Progress on project to create new habitat
An ‘ambitious’ project to create a new intertidal habitat on Thorney Island has taken a step forward.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Environment Agencysignedamemorandum of understanding over the plans, which will also see flood defences constructed, earlier this year.
A project team from the Environment Agency is now onsite, whereitisinvestigating the ground conditions ahead of any construction work.
The scheme will see two breaches made in the existing flood defences on the land, which are in a poor condition.
This will allow the area to be inundated by the sea on high tides, providing the conditions needed for intertidal habitats to develop – including intertidal mudflats, saltmarsh, small islands and grassland.
New set-back flood defences, topped with a new public footpath, will be installed further inland at the site – which is owned by the MOD as part of its barracks.
Intertidal habitat is rapidly declining in Chichester Harbour and the wider Solent due to past and on-going development and sea level rise. The Environment Agency is legally obliged, under the Habitat Directives, to create new intertidal habitat to compensate for this.
As the habitat develops, it will attenuate wave energy in the wider Chichester Harbour and improve the water quality by filtering pollutants.
The resulting saltmarsh and mudflats also have the potential to act as an effective ‘ carbon sink’, the Environment Agency says.
Nick Gray, the Environment Agency’s flood and coastal risk manager for West Sussex, said: “It’s great to see this ambitious project gathering momentum.
“By joining forces with the MOD, we can achieve more for the environment and reduce flood risk to the MOD’S infrastructure.”
Lt Col Alistair Hill said: “By working together we are delivering more, at pace and creating a relationship that will serve both organisations going forward.
“The milestone aligns with the long-term goal of a nation resilient to climate change.”