SEVERAL homes in the Minehead area will be better protected from floods under schemes announced last week.

The work ranges from repairing a damaged stone wall and replacing a wooden fence with a brick wall to keep help floodwater out of two houses to altering the camber of a road to divert excess water from four homes.

A total of £27,158 from Somerset County Council’s Flood Mitigation Fund is being spent on nine schemes in the area – and almost £50,000 is going on two projects in Stogursey.

The authority selected 34 projects countywide from around 100 applications from individuals and communities for handouts from a £200,000 pot.

Council deputy leader Cllr David Hall said: “This funding will help to protect properties across Somerset against the potentially devastating effects of flooding.

“This adds to our wide range of efforts to help our communities fight against the effects of flooding, such as the £300,000 we’ve agreed to provide for dredging and the £50,000 we provided to help victims of floods earlier this year.”

FLOOD MITIGATION FUND AWARDS:

  • High Street, Williton – £800 to repair damaged cobstone flood wall in the river outside a property, replace a wooden fence with a brick wall between two properties for additional protection.
  • Castle Mead, Washford – £850 for new retaining wall at the side of a property, lowering garden to divert surface water to the Washford river. n Station Road, Washford – £2,900 to build retaining walls to prevent floodwater entering a property.
  • Roadwater – £8,800 – during rainfall surface water runs off a field causing flooding to four properties further down the road. Works include altering the camber of the road to divert excess water into the adjacent watercourse.
  • High Street, Williton – £1,440 to add three floodgates to slot into connecting wall, brick up existing doorway and replace with a window.
  • Woodford, Nettlecombe – £3,220 to create a flood alleviation channel near the bend of the river to divert floodwater away from properties. 
  • Northmoor Road, Dulverton – £6,144 to increase height of a wall bordering a property to provide better flood protection. 
  • Station Road, Washford – £2,604 to raise and tarmac pullin drive and replace fence with a brick wall to prevent floodwater from entering a property.
  • Bicknoller – £400 to dredge a section of the stream in front of a property.

The works in Stogursey are:

  • Wick – £750 for maintenance of stream and banks to improve flood capacity. 
  • Castle Street – £48,000 for a new channel to by-pass the 45 degree bend in the existing stream to create a direct passage underneath the access road. The channel will provide improved capacity for water as it will be deeper and wider. Some ten properties will benefit from this scheme which will also reduce the risk of flooding on the public highway.