Somerset Council leader urges government to recognise flooding costs for rural areas
Somerset is still under a major incident due to ongoing flooding caused by Storm Chandra
The leader of Somerset Council has called on the government to recognise the financial impact of flooding on rural communities, as the Storm Chandra clear-up continues.
The aftermath of the storm has led to widespread disruption, with Somerset still under a major incident due to ongoing flooding across the Levels and Moors.
Over the weekend (31st January and 1st February), more than 850 road defects, including potholes and blocked drains, were reported.
Council highways teams are now tackling over 3,500 defects caused by flooding and heavy rainfall.
Somerset Council’s Leader, Bill Revans said the county’s rural nature and large road network mean it is uniquely vulnerable to flooding and argued that the national funding model for local councils does not adequately account for this.
He said: "With extreme weather and storms becoming more frequent, we want to invest in roads and infrastructure, but find ourselves in a situation where more and more of our budget must be spent on essential, demand-led services like social care.
"We have worked extremely efficiently with limited resources providing a comprehensive maintenance programme in recent years to ensure our network is fit for purpose, but the additional challenge and increasing frequency of these sorts of weather events, means the timely repair of the mounting number of defects will become impossible without additional funding.
"We have yet to assess the full extent of the damage to the roads caused by flooding, but we are already seeing about 60 per cent to 70 per cent more potholes this winter than in previous years due to the extreme weather.
"The cost of fixing those extra potholes alone is likely to be around £1m before we even consider the cost of repairing roads that are currently underwater.”
Just last month, Somerset was rated among the top 26 of 153 authorities in England for road maintenance, according to a Department for Transport grading system.
But Somerset Council say unprecedented levels of rain and flooding across roads during January have created a significant challenge in terms of damage to the network and the cost of repairing it.
In response, Somerset’s highways teams have doubled their resources and deployed additional patching equipment.
Councillor Revans called for long-overdue reform of the funding system to address the pressures on rural counties, saying,
"We will continue to work hard to keep our residents safe and our roads in order, but this again highlights the need for long-awaited reform which properly takes into account the additional pressures on rural counties like Somerset."
Somerset Council is asking motorists to remain patient while repair teams work across the county.
Road issues can be reported online, and repairs will be prioritised based on risk.