Somerset flood spending approved to improve roads

Somerset County Council is working to allocate £22.3m of Department for Transport funding

More than £20m has been approved to flood-proof the Somerset Levels roads worst hit by winter flooding.

About half of that cash will be used to fix damage but money will also be spent raising some roads to lessen the future impact of flooding.

The £22.3m of funding has been given to Somerset County Council in two Department for Transport grants.

Parts of the levels spent much of the winter underwater after storms before Christmas led to the flood crisis.

Millions of pounds are now being spent on such things as river dredging and extra permanent pumping sites to avoid the same thing happening again.

As part of this latest batch of approved funding, the authority will spend:

• £4m on raising the A372 over the river Sowy

• £1m for a deep clean of the drainage system and verge works

• £750,000 to raise one road into the village of Muchelney

• £270,000 to study the possibility of raising other roads in the area

A number of roads on the Levels could be raised to avoid a repeat of the winter flood crisis