a "managed flood attenuation area", including the possibility of building bunds so that it effectively becomes a reservoir during periods of high rainfall
13. Water level management plans review (£150,000): the council will work with the EA, SDBC and Natural England to review how water levels are managed and handled during flood events. A pilot catchment study will form the basis for a greater strategy which can be applied across the entire Levels and Moors
14. Somerset Prepared improvements (£150,000): Somerset Prepared brings together the council, the police and other agencies to help communities prepare for flooding through advice, support and assisting with local projects. To this end, additional resources will be provided for the council's emergency preparedness team, allowing more support to be provided in a more responsive manner
15. Sustainable urban drainage review (£100,000): many urban parts of Somerset, including most new housing developments, are protected from surface water flooding through sustainable urban drainage solutions (SUDS), such as attenuation ponds, storage tanks and 'water gardens'. The council will commission a study to see whether these are working correctly, which will be incorporated in the new Somerset Local Plan when it takes effect in late-March 2029

Aerial view of the Tone Works site on the B3187 Milverton Road in Wellington (Image: Threads)

Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts, portfolio holder for communities, climate change and environment, thanked Glastonbury and Somerton MP Sarah Dyke for her "tireless work" in raising these issues with central government.

Ms Smith-Roberts (who represents the Taunton East division) added: "This represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something truly transformational for communities right across Somerset.

"This is an unprecedented programme. No organisation has ever delivered a £50m flood resilience programme of this scale from a standing start within just two years.

"That timescale is demanding and it will inevitably constrain what can be achieved, particularly where projects require complex design work, permissions or construction activities.

"Our task was not to choose one geography, one organisation or one solution over another, but to build a balanced programme that delivers benefits across the county.

Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts (Liberal Democrat, Taunton East) (Image: Somerset Council)

"By investing across a range of projects, locations and approaches we can reach more communities, reduce risk from different sources of flooding and leave a stronger legacy for Somerset in the years ahead."

Councillor Richard Wilkins, portfolio holder for highways and transport, welcomed the investment and thanked his fellow Curry Rivel and Langport division member Mike Stanton, who recently stood down as SRA chairman.

He added: "There's always knock-on effects when we do work on flooding, but it's very clear that the work on the whole will have a positive impact on Somerset.

"We just need to make sure that we follow the work that is done in one area and what impact it has both upstream and downstream of those areas and make sure that we have a succinct plan as a whole."

The council has created the flood resilience fund programme advisory group (PAG) to review the progress with implementing the projects, with representatives from the EA, SRA, SDBC and other relevant bodies.

Council leader Bill Revans (whose North Petherton division has seen significant flooding in recent years) said he was confident that the improvements that would be put in place would provide protection and reassurance for large swathes of the county.

He said: "This has been widely welcomed as an initiative that will bring security, I hope, to a number of people who in Somerset feel threatened by the flood events that we see all too frequently.

"We know that there is no guarantee that people won't flood, but the more we can do to prevent that from happening, to keep those events as short as possible, and to make sure people are looked after during those events and supported, especially in their communities, the better it will be."

The council will be working with the SRA throughout October to mark Somerset flood awareness month, with events being organised throughout the month and information being provided at Somerset's libraries to help the public prepare ahead of the winter.

This will culminate in the Somerset Prepared community resilience day, being held at Millfield School in Street on October 21, which will bring together local councils, community groups, specialists and businesses for talks, workshops, demonstrations and networking.