| Dear Member of the Lymington Society, Environment Agency Consultation on the Hurst Spit to Lymington Coastal Strategy – Why This Matters Many members will be aware that the Environment Agency (EA) has spent the last five years developing a strategy for the future flood protection of the coastal strip between Hurst Spit and Lymington, including the eastern bank of the Lymington River. Throughout this period, the Lymington Society has been an active member of the Stakeholder Advisory Group established to help shape the strategy. The Environment Agency has now published its draft coastal strategy, and a public consultation is currently underway. See Link Here This is an important issue in which the society has been involved for almost 5 years as the Strategy has been developed. Full details of the involvement of the Society and its position on the Strategy can be read in further sections of this email Although the EA Consultation consists of two separate Consultations on firstly the Draft Strategy itself and secondly on the Strategic Environmental Assessment of implementing the Draft Strategy, the Society suggests members restrict their response just to the Draft Strategy. The Society would be grateful if members could respond to the EA Consultation before the deadline of the 25th and more details and the Society’s position is set out below. Kind regards Don Don Mackenzie Chair, Lymington Society chair@lymsoc.co.uk |
| Environment Agency Consultation on the Hurst Spit to Lymington Coastal Strategy The EA Consultation consists of two consultations, the Draft Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy (The main proposals) and a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which is a consultation on the likely environmental effects of the draft strategy. Importance of Studying likely changes to the Solent Coast with Climate change and Sea Level rise. The Society is aware of course of the importance of the work being done by the Environment Agency who are trying to protect the coast from the effects of climate change and sea level rise and to prevent future flooding. The damage done to the existing sea wall during the Valentine’s Night Storm some years ago point to the need for a plan for the future. The Society is grateful to the Environment Agency for putting so much effort into the study of this area and trying to come up with a strategy for the future. The Environment Agency’s Preferred Approach: Managed Retreat It became clear during the Advisory Group discussions that the Environment Agency’s preferred approach is what it calls “managed retreat”. In practice, this would involve: Building new flood defences further inland than the existing sea walls. Creating breaches in the current sea defences. Allowing the existing defended coastline to be inundated. Creating areas of new saltmarsh habitat behind the current sea walls. The Environment Agency has also indicated that, after implementing its proposed schemes at Keyhaven, it may in future cease maintaining Hurst Spit, arguing that allowing the Spit to roll back naturally would be a more “sustainable approach”. Concerns Raised by Local Organisations Many organisations represented on the Stakeholder Advisory Group have questioned whether managed retreat is the best solution for all the sections of the coast from Hurst to Lymington. A key concern is that the Environment Agency has a legal obligation to replace saltmarsh habitat that is lost and has access to funding creating new saltmarsh for this,but does not have an equivalent duty, or access to funding to prevent the loss of existing saltmarsh. For this reason they currently support Managed Retreat as they feel it would be more likely to be funded than trying to retain existing saltmarsh Several organisations have argued that it would make more sense to focus on protecting and strengthening existing saltmarshes, potentially at a much lower cost, than constructing extensive and expensive new inland flood defences. An Alternative Approach: BUDS One alternative being proposed is the Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment (BUDS). This approach uses sediment dredged from harbours and navigation channels to: Restore existing saltmarsh. Stabilise vulnerable coastal habitats. Create additional areas of saltmarsh where appropriate. Supporters of BUDS point out that large quantities of sediment are regularly dredged from Solent harbours and could potentially be used to strengthen coastal defences. They argue that healthier saltmarshes would absorb wave energy, helping to protect existing sea walls and enabling them to remain effective for longer. Formation of SLAK A number of organisations concerned about both managed retreat and any future withdrawal of support for Hurst Spit have now joined together under the banner of: SLAK (Save Lymington and Keyhaven) Don Mackenzie – Chair of the Lymington Society is currently Join Coordinator of SLAK SLAK has been researching alternative approaches that focus on: Retaining existing flood defences. Protecting existing saltmarsh. Making greater use of BUDS and other proven coastal management techniques. There are encouraging signs that the arguments put forward by SLAK are beginning to attract attention at a national level within the Environment Agency but is still meeting resistance at the local level of the EA. The Lymington Society’s Position The Lymington Society does not support a future managed retreat strategy that would require the construction of major new inland flood defences at substantial public expense while delivering only limited gains in saltmarsh habitat. While we recognise that BUDS is not, by itself, a complete solution, we believe significantly greater effort should be made to: Protect existing saltmarsh before it is lost. Make use of future dredged sediment from Southampton Port developments. Maximise the life of existing coastal defences wherever practical. Read Our Press Statement Members may have seen the Society’s recent press statement, which was reported in the Advertiser and Times. A copy can be seen here. Have Your Say Before 25 September The consultation closes on 25 September. We strongly encourage all members to take this opportunity to submit their own views on the Environment Agency’s proposals. Links to the consultation can be accessed here Suggested Response Guide We have also included a link to a document containing suggested responses to the consultation questions. Members who broadly agree with the Society’s position may find this helpful when preparing their own submissions. Don Mackenzie Chair of the Lymington Society |
The Lymington Society 