partnership investment in order to access government funds for ongoing activities
(Committee on Climate Change Adaptation 2014).
Despite this, the Somerset Water Management partnership did manage to get
funding for a catchment management approach, via a successful funding bid from
DEFRA’s ‘Catchment Partnership Fund’ for the financial year 2015/16. This fund
supports eligible organisations seeking to host a new or existing catchment
partnership. FWAG SW was awarded £11 K as a catchment partnership ‘host’. The
money is primarily to demonstrate to Defra that there is movement in the direction
of a stakeholder-led catchment plan. This funding is not for delivery; it is to enable
catchment partnerships to be formed (with the wide range of stakeholders interested
in water management). A Working Group has been constituted to plan how to work
with communities and stakeholders to investigate mutually beneficial solutions to
problems faced by the catchment. The Somerset Water Management Partnership
exists to promote a sustainable and integrated approach to water and land use
management in Somerset’s catchments wherever possible. It provides an
over-arching, broad-based advisory and consultative forum in which all aspects of
water management in Somerset’s catchments can be discussed and consulted upon.
5.4.2 Coherence
Second, there was coherence in the different levels and scales of stakeholders
involved in drought governance in the region, and a positive coherence across
different actors. These include effective statutory relationships but other examples
also exist of partnerships going beyond the regulatory remits to work together. This
collaborative way of dealing with drought and water scarcity is increasing in
importance. These relationships became clearer after the drought period of 2012.
The coherence of the stakeholders involved in drought management (particularly
during periods of crisis) was also further clarified in the 2015 national drought
framework (Environment Agency 2015a). Furthermore, although the floods can be
seen to have been socially and politically divisive, constructive activities such as the
catchment management approaches suggested in the Flood Action Plan and the
sorts of relationships being initiated at a catchment level to respond to these plans
could also be leveraged to support future drought adaptation activities.
As a result of previous experiences of drought and water scarcity there was an
acceptance that drought was a problem for the region. There were also fairly
consistent definitions of the problem and the goals related to drought and water
scarcity across the different stakeholders, including farmers, although this idea of
drought as a problem became increasingly restrictive following the floods particularly for non-specialist, urban and regional publics. However, key actors that we
interviewed following the floods still identified drought as a potential future
problem for the region (although potentially secondary to flooding as a problem).
There is a potential incoherence between the strategies suggested for flooding,
and those for water scarcity. There also seems to be a question about coherence in
98
A.L. Browne et al.
(Committee on Climate Change Adaptation 2014).
Despite this, the Somerset Water Management partnership did manage to get
funding for a catchment management approach, via a successful funding bid from
DEFRA’s ‘Catchment Partnership Fund’ for the financial year 2015/16. This fund
supports eligible organisations seeking to host a new or existing catchment
partnership. FWAG SW was awarded £11 K as a catchment partnership ‘host’. The
money is primarily to demonstrate to Defra that there is movement in the direction
of a stakeholder-led catchment plan. This funding is not for delivery; it is to enable
catchment partnerships to be formed (with the wide range of stakeholders interested
in water management). A Working Group has been constituted to plan how to work
with communities and stakeholders to investigate mutually beneficial solutions to
problems faced by the catchment. The Somerset Water Management Partnership
exists to promote a sustainable and integrated approach to water and land use
management in Somerset’s catchments wherever possible. It provides an
over-arching, broad-based advisory and consultative forum in which all aspects of
water management in Somerset’s catchments can be discussed and consulted upon.
5.4.2 Coherence
Second, there was coherence in the different levels and scales of stakeholders
involved in drought governance in the region, and a positive coherence across
different actors. These include effective statutory relationships but other examples
also exist of partnerships going beyond the regulatory remits to work together. This
collaborative way of dealing with drought and water scarcity is increasing in
importance. These relationships became clearer after the drought period of 2012.
The coherence of the stakeholders involved in drought management (particularly
during periods of crisis) was also further clarified in the 2015 national drought
framework (Environment Agency 2015a). Furthermore, although the floods can be
seen to have been socially and politically divisive, constructive activities such as the
catchment management approaches suggested in the Flood Action Plan and the
sorts of relationships being initiated at a catchment level to respond to these plans
could also be leveraged to support future drought adaptation activities.
As a result of previous experiences of drought and water scarcity there was an
acceptance that drought was a problem for the region. There were also fairly
consistent definitions of the problem and the goals related to drought and water
scarcity across the different stakeholders, including farmers, although this idea of
drought as a problem became increasingly restrictive following the floods particularly for non-specialist, urban and regional publics. However, key actors that we
interviewed following the floods still identified drought as a potential future
problem for the region (although potentially secondary to flooding as a problem).
There is a potential incoherence between the strategies suggested for flooding,
and those for water scarcity. There also seems to be a question about coherence in
98
A.L. Browne et al.