Somerset to get £50m for flood defences

Somerset is getting £50m as part of a new flood resilience fund to help protect homes and businesses.

The money will go to Somerset Council to spend on flood resilience measures like pumping capacity, dredging and watercourse maintenance. The money is in addition to £89.9m announced for the county in March.

Councillor Bill Revans, leader of Somerset Council, said: "We want to work with local residents and all the agencies around to come up with the best solutions to be able to keep our communities safe."

The Defra announcement comes after a visit made by Floods Minister Emma Hardy to Somerset in February during the major incident declared after Storm Chandra.

Storm Chandra hit the county on January 26, bringing exception rainfall. It was dubbed the wettest week the county had experienced in over a decade.

Mike Curtis, a farmer from Langport, was among the people whose land was under water.

He suggested farmers like him could do with compensation for the lack of produce they have had because of flooding.

"The farm is no longer viable as it was directly because of the flooding - which is directly man-made because they chose to store [water] here to save flooding down the stream," he said.

Curtis explained the some of his property was under five feet of water for two months, which was "devastating" for the grass.

He has also had to reduce the number of livestock kept on the farm.

Now the money has been confirmed, the council, in partnership with other agencies, says it will develop proposals before any schemes are started.

Sarah Dyke, the MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, said: "Somerset is right at the front of climate change.

"We can't get away from that - Somerset wants to flood.

"We need to make sure if we want to live here we need to work with our climate, we know it's changing, we have got to be more resilient to that," she said.

The MP added that she wants to see better thought going into protecting the eastern part of the county.

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