Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Farmers urged to ditch maize to prevent flooding
FARMERS are being urged by their council not to grow maize to try to stop future flooding in and around a Somerset town.
Ilminster and the nearby village of Sea were severely affected by flooding on October 20, 2021, with torrential rain causing the River Isle to rise and overwhelming the surface water drainage systems in the area.
Following the floods, Somerset County Council commissioned an official report to identify the causes of the flooding and make recommendations on how a repeat can be avoided.
A draft of this report has put forward a series of recommendations to prevent a repeat of these events – including persuading farmers to grow different crops and ensuring gullies are more frequently cleared.
The flooding was concentrated in two main areas of Ilminster: the B3168 Station Road near the River Isle to the west and the residential streets near the Shudrick Stream in the east.
The draft report identifies that the flooding was caused by a combination of “very high” rainfall, already wet ground conditions following an unusually wet October and the “relative non-permeability” of the town’s soils and geology, making it difficult for water to drain away.
At least 50 properties in Ilminster were flooded, along with around six in Sea and at least one each in Dowlish Ford and Dowlish Wake.
The draft report’s recommendations include developing a flood resilience plan and a local resilience group, and liaising with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) and local farmers to discuss whether maize-growing in the area can be replaced with “more benign crops or growing methods”.
It also recommended considering changes to local planning policy, insisting on higher standards for new housing and a “policy of betterment” for existing watercourses.
At a meeting of South Somerset District Council’s area west committee, Councillor Dave Bulmer said that “significant engineering works may be needed” in and around Ilminster in order to prevent a repeat of these flooding events.
Councillor Ray Buckley, whose Neroche ward includes villages to the north and west of Ilminster, said it was vital that local residents’ expertise was drawn upon, citing flooding in his home village of Horton in 2012.
He said: “We want to see monthly updates on what [the county council] are intending to do and how much is actually getting done.”