Eastoke Beach Nourishment Works Summer 2009
Where will the project take
place?
Why is it needed?
Where is the material coming
from?
How will we undertake the
operation?
Will I still be able to use the
beach?
What will the beach look
like?
Environmental Impact
Assessment
Further information and contact
details
>>Link to our
information leaflet (PDF 563Kb)<<
>>Link to regular
notification updates<<
Click here for information on previous Beach
Nourishment projects at Eastoke>>
Where will the project take place?
The site for the nourishment is the southern
Eastoke frontage at Hayling Island. This area of ongoing erosion
requires periodic maintenance. The nourishment operations
help to restore beach levels along the front, in order to provide
protection to the residents of Eastoke.
In 1992 a Beach Management Plan was
introduced, enabling the sustainable management of the Eastoke
frontage. Further developments led to the Eastoke
Sectoral Strategy Study, which sets out the
Beach Management plan in detail for defending the Eastoke
Peninsula.
The Beach Management plan involves:
· Beach
Nourishment
· Beach
Recycling
· Coastal
Monitoring
Beach Management objective is to provide a 1
in 200 year standard of protection along the frontage against
coastal erosion and flooding, and extend the life of the original
1985 Beach replenishment Scheme.
Why is it needed?
The Eastoke peninsula is a densely populated
area. The majority of it is low-lying with a record of serious
flood incidents prior to 1985, as shown in the photos. Since the
1930's hard defences were constructed to fix the line of this
frontage, but regular overtopping and flooding was
experienced. In 1985 the beach nourishment scheme was
implemented, creating a man made beach in front of the now
redundant sea wall. Coastal processes are constantly eroding this
frontage and without intervention the redundant concrete seawall
would again be exposed. The result of this would be a return to
regular serious flooding of Eastoke, through continuing erosion of
the coastline. Images of these occurrences at Eastoke can be
seen on our 'Coastal Defence' page.
Where is the material coming from?
Material for this phase of Beach Nourishment will be obtained
from a licensed offshore dredge site. There are a number of
potential licensed sites around the Isle of Wight and the
extraction site is likely to be Area 351 or 451 on the east side of
the Isle of Wight.
The Council have appointed Westminster
Dredging Ltd who will undertake the works using the
dredging vessel "Sospan Dau". This vessel was previously
used for similar works at Eastoke in 2008, 2002 and 1997. The
vessel is a trailing suction hopper dredger,
approximately 70 metres long and capable of holding 900 cubic
metres of sand and gravel. The dredger has a shallow draft and
a jet pump ashore facility, which enables the vessel to come very
close inshore and "rainbow" the material directly into its
preferred location.
For a live
location of the dredging vessel click here (external link)
>>
How will we undertake the operation?
The works will involve the following
activities:
- Dredging shingle for nourishment from a licensed offshore
dredge site.
- Temporary closure of small areas of Eastoke Beach to receive
nourishment material.
- Pumping ashore of the shingle from the dredger by Rainbowing as
in previous operations. The dredger has a very shallow draft
allowing the vessel to come very close in shore and a jet pump is
used to pump the material onto the shore.
- Where necessary material will be moved to its required profile
using land based machinery.
“A spectacular
sight”
This will be a 24 hour operation due to the tidal nature of the
works. The project may cause some noise disturbance, however we
will endeavour to keep the level of inconvenience to a minimum. We
request your co-operation for the duration of the works as the
project aims to reduce the risk of continuing erosion of the
coastline and serious flooding of the Eastoke area.
Will I still be able to use the beach?
In the interests of health and safety it is intended that
approximately 300m sections of the frontage will be cordoned off at
any one time in order to allow the pump ashore to take place and
material moved by land based construction machinery. Small
areas of the promenade will be closed whilst pumping is
underway. There will be clear signage at all access points to
the beach and a Beach Master will also be on site during all
discharges.
What will the beach look like?
Initially material may look darker than the
beach at present and some “cliffing” of the newly deposited
material is anticipated as the material sorts itself through
natural processes. However the beach will return to its natural
profile in time.
Environmental Impact
Assessment
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been
completed for the works. This is important as the site
is within and adjacent to European, national and locally
designated protected sites. To view the Environmental Statement
(The outcome of the EIA), and the Study to Inform Appropriate
Assessment of the project, please follow the links below
(Acrobat Reader required):
This includes a number of figures, each of which is listed
below:
There are a number of other licences and
consents that have also been obtained for the works, to enable
us to extract and deposit the material.
Further information and contact details
If you have any further questions or queries
that we can help with, please contact the coastal team at:
Eastern Solent Coastal
Partnership
Public Service Plaza
Havant
PO9 2AX
Tel: 023 9247 4174