News Release
11 September 2008
Beach Nourishment for Eastoke frontage
Twenty-five thousand cubic metres of shingle will be pumped
directly onto the beach along the southern frontage of Eastoke,
Hayling Island, as the beach nourishment work commences next
week.
Often described as a
spectacular sight, the work involves “rainbowing” shingle between
the groynes and will take approx 3 weeks to complete, with a
provisional start date of 17th September.
Beach Nourishment is the placing of material dredged from
offshore onto the beach, in order to reduce flood and erosion risk
along the frontage for the residents of Eastoke, Hayling Island.
Following the success of last year’s Beach Nourishment activity,
Havant Borough Council has secured funding from the Environment
Agency to undertake this further operation and is a step closer to
implementing the desired standard of protection along this frontage
in accordance with the Eastoke Sectoral Strategy Study.
Kirsty Klepacz, Coastal Engineer at Havant Borough Council says
“The Beach Nourishment works will raise the beach levels to reduce
the flood and erosion risk to the Eastoke residents. Once this
year’s operation is complete we will be working hard to attract the
additional funding required to provide the desired standard of
protection along the frontage for the future.”
The shingle beach along the southern frontage of the Eastoke
peninsula is the first line of defence against the threat of
coastal erosion and flooding. The Council as the Coast Protection
Authority has permissive powers to manage these risks when it is
considered in the public interest. The Council in partnership with
the Environment Agency has developed and approved the Eastoke
Sectoral Strategy Study that identified Beach Management as the
most effective approach to managing this frontage; this decision
was made after considering all economic, environmental and
technical criteria.
The Beach Nourishment works are one element of this preferred
approach to managing this frontage and will restore beach material
that is moved out of the area by natural coastal processes.
The Council has appointed Westminster Dredging Ltd to undertake
the works. The Contractor is planning to use the dredging vessel
“Sospan Dau” which was previously used for works at Eastoke in
2007. Sospan Dau is a trailing suction hopper dredger, which is 70
metres long and capable of holding 1000 cubic metres of sand and
gravel. The Sospan Dau has a shallow draft and a jet pump ashore
facility, which will enable the vessel to come very close inshore
and “rainbow” the material directly into its preferred
location.