WEST Somerset communities have received a share of a £200,000 pot of cash to help reduce the risk of flooding.

Somerset County Council announced this week it had awarded funding from a new grant aid scheme to a total of 34 projects across the county.

The money will help manage the flood risk to nearly 200 properties, including homes, businesses and a village hall.

Among those to benefit is Nettlecombe, which has secured a total of £3,720 of funding - £500 to improve drainage for a handful of properties in Yarde, with the remainder for work to alleviate flooding to cottages and a former horticultural nursery in Woodford.

Nettlecombe Parish Council clerk Mary Coles said councillors were delighted to have won grant aid for two schemes.

"We are only a small parish so to have been successful with both applications is great."

The larger project will involve the creation of a specially designed flood channel to divert flood water away from properties.

Deputy county council leader Cllr David Hall said the funding would help protect properties across Somerset against the potentially devastating effects of flooding.

"I'd like to thank the 100 or so individuals and communities that submitted applications," he said.

"We have had a rigorous exercise to select the 34 projects that we felt were most deserving and we are delighted to be able to support so many flood defence projects across the county."

Applications were considered on their merits regardless of their location with a number of factors considered when allocating the funding.

Projects which had the promise of match-funding or contributions in kind were prioritised, with cases identifying individual hardship, or others supported by the local parish council also given priority.

The fund is one of a number of initiatives undertaken by the county council to improve water management across Somerset, from gully-jetting and highway drain maintenance to more substantial flood defence schemes.

It comes on top of the £50,000 in emergency grants the authority handed out to 238 homes hit by the worst of last winter's floods.