Page 46 - Yachter Spring 2023

46 FEATURE
An update on works in progress
The construction of enhancements to sea defences to protect the low-lying residential and business communities of the Solent
is a topic which continues to occupy our minds.The Solent region has one of the most advanced programmes of coastal defence development in the UK, providing protection to the coastal communities of Portsmouth, Havant, Gosport, Fareham and Chichester.The design and planning of the coastal engineering projects in these areas
is the responsibility of Coastal Partners, a joint services group funded by the five local authorities.
Coastal Partners’‘flagship’ programme of work concerns Portsea Island, the central part of the City of Portsmouth.Work on coastal defences around the island has been proceeding at pace, with significant stretches of the island shoreline improvement now either under active design and development, or in some cases already completed.
Work is well advanced on ‘Frontage 4’, the Southsea Castle stage, as weather and tidal conditions permit. If you’ve driven along Southsea Seafront recently, you cannot fail to have noticed the mountain of rock armour which has been delivered by barge to the seafront in the area of Southsea Castle for distribution as part of the defences around that headland. Further to the west, the works at Long Curtain Moat in Old Portsmouth are nearing completion and should be reopened to the public around the end of 2022, paving the way for work to start on the next part of the project, the length of coastline fronting Southsea Common and linking Clarence Pier to Southsea Castle.
On the eastern shore of Portsea Island, work is continuing on enhanced sea defences at the Langstone Harbour shore. Following completion of the first section by Kendall’s Wharf, the team is now working its way south alongside the Eastern Road,
improving the shoreline landscape in the process.The welcome inclusion of a textured sea wall surface that will encourage habitat growth along the new defences contributed to Coastal Partners’ successful submission
for the ‘Flood and Coast Excellence Award, 2022’.
However, elsewhere around the Solent, things are not quite so straightforward. Portsea Island was always going to be
given high priority for central government funding given that 10,000 homes and 700 businesses are at risk should the existing sea defences be overwhelmed. Further afield however, there are smaller residential and business communities which each have to compete for increasingly scarce funding.
Image 3 shows the vicinity of Langstone Village, a small community alongside the only road to Hayling Island at the junction of Langstone and Chichester Harbours.
‘Area A’, defined by the yellow rectangle, shows the area for which funding is
available and for which a development plan is proceeding.With only a small number
of homes and just two local public house premises at risk, the strategic funding priority for the Langstone Scheme is boosted by the strategic transport need to keep the A3023 road bridge operational, providing Hayling Island with its only fixed link to the mainland.
‘Area A’ is defined as the ‘Core Scheme’, while ‘Area B’, to the left in the picture,
is defined as the ‘Additional Scheme’, comprising a small private development of housing with private sea defences for which strategic funding could not be justified. While there is no agreed funding for the additional properties, Coastal Partners continue to engage with the residents of ‘Area B’ and also with Langstone Sailing Club, visible in the image alongside Langstone Spit, to ensure that a solution could be implemented in the event that private funding becomes available.