THE new Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) will put control of the complex Somerset Levels waterways back where it belongs – in the hands of local people, according to MP Ian Liddell-Grainger.

The authority was officially set-up on Monday at the office of Environment Secretary Liz Truss and will assume responsibility for water management over more than 100,000 acres.

The SRA will be established on an interim basis from January 31 and Somerset County Council and local partners, including Sedgemoor District Council, will fund the £800k necessary to make up the £2.7million necessary, to progress the flood risk management activity for 2015.

This will include maintaining the 2014 dredge on the Parrett and Tone, some pioneer dredging and additional weed cutting and tree work, plus channel maintenance of important watercourses in vulnerable settlements.

Mr Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said its creation should ensure that crucial management decisions are once more made by local people at local level.

The authority will be made up of two representatives from each of the local drainage boards plus single representatives from Somerset County, Sedgemoor and South Somerset councils, the Environment Agency and English Nature.

Mr Liddell-Grainger paid tribute to the huge amounts of work by Sedgemoor and South Somerset councils in laying the foundations of the new authority.

“Equally Liz Truss herself has put a tremendous effort into getting this off the ground because she realised that it was the only real option for ensuring that the Levels are properly managed for the benefit of the local community,” he said.

“I am also delighted that the drainage boards are going to be so strongly represented because it’s within their ranks that resides the real knowledge and expertise about the Levels – vital assets which tragically have been ignored for years by the Environment Agency which at times has appeared deaf to all voices except that of the conservation lobby.”

Hundreds of homes, farms and businesses were inundated by last winter’s flooding.

An emergency clearance programme saw eight kilometres of the Parrett and Tone dredged this summer.

Sedgemoor Labour councillor Julian Taylor said: “The setting up of the Somerset Rivers authority has to be welcomed.

“The floods in 2014 showed that it was obvious that the maintenance of the rivers and moors had been neglected and underfunded since the 1960s.

“The cutting back of funding for flood maintenance work since 2010, contributed significantly to the problems for the Environment Agency.

“The SRA should ensure that the county council fulfils its obligations under the 2010 Water Management Act and ensures that effective flood emergency plans can be initiated when required.

“However, I am very disappointed that the chancellor has not supported the provision of the Parrett Barrier.”