A SOMERSET resident has called to urgent action to improve one of the county’s main rivers to protect rural towns and villages from further flooding.

The River Brue begins in Brewham near Bruton and flows through the Somerset Levels, separating Glastonbury and Street, before reaching the sea at Highbridge.

Many of the lower reaches of the river are very close to sea level, making large parts of the catchment prone to flooding – especially following periods of heavy rain, such as those seen in September 2023.

The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) completed detailed modelling work in February, showing which parts of the catchment area are most likely to be hit by flooding – making it easier to identify and prioritise sites where improvements could be made.

But Wedmore resident Bill Smart has criticised the lack of practical progress to date and called on the SRA and its partners to take urgent action to address ongoing flooding issues in and around the village.

The River Brue in Highbridge.The River Brue in Highbridge. (Image: Daniel Mumby)

Mr Smart, who sits on Wedmore Parish Council, raised the issue when the SRA board met in Bridgwater on September 20.

He said: “Around £209,000 of public funds has been spent, yet no flood prevention work will have been undertaken in the nine years since the funding was first awarded.

“Nor, at this stage will there be any certainty of future funding for interventions being available.

“What urgent activity is proposed to ensure that, having spent all this public money, substantial funds are secured to ensure flood prevention work goes ahead without delay?

“A clear timetable to delivery is needed.

“As the Brue is classed as a main river, what discussions or negotiations have been held with regional Environment Agency (EA) officers, given that only they can undertake or authorize such work?

“They have indicated that they have no funds to do so.

“Seven months have now passed since the worst Brue flooding in living memory, which threatened and indeed flooded a good number of Brue catchment farms, businesses and habitations, and devastated wildlife over a large area.

“It seems unconscionable that little progress has been made on the ground when any number of agencies, especially the SRA and EA, are charged with protecting people, property, businesses and wildlife from such events.”

Since the modelling work was completed, the SRA and Somerset Council have been looking in detail to ways to improve the Brue, focussing on a “whole catchment approach” (i.e. ways to enhance the enter river) as well as site-specific interventions.

These interventions could include:

  • Modifying Clyse Hole and the Meare Ponds to improve water flow downstream of Glastonbury
  • Desilting the “decoy rhynes” alongside the river
  • Desilting and smoothing out the river banks between Westhay Bridge and the North Drain pumping station

Neil Ogilvie, Somerset Council’s flood and water management service manager, said that some of these projects could be commissioned within “less than six months”, while the wider interventions were “expected to take 12 to 18 months from award of commission to completion.”

Responding directly to Mr Smart, SRA senior manager David Mitchell said: “I appreciate the slow pace of action is frustrating. We’ve learned that there are challenges of implementing work on designated areas.

“It’s not that there’s no work happening on the Brue – the EA and internal drainage board (IDB) are undertaking everyday maintenance, but I appreciate it’s not as much as people would like to see.

“In order to overcome some of the barriers to implementing a scheme, we really need the evidence base from modelling. We are trying to get more money into the system, but that does take time.”