URGENT calls for action have been voiced after cash set aside for flood prevention in Somerset has gone unspent and could be lost.

The chairman of the Somerset  Rivers Authority, John Osman, is among those calling for action on the River Brue after years of delays.

The authority was set up in 2015 to coordinate significant flood prevention work in Somerset, in response to the floods of 2013/14.

Since its inception, the authority has been looking at ways to prevent flooding in the River Brue catchment area, working with the local drainage boards to come up with an appropriate scheme.

But more than three years later, very little progress has been made – and regional funding earmarked for the work could have to be given back in 2021 if board members cannot agree on a way forward.

The River Brue begins in Brewham and flows over the Levels via Glastonbury before reaching the sea at Highbridge.

At a meeting of the authority’s board in Yeovil on Friday (March 1), the authority’s senior manager David Mitchell admitted the relevant parties had not been able to agree on the best course of action.

He said in his written report: “There is strong support for the development of a holistic Brue Plan that provides a framework for future SRA projects in the catchment, but still a lack of consensus on the need for dredging.

“When funding was originally secured from the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), it was assumed that the main focus of works would be on dredging in the Brue.

“In December 2018 the Internal Drainage Board took the decision to step back from leading the project, as it was felt that it was unlikely that a scheme to dredge the Brue between Westhay and North Drain Pumping Station would be able to secure the necessary approvals in time to meet the funding deadline of March 2021.”

Mr Mitchell said he was hopeful of a breakthrough by the end of March, and added the LEP could be asked to reallocate the funding to a different area of flood prevention.

But Councillor Ric Pallister warned that failing to spend the money would not do the authority any favours in the eyes of central government.

He said: “If any of the money is given back, we will not be forgiven. As far as the public are concerned, we will have failed.

“We have to use that money, otherwise the government will just look at us and think we are a joke.”

The authority is seeking to become a precepting body in its own right, rather than relying on a shadow precept from its members authorities.

Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton’s Rivers Authorities and Land Drainage Bill, which contains provision for this, recently passed its second reading in the House of Commons.

Authority chairman John Osman said: “Priority one: spend the money. Priority two: spend it in the Brue area.

“We will hold another meeting in the next couple of weeks to put forward a deliverable scheme.”

An update on whichever scheme is agreed will come back before the board at its next meeting in June.