How £10m scheme could protect homes from flooding

Tony Bradford said the work was 'very important'

A £10 million scheme designed to reduce the risk of flooding on the Somerset Levels is nearly finished.

More than a mile of banking on King's Sedgemoor Drain near Bridgwater is being raised to a higher level as part of the Somerset River Authority's plan to improve the area's drainage capacity by around a quarter.

The authority was set up in the aftermath of widespread flooding in 2014, which cut off a number of villages and damaged homes.

Tony Bradford, chairman of the Somerset Drainage Board Consortium, which is overseeing the works, said he hoped the work reassured villagers "we're doing our best to protect their homes".

"The aim of the work is to keep the water in the banks rather than spreading all over the fields and flooding villages," he added.

Mike Stanton, chair of the rivers authority, said the scheme had been a learning curve since planning for the project started in 2014.

• 'Devastation' of 2014 floods

"It's really complicated. This work is part of getting the water out into the Bristol Channel. The dredging and this bank raising are all part of that.

"Another important part is right upstream, getting torrents managed and restoring flood plains," he added.

Large parts of the levels were flooded in the winter of 2014

Caroline Murray, from Calm Engineering, is involved in the project.

She said crews working on the scheme have had to be mindful of the fact that much of the area around the river is farmland.

"There's a lot of livestock here so we've had to be mindful of that and make sure there's grass here on the bank so animals can come and graze here when we're done," Ms Murray said.

Caroline Murray has been working on keeping livestock safe