Somerset County (Local Environment Profile 2011)

• There are three Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in Somerset, this was jointly fourth highest in the South West with Plymouth and South Gloucestershire.

Source: DEFRA

• There are 143 river water bodies within Somerset. Our latest assessment of these classified 1% as bad, 16% as poor, 60% as moderate and 23% as good.

• The main reasons for less than good status include: high levels of phosphate,

  impacted fish communities, physical modification and low levels of dissolved oxygen.
  

Please note - Water bodies do not fit exactly within local authority boundaries. The figures have been derived from those water bodies whose centres are within the district in question. If all water bodies within a district had been included, double accounting would have taken place. Some water bodies have yet to be classified. For the purpose of this exercise, these have been removed from the figures published.

Source: Environment Agency   

• Land use within Somerset County area, is predominantly green space  All the district councils within Somerset, are predominantly green space.

• The South West average for green space is 90%, and the average in England is 87%.

• For detailed information to the former district level, please see their individual pages.

• Somerset County is the third largest county in the South West, behind only Devon and Cornwall.

• The ninth Local Environmental Quality Survey conducted by Keep Britain Tidy, was carried out between April 2009 and March 2010. The Summary Report key messages included:
  

~ Overall Standards within England remain the same as last year, with no change in the Cleansing Index score, which is 76, out of a possible 100.

~ 63% of standards for all LEQ indicators were either Good or Satisfactory.

~ The South East joins the South West as top performing region overall, for the first time this year.

~ The South West has been either the top performing region or joint top performing region since the 2007/08 Survey.

• The survey carried out between April 2006 -March 2007, is available down to Local Authority Level, please click here for the details.
• There are no County Summaries. Please see district pages for their report.   

Source : Keep Britain Tidy

• Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are areas of land that drain into waters polluted by nitrates, such that the ecosystem is at risk of being disturbed, or the water is likely to exceed 50 milligrams of nitrate in each litre.

• Within Somerset, there are dispersed areas of NVZ covering part of council area which includes a small area of deferred slurry storage.

• NVZ regulations come fully into force on 1 Jan 2012, except in deferred Slurry storage areas which have until 1 Jan 2013.

• For more information on NVZ, please see Environment Agency pages.

• For detailed maps relating to NVZ areas, please see source pages.

Source : Environment Agency

• Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) gives advice on dealing with diffuse pollution from agriculture and the impact on water courses.

• CSF is a voluntary initiative, where as NVZs is a statutory obligation. CSF looks at: best practice on manure and pesticide usage; Promoting good soil structure; protecting watercourses from run-off and best practice on stock management.

• There is one CSF project within Somerset. This is the Somerset Levels and Bridgwater Bay which covers an area of 2,535kM2. 

• Within Somerset there is a large area of the County within an area of Catchment Sensitive Farming.

Source : Environment Agency

• The map below shows the soils present within Somerset. In a broad landscape context the soils within Somerset can be described as a diverse mosaic of soil types. Alluvial soils and peats  characterise the low lying Somerset Levels with bands of shallow chalk/limestone soils to the north east and Mendip area. In the west medium textured soils dominate with the higher ground of Exmoor having peaty upland soils.

• Soil type is a major factor in determining the type of agriculture that can be supported. Generally light textured soils support cereals and horticulture while shallow chalk limestone soils support grazing and cereals. Clay rich heavy soils often underlie dairy pasture. Medium textured soils can support both arable and livestock farming.

• The latest (2010) DEFRA agricultural census data for Somerset indicates almost 270 000ha of farmed land supports over 4200 farms of which 884 are greater than 100ha in size. 9% of this farmed area is wheat - the dominant arable crop. 57% of the farmed land is permanent grass supporting over 147,000 dairy cattle, about 19% of the total dairy herd in the South West.

Source : DEFRA

• For the period April 2005-March 2010 inclusive, there were 11 incidents of major impact to water in Somerset. For the same period, there was 1 incident of significant impact to air, land and water. In addition there were 9 incidents of significant impact to air, 16 incidents of significant impact to land, with 7 of those also significantly impacting water. There were also 34 incidents of significant impact to water.

• For the period April 2010- March 2011 inclusive,  there was 1 incident of major impact to water in Somerset County Council area. This was in South Somerset district council.

• For the same period there were 4 incidents of significant impact to air, 1 incident impacting both land and water significantly, and a further 5 incidents of significant impact to water only.

Source : Environment Agency

• During 2009/10 there were 4088* reported incidents of flytipping in Somerset, the fourth highest for a county or unitary authority in the region. This was an 11% decrease from 4609 incidents in 2008/09.
  

Source : DEFRA

* Please note: There is no County Level data for flytipping. This figure is an aggregated total of district levels.

Please note: incidents of fly tipping are reported differently by each council. One may log black bin bags out on an incorrect day as a fly tipping incident where another council do not log this. Please be aware of these reporting discrepancies on Flycapture when looking at the data in comparison to other councils.

• Somerset County Council was not in the top ten highest producers of residual waste produced however were in the top half of the league table in the South West, with 554.66 kg/household.

• In 2009/10, South Hams had the lowest level of residual waste in the South West with 341.04kg/household. The highest in the South West was Isles of Scilly Council with 1,452kg/household. 

• Recycling and composting has increased significantly in the South West, from 14.9% in 2000 / 2001 to 43.5% in 2009 / 2010..
• Somerset County Council in 2009/10 had the seventh highest amount of recycling in the South West. 
• The highest rate of recycling in the SW was Cotswold District Council with 60.4%,  and the lowest rate in the SW was Isles of Scilly with 18.9%.

Source : DEFRA  

• Somerset County Council landfilled 152,285 tonnes, which was the fourth highest amount of tonnes landfilled in the South West. This  was the seventh lowest percentage landfilled (54.62%) in the South West.

• Bournemouth Borough Council landfilled the least percentage waste in 2009/10 (37.8%). Plymouth City Council landfilled the largest percentage of waste in 2009/10 (64%).  Devon County Council however landfilled the largest amount in tonnes with 194,720 tonnes.