Estuary set to be restored to its natural and historic flood plains
MULTI-MILLION pound plans to restore the Otter Estuary to its natural and historic flood plains to avoid a catastrophic failure of sea defences are set to be given the go-ahead next week, writes Daniel Clark.
East Devon District Council’s planning committee are being recommended to approve the Lower Otter Restoration Project, which will create 55 hectares of mudflats, saltmarsh and other valuable estuarine habitats.
The project, led by landowner Clinton Devon Estates and the Environment Agency, would see the Big and Little Marsh floodplains around Budleigh Salterton restored, with breaches created in the Little Bank, the Big Bank and the River Otter Embankment to allow water to flow through. The funding will support the Lower Otter Restoration Project’s aims of climate change adaptation by working with natural processes to provide benefits for people and wildlife.
It follows the significant risk that a major flood or extreme tidal event could lead to catastrophic failure of embankments, with unpredictable environmental and social impacts, with recent years having seen part of the South West Coast Path that runs along the embankments closed to the public for significant periods due to erosion caused by such events.
As part of the plans to restore the historic floodplain of the River Otter, breaches in existing embankments would be created to allow water from both the River Otter and the Estuary to inundate the site, creating intertidal saltmarsh and mudflats.
In addition, South Farm Road will be realigned and raised at a point just to the south of the existing road, and a small car park created at its western end and a new road bridge will be required, and a new footbridge to the South.
Existing footpaths will be realigned and the landfill site capped and planted with grassland and woodland.
The split to the South will be allowed to evolve naturally, necessitating the removal of the southern part of the loop path known as Donkeys Turn.
The cricket club will be moved from its current location to land off of East Budleigh Road, permission for which has already been granted under a separate planning application. Floods have left part of their current Ottermouth home under water on three occasions in the last 10 years, with a plan to relocate to Janie’s Field on the outskirts of the town having been agreed.
Recommending approval, the report of planning officers says: “This is a significant application within the Lower Otter Valley which will result in a change to the existing landscape, which has been managed over the past two centuries.
“The proposal would clearly significantly change the area, particularly by way of breaches to the embankments which would irreversibly change the habitat and visual appearance of the estuary.