From the EA: Briefing 6- 28 March 2014 Rivers Parrett and Tone Dredging Project Part of the Somerset Levels and Moors Flood Action Plan Progress over the last week Machinery has arrived on site at Moorland House Farm on the north bank of the River Parrett and we are ready to start dredging. We have 2 long arm excavators on site. We have been completing bank stability tests on the river bank to ensure that it is strong enough to hold the machinery without slipping. We have been using counter weights (see picture below) to represent the weight of machinery and silt on the back of the banks. We continue to make agreements with farmers for sufficient land for spreading the dredged material and have identified some stockpiling sites in the locality. Concrete weights which test the stability of the banks by adding a load representative of the long arm excavator. We then monitor for any movement in the bank. Forward Look Over the next week we will be: • Starting dredging with a long arm excavator or an amphibious excavator and working downstream on the northern bank of the river Parrett. • Hosting a media day where the press can view the dredging from the south bank of the river to minimise health and safety risks and disruption of the contractors. • Holding twice weekly drop in sessions at the Old School Rooms in Burrowbridge on a Tuesday afternoon (15:00 till 17:00) and Thursday morning (9:00-11:00) starting from Thursday 3 April. • Hosting briefings for local groups, stakeholders and Councillors • Applying for planning permission to Taunton Deane Council to store excavated material suitable for building and repairing flood banks. Our contractors will be working in a secure site for safety reasons but you will be able to view the dredging from a public footpath on the opposite bank. Background As a reminder to the background to this work, the Secretary of State when visiting Somerset in January asked for a 20 year Action Plan to be developed in six weeks. The plan will look at the various options for the sustainable management of flood risk on the Somerset Levels and Moors. Dredging is part of that plan and we are now progressing with a project to complete a dredge of 8km of the Rivers Parrett and Tone. The plan has now been published and you can find out more at: somersetnewsroom/2014/03/06/a-big-step-forward/ The 20 year Action Plan includes a proposal to assess the effectiveness of dredging elsewhere in the wider catchment. How will we keep you updated on progress? Weekly updates will be sent to our partners, District and County Councillors and Parish Councils for wider dissemination. We will be including this briefing in our community update messages. We are also putting these weekly updates on the Environment Agency’s website: gov.uk/government/publications/somerset-levels-and-moors-reducing-the-risk-offlooding Information on the dredging project will also be shared at any flood surgery or public meeting. Please let us know if you want to receive these updates by email and feel free to disseminate wider.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:04:01 +0000
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