£300k for work to combat Somerset drought and flooding

The Environment Agency (EA) announced in mid-August 2025 that it would be stop maintaining a significant proportion of Somerset's rivers and waterways, having received only 60 per cent of the funding it had requested from the Treasury.

To prevent rural communities being put at risk, the SRA set aside funding within its annual budget in February to undertake maintenance work on the most urgent areas, in a bid to prevent a repeat of the disastrous flooding experienced by the county in January.

Work on this maintenance programme officially got under way on Monday (August 10) and is being delivered by Parrett and Axe Brue Internal Drainage Boards.

The following watercourses within the River Parrett catchment will be covered by the current maintenance programme:

• River Cary (8.6km between Somerton to Henley)
• Decoy Rhyne (0.3km near Langport)
• Dunball Rhyne (1.1km near Muchelney)
• Eighteen Feet Rhyne (8.2km west of Compton Dundon)
• King’s Sedgemoor Drain (2.9km upstream of Greylake)
• Middlemoore Rhyne (1.1km near Langport)
• Misbrook Rhyne (1.7km near Langport)
• Poolmead Rhyne (1.6km near Langport)

Additional river maintenance being carried out within the Parrett catchment (Image: Somerset Drainage Board Consortium)

Within the Axe Brue catchment, the following areas will be covered:

• Blind Pill Rhyne (5.4km between Highbridge and Rooksbridge)
• Brent Rhyne (2.6km near Highbridge)
• Division Rhyne (6.3km north of Glastonbury)
• Hartlake Rhyne (3.4km north of Glastonbury)
• Landcourse Rhyne (1.2km north of Cheddar)
• Lox Yeo (5.7km west of Sidcot)
• Panborough Drain (7.5km south of Wedmore)
• Redlake Rhyne (4.2km east of Glastonbury)
• Rhynemoor Rhyne (1km near Bleadon)
• Whitelake River (5km east of Glastonbury)

Additional river maintenance being carried out within the Axe Brue catchment (Image: Somerset Drainage Board Consortium)

A spokesperson for the SRA said: "Our aim is to help ensure that clear and effective routes are available for conveying and evacuating water from the lower Somerset Levels and Moors.

"The floods of early-2026 were a major reminder of the importance of this principle.

"We also recognise that clear and effective conveyance routes are of great importance during times of drought.

"They feed water into ditches and rhynes so that livestock can drink and be kept in by 'wet fences', and so that sites designated for their natural and historical value can be preserved.

"The work to be delivered by the drainage board, using local contractors, will primarily consist of vegetation clearance and weed cutting.

"The sites identified are those where the drainage boards are hoping to get work done, because of the impact these watercourses can have on flooding, drainage and issues of water quality and quantity, but it is crucial to note that not all sites may be reached."