MORE than a mile and a half of the River Parrett has now been dredged by the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) in a bid to prevent flooding.

They now plan to continue by dredging another half a mile of the river working in partnership with the Parrett Internal Drainage Board (IDP) and the Environment Agency.

The Parrett IDB was funded by the SRA to specify and supervise maintenance dredging upstream of Northmoor Pumping Station. Equipment used included a 300-tonne crane, a 45-tonne excavator with a reach of 22 metres, and a tug boat for pushing and pulling hopper barges loaded with silt by machines placed on floating pontoons.

Peter Maltby, Parrett IDB chairman, said: “I’m very proud of the work that the Parrett IDB and our contractors WM Longreach have done for the SRA and the people of Somerset. We’ve done a lot to maintain the benefits of the £6million dredging of the Parrett and Tone that was done after the awful floods in 2014.”

New dredging downstream of Northmoor pumping station is due to begin in April. SRA funding has enabled the Environment Agency to award a contract for designing and carrying out this project to Galliford Try, Black & Veatch and Land & Water. These two companies completed the five mile 2014 dredge of the Parrett and Tone rivers. Work over the next few months will mostly be done from floating platforms on the river, with a short section being completed from the bank.

The SRA was established after the 2014 floods to coordinate flood prevention work on the county’s waterways. There have been a number of theories circulated by professional organisations and residents following the flooding of Moorland and other villages near the Tone and Parrett . Over development is thought by some to put pressure on the drainage system. But the consensus was that dredging would help take excess water away quickly. Also a tidal barrier near the mouth of the Parrett is now being planned while the Slow the Flow concept has been promoted by the SRA. The idea being to recreate the former landscape in the upper reaches of the rivers with bogs, ponds, wooden river backs and natural dams of fallen tree trunks.

What are your views on preventing flooding? Email harry.mottram:nqsw.co.uk