West Somerset (Local Environment Profile 2011)

• There is no area designated as having poor air quality, requiring an Air Quality Management Area.

Source : DEFRA

• There are 38 river water bodies within West Somerset. Our latest assessment of these classified 10.5% as poor, 30.8% as moderate and 57.5% as good.

• This compares with 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    

• In 2005 both the South West Region and the UK, the largest landuse came from Green Space with 90.7% and 87.5% respectively. The next largest area of land cover came in the form of domestic gardens with 3.07% in the South West, and 4.3% for the UK average.

• In West Somerset, the two largest landuses are the same, however domestic gardens is significantly lower with 1.04% and green space is a little higher with 94.5%.

• 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.    

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 West Somerset Council, there are two small areas designated NVZ with one 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 are two Catchment Sensitive Farming projects within West Somerset. These are: the Somerset Levels and Bridgewater Bay which covers an area of 2,535km2 and the Exe Catchment, which covers an area of 1,619km2.

Source: Environment Agency

• In a broad landscape context the soils of West Somerset are dominated by a central area of medium textured soils with the peaty soils of Exmoor to the west and light textured soils on the coastal fringes becoming clay rich heavy soils further east.

• 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.

• The latest  detailed DEFRA data (2007) on the number of holdings (farm types) within West Somerset indicates over 74% of farms support grazing (sheep and beef) with 48% in the less favourable upland areas.

Source: DEFRA

• For the period April 2005- March 2010 inclusive, there are three pollution incidents of major impact on water in West Somerset. In addition there was 1 incident of significant impact to land for the same period.

• For the period April 2010- March 2011 inc, there were no incidents of major impact to land, air or water in West Somerset.
• For the same period, there was 1 incidents of significant impact to water.

Source: Environment Agency

• During 2009/10 there were 110 reported incidents of flytipping in West Somerset, the lowest in Somerset and the lowest for a district or unitary authority in the region. This was a slight increase from 103 incidents in 2008/09.

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.

• West Somerset District 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 531.42 kg/household. This was the third highest to be produced in Somerset. 

• 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.

• West Somerset District Council in 2009/10 had the fourth lowest amount of recycling in the South West with 27.2%. 

• 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.