ABPmer will determine appropriate intervention for the large shingle spit fronting Pagham Harbour, to ease the pressure of erosion it is placing on the foreshore.

The working group for Pagham Parish Council, Pagham Flood Defence Steering Group (PFDSG), has engaged with ABPmer to identify the best solution for managing the large shingle spit fronting Pagham Harbour, West Sussex. 

This spit has grown substantially over the last decade and an intervention is needed to ease the pressure of erosion that it is placing on the Pagham foreshore and the related, ongoing threats to properties along that frontage.

The work to be undertaken by ABPmer will involve determining the design of, and securing the planning permissions needed for, an appropriate intervention. 

Colin Scott, coastal realignment specialist at ABPmer said:

“We are delighted to have been contracted to do this work for PFDSG.  Pagham Harbour is a location which exemplifies the challenges of managing, and living beside, an ever-changing coastal environment.  It also illustrates how we need to work with and not against natural process at the coast.

Our team is very familiar with these issues and successfully carried out the bulk of the scheme design, coastal modelling and impact assessment work that was needed to secure the consents for the Medmerry managed realignment project on the adjacent coastline.  We therefore bring to this project detailed understanding of the evolution and maintenance of the shingle defences along that frontage as well as a wealth of experience in EIA and related consents for such projects. 

We have already had productive meetings with regulators as the project is on a tight schedule to complete the necessary assessment work and secure the required consents to allow for this intervention to take place before this coming winter.”

ABPmer is a recognised leader in adapting shorelines for flood protection, nature conservation and other purposes having been engaged in more than ten such schemes in the past five years. For more information, visit our OMReg microsite.