A GROUP of volunteers said maintenance works at a section of the Land Yeo River that runs through Clevedon has not been carried out in three years.

The Land Yeo Friends said the EA, which “carried out maintenance for years,” now stated “with no notice whatsoever, that owners are required to look after their own sections of river”.

The group, formed in 2003, also said “one particular section of the river has not been touched by the Environment Agency for three years and they have declared that there will be no maintenance carried out this year along with other main rivers in Somerset”.

A spokesperson for the EA said that “due to funding and resource constraints, we are prioritising maintenance at the highest flood risk locations, meaning some of the usual maintenance work people are used to seeing hasn’t been done this year”.

David Robinson, Land Yeo Friends, said: “Due to changing standards of maintenance, it has been worrying to see a huge decline in the river, gradually becoming as bad as it was in the 90s before the Land Yeo Friends was formed.

“One particular section of the river has not been touched by the Environment Agency for three years and they have declared that there will be no maintenance carried out this year along with other main rivers in Somerset (They are carrying out some maintenance however where they are designated as riparian owners).

(Image: Friends of Land Yeo)

“This river maintenance has been carried out by the Environment Agency for decades, but they now state with no notice whatsoever, that owners are required to look after their own sections of river.

“This makes little sense since it is quite clear that other riparian owners are not able to carry out this degree of river maintenance, as it requires heavyweight, highly specialised machinery, as well as a substantial amount of time and resources.

“By far the worst problem at the moment, which needs immediate attention, is a vast overgrowth of weed, in particular branched burr reed and common reeds which are now seriously restricting the flow in several places, and in turn preventing the river from acting as a conduit to remove surface floodwaters to the sea.

“This should be of concern to all residents on the flood plain here in Clevedon, where a large number of properties are in danger of flooding.

“This problem is of course heightened due to climate change, when extreme weather events are likely to be more severe and occur more often.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Due to funding and resource constraints, we are prioritising maintenance at the highest flood risk locations, meaning some of the usual maintenance work people are used to seeing hasn’t been done this year.

“We are focussed on delivering as much maintenance as possible to reduce flood risk for our communities this winter and are working closely with the Internal Drainage Boards to facilitate this.

“We will always respond to serious flooding incidents and continue to engage closely with communities to raise awareness of flood risk and build resilience.

“We encourage everyone to check their flood risk and sign up for flood warnings.

“We are working closely with our local partners and seeking ways of attracting more funding to increase maintenance on the Land Yeo and other rivers back to previous levels for future years.”

In response to a letter from the Land Yeo Friends to North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan regarding the pausing of EA maintenance for 2024, two members of the group have been invited to attend his surgery on the November 1.