March/April 2026 Newsletter

Welcome to our Spring 2026 update. We've got partner news, Somerset Prepared Resilience Day updates and our updates for the year ahead. If you are after some resilience inspiration, some reading for those spring days, or are looking for practical learning opportunities then look no further. 

If you have any queries about this or any of the other features in our newsletter, please get in touch at somersetprepared@somerset.gov.uk. We welcome submissions or suggestions for future topics.

Somerset Emergency Planning, Response and Recovery team

& Somerset Prepared Partners

Spring is finally here!

(Image: iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Somerset Prepared Community Resilience Day 2026

We are pleased to announce that the Somerset Prepared Community Resilience Day this year will be taking place at Millfield School (BA160ST) on Wednesday 21st October 2026!

Please get in touch if you have any requests for workshops or talks. 

You can take a look at last year's community resilience day here: Somerset Prepared Day 2025

Lunch & Learn with FloodRE

FloodRe are hosting a Lunch & Learn Session on Thursday 19th March 12:30pm with Emma Holroyde. 

Learn how this reinsurance scheme works to help householders at risk of flooding and Build Back Better scheme to supporting property flood resilience in the event of a claim

 These sessions are for Flood Wardens and Town & Parish Council representatives but please feel free to join us. We have a new link (below) to join all the online sessions. You can join us by clicking the MS teams link below at 12:30pm on the day:

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/33637107959074?p=vGDXnol7urFNsnoRNm

Meeting ID: 336 371 079 590 74

Passcode: RE9s3Ws9

Dial in by phone

+44 20 3321 5273,,773832712# 

Phone conference ID: 773 832 712#

Below you can find the links to recordings of previous lunch & learn sessions:

• Natural Flood Management – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pAXjjh56oY

• Flash Flooding – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcK2ufdPTwg

• Property Flood Resilience (PFR) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KDAaupa4h0

• Introduction to the Flood Warden Role - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_niBfDjQQU

• Flood Risk Management - https://youtu.be/h2IqZyAVuZI

• New Warning Service - https://youtu.be/bhRDiixZQDk

• Groundwater - https://youtu.be/CR6xkrHFa0U

Somerset Highways Structural Maintenance

Somerset Highways are soon to start their upcoming Surface Dressing season. This is a big project that includes treatments on major routes that will involve short duration, but still disruptive road closures. 

You can stay up-to-date on their upcoming works through the Public Information Portal (PIP) and through the Causeway one.network website which shows all current and planned future street works mapped nationwide.

Upcoming events

Partner Update: Somerset Rivers Authority

The next SRA Board meeting will be at the Somerset Council Offices at Brympton Way, Yeovil. The meeting starts 9.45am, Friday 20 March, and members of the public are welcome.

Below you will also see details of our first Flood Group Network meetings. These are for flood wardens, parish and town councillors, and other community members with an interest in flooding. If you want to share knowledge and ideas to build flood resilience at catchment scale come along and help shape the future of these gatherings. 

Earth Day!

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22 to raise awareness about environmental protection and promote actions to safeguard the planet. 

The purpose of Earth Day is to educate the public about environmental issues, including climate change, pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss, and to encourage individual and collective action to protect the planet.

Over the years, Earth Day has grown into a global movement, with over a billion people participating annually through events, educational programs, and environmental campaigns.

For more information about Earth Day 2026 including tips on how you can make a change please visit: Earth Day 2026 | Theme, Activities, Events & Resources

Finally - take three actions to help

This spring here are three things you can do to make a difference for your community:

• Visit the Earth Day website to see how you can help save the planet. 

• Save the date for the Somerset Prepared Community Resilience Day on the 21st October. 

• Attend an upcoming event on flooding  

Have your say - We would love your feedback!

Have your say on what you'd like to see in these newsletters and the website. We are always looking for collaboration and communities, projects or events to highlight so please contact us and let us know. 

Featured images 

Here at Somerset Prepared we like to feature somerset in all its glory! Do you have an image of Somerset you would like to share? Send your images to somersetprepared@somerset.gov.uk for a chance to be featured!