Publication: “Selsey Life” November 2007

SOS

SOS’ registered supporters should congratulate themselves! Without your backing, the broken sea wall at Clayton Road may never have been protected against this autumn’s storms. As reported last month, strong community support helped persuade the Council to take direct action in the absence of government funding. Once it took the decision, the Council proceeded with commendable speed.

Now the job has been done, and about 100m of vulnerable sea wall has large boulders in front it. These should give five or more years’ protection, allowing the Council to apply for government funding to rebuild the damaged wall itself.

One reason the Council could do this, is that the policy for the West Beach frontage is “hold the line”. We are very conscious that the District Council’s Coast Defence Strategy (CDS) suggested a “do nothing” policy for the seafront from Hillfield Road to Lifeboat Way. We are lobbying hard against this – if it remains, then no-one will be allowed to build sea defences there. We believe the Council now understands the need to remove this suggestion, and hope it will be dropped from next Easter’s draft CDS.

Medmerry beach - controlled by the Environment Agency - is a different matter. At the time of writing, Bunn Leisure have still not been given consent to protect 200m of beach frontage. Here the policy is “hold the line”, but Natural England and its allies would like to change it to “managed retreat”.

They see the low-lying areas around Selsey (an area they call “Medmerry, Pagham and the Lavant Valley”) as ideal for converting into salt marshes and grazing marshes. What happens to the people who live or work in these areas does not concern them. Take a look at their CHaMP coastal plan: it describes Medmerry as “Potential [saltmarsh] creation area: 943ha”; it states there is “potential to allow unrestricted inundation so as to reinstate the full extent of the former 17th Century estuary”; Selsey is described as being surrounded by “over 1000ha of low-lying land with potential for creation of grazing marshes”. Remember, 1000ha is 2,500acres!

These ideas could become reality. Really. An obscure plan called the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) is being prepared now. It will set out the general coast protection policies for the whole Solent, from Hurst Point to Selsey Bill. Last time it was reviewed, Natural England complained that its wish list was “substantially reduced or eliminated altogether”. This time, it has organised things differently, and has a seat on the deciding body. By getting the coast protection policy changed to “managed retreat”, it can put its ideas into action.

SOS is alerting the District Council to this danger (it, too, has a single seat on the SMP group). We are urging it act boldly, and reject any policies that threaten our right to protect our coastline and with it, safeguard our community and economy.