Reimagining Somerset’s future

Our integrated expertise is enabling Somerset Council to embed shared objectives for tackling the climate and ecological emergencies across its teams, and to deliver positive impact for a thriving future.

Somerset is a county of contrasts: from rugged beauty high on Exmoor to rich nature amid the low-lying Levels. But along with sensitive coastal and inland landscapes, the area has an ageing population and pockets of deprivation meaning flooding and other climate induced events have a greater societal impact. 

During 2019, the county’s five local authorities each declared or recognised a climate emergency and together produced a Climate Emergency Strategy for the whole county. Achieving this cross-district collaboration was a significant accomplishment, hailed at the time as one of the most ambitious and comprehensive plans of its kind by Climate Emergency UK’s Climate Plan Scorecards. When the unitary authority that replaced them, Somerset Council, wanted to build on their ground-breaking climate emergency strategy, its team turned to WSP. Why us? We had the diverse specialist expertise they needed and a long history of supporting Somerset.

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We had advised the former county council since 2010 – initially through a highways, structures and transport contract, and then a placed-based services contract. As the new unitary authority formed in 2023 took shape, we helped the new team navigate financial pressures and limited resources to make progress towards embedding climate and nature across the council and co-create a vision for Somerset. 

The Council is developing a Climate Vision which describes Somerset as a place where communities are prosperous, healthy, well-connected and resilient and where residents will be making informed decisions to help achieve the council’s climate and ecological ambitions, and that nature will be recovering, thriving and accessible to all.

Bringing global and UK expertise, in decarbonisation, climate resilience and nature, WSP provides the collaboration and support we need to understand both where we are today and what might be possible in the future. We’ve been able to call on diverse specialisms to inform evidence-based conversations with senior directors and councillors. It’s enabled us to deliver at pace, learn from what other councils have done and take it further to benefit our communities.

How will Somerset Council make this vision a reality? Direct access to all our environmental and technical expertise enabled them to investigate different opportunities related to climate and nature, and the synergies between them. 

Charting a low-carbon future: Somerset’s decarbonisation journey 

The initial priority was to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current state as it transitioned into a unitary authority.

Our Sustainability and Climate Change team began by establishing a baseline for carbon emissions from council operations. These numbers will inform discussions about the authority’s net zero targets; actions required across the council’s teams and will enable measuring progress including potential cost savings associated with decarbonisation. 

But this is about more than just the council’s own operations. Partnerships with organisations such as water companies and conservation organisations are essential to Somerset’s resilience and its aspirations for a more prosperous, fairer and sustainable future. 

We conducted a nature and climate partnership review, looking at issues including roles, governance and funding. This will pave the way for the council to partner even more effectively with public and private sectors, communities, utility providers, academic and industry experts. 

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Climate resilience & adaptation to support a sustainable Somerset

To set out clearly what Somerset needs to do to adapt to a changing climate and building upon their Climate Emergency Strategy, we prepared the council’s Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategy. This sets out key risks and responses structured around seven areas: 

  1. Buildings 
  2. Utilities
  3. Transport
  4. Business, industry and supply chain
  5. People and communities
  6. Agriculture and land use
  7. The natural environment 

The strategy will help demonstrate the focus on, and investment in, climate resilience and adaptation that’s needed across the county underpinned by strong partnership.

But how can under-pressure local authorities invest in the future while battling day-to-day issues? The answer lies in thinking beyond regulatory compliance and traditional silos. For example, our Nature Services Team helped Somerset Council establish the role the council may wish to take in nature markets and capitalise on its diverse landscape and natural environment, with specialist advice from an external financial advisor.

Revitalising Somerset’s natural heritage 

Somerset is rich in nature. It has five nationally designated landscapes, European and UK protected sites, a national park, and over 2,000 local wildlife sites. The Nature Investment Roadmap we produced links the potential of enhancing this natural capital with the need for businesses to support efforts around decarbonisation, nature recovery, climate resilience and regulatory demand for insetting and/or offsetting. The roadmap outlines the steps to exploring, defining and implementing a mechanism that could financially support Somerset in delivering large-scale nature recovery initiatives across the county.

Spearheading environmental innovation maximising resource use and waste

Ongoing work by our Responsible Consumption team on a Net Zero Waste Management Roadmap will identify and prioritise options for waste management based on carbon reduction and cost-effectiveness. These options include collaborating with organisations like the NHS and optimising existing assets – for example, by developing solar farms at closed landfill sites. 

What really excites me is that we’re looking at how climate resilience underpinned by nature recovery can be owned by everyone in the council. It’s a transformative piece of work and shows what can be done when you’re able to break down silos and work in partnership.

Bringing global innovative Water solutions to Somerset

Our Sustainable Water Management team are also advising the council on strategies for managing local flood risk, assets and the shoreline. In addition to their expertise, they’ve shared insight from ground-breaking projects around the world – including exemplars of integrated water management such as Copenhagen’s Cloud Burst Management Plan. It’s all part of helping adapt global best practice to suit Somerset.

As we continue our work with Somerset Council, we want to further integrate these workstreams so that these topics are considered in a fully integrated way, maximising efficiencies and supporting a holistic transition to meet the UK Net Zero commitments by 2050. We want to inspire completely new ways of working. By empowering council teams to collaborate behind common objectives linked to the climate and ecological emergency, we can find low-carbon, cost-effective ways to help communities thrive and support nature’s recovery for the benefit of all.

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