The Parrett Action Study

The Parrett Catchment Project

The Parrett Catchment Project (PCP) is a fifty year plan for integrated land and water management in the 1,660 square kilometre drainage basin of the River Parrett which covers half the county of Somerset, including the major settlements of Taunton, Bridgewater, Ilminster and Yeovil.

Minimisation of runoff, discouragement of new development in flood prone areas, revised farming methods and protection of existing settlements and infrastructure are amongst its goals. The intention is to bring water under control across the whole of the catchment through long term measures which together will stand as a prototype for other similar areas.

LUC was called in to develop an Action Strategy for the PCP which responds to increasingly rapid rates of run off, sea level rise and associated silting of river beds, changes in cropping practice and excessive run off from new urban areas.

The Action Strategy sets out a number of specific targets over a ten year timescale: an integrated catchment management plan, community involvement, use of porous surfaces in development to minimise runoff, protection of archaeological and other cultural assets and reduced flood risks to settlements and property.

A key feature of the Strategy’s development was the emphasis on stakeholder participation and building local consensus; achieved through participatory meetings, topic papers and a conference held in 2001.

The programme was overseen by the Parrett Catchment Forum, an experimental collaboration between central government departments, agencies, local authorities, farming and community interests and voluntary organisations.

The work received an award for “Planning for Inland Water” from the RTPI Annual Awards for Planning Achievement in 2001. The award recognised the innovative nature of PCP’s approach and highlighted that the PCP can be used as a national pilot whose principles may be applied to other areas suffering from flooding.

The PCP has subsequently become one of the first UK initiatives to incorporate the concept of Integrated Catchment Management within an Action Strategy.