Construction of replacement groynes between the War Memorial
and Landguard Common
Work got underway on the Southern
Felixstowe sea defences in March 2008 after the Environment
Agency gave the green light for the £10m project that had been
drawn up with Suffolk Coastal.
A series of 21 rock fishtail groynes are being
constructed and the beach between the War Memorial and
Landguard Common will be recharged by adding extra shingle to the
existing beach to raise the level. The work is expected to finish
by the end of September 2008, with parts of the beach reopening as
the work continues.
Work to place new sand and shingle on the beach on the north
side of the Pier is complete and the beach re-opened for public
use. The first groynes south of the Pier are complete and part of
the beach has been be re-opened.
New groynes to the south of Manor Terrace are under construction
but as the contractor has to cross this part of the beach to
construct groynes further to the south, this beach will remain
closed.
The construction contract has been awarded to Team Van Oord, a
joint venture of Van Oord UK Ltd, Mackley Construction and May
Gurney.
You can find out more about the scheme and progress of the works
in the project newsletters:
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More about the background to
the project and information about the Southern Felixstowe
Coastal Strategy is given below.
Southern Felixstowe Coastal Strategy
The Environment Agency, in partnership with Suffolk Coastal,
commissioned Black & Veatch Ltd to review the Southern
Felixstowe Coastal Strategy previously issued in June 2003.
This review updated the coastal
defence strategy for Southern Felixstowe in light of revised
guidance for sea level rise and economic appraisal. The
coastal defence strategy is designed to enhance the frontage
and provide protection from flooding for the next 150 years.
The strategy also includes an allowance of 1.1m for sea level
rise over this time frame.
In the short term, the updated strategy supports the case for
funding of urgent coastal defence works (including the construction
of 21 replacement groynes and adding extra shingle to the beach to
raise the level) to the Felixstowe frontage between the War
Memorial and Landguard Common (work commenced in March 2008).
The strategy study area
The study area for the strategy covered the flood risk area from
the War Memorial, just north of the pier, to the Trimley Marshes in
the Stour and Orwell Estuary. The following assets are located
within the study area:
- 960 residential properties;
- 468 other local businesses and commercial properties;
- the Port of Felixstowe;
- the amenity beach;
- the leisure and amenity facilities adjacent to the main amenity
beach;
- the War Memorial;
- Landguard Fort and its associated fieldworks;
- the Landguard Common Site of Special Scientific Interest and
Local Nature Reserve;
- Trimley Marshes, an important wetland reserve and Special
Protection Area.
Southern Felixstowe coastal strategy review
In developing a coastal flood risk management strategy for
Southern Felixstowe, the following strategic options were
considered:
- No active intervention (do nothing) – walking
away from the existing defences.
- Do minimum – maintaining the existing coastal
defences until structural failure.
- Improve – improve the coastal defences to
provide a uniform standard of protection against coastal
flooding.
The following sub-options were also considered. These
are standards of protection, which represent the probability of a
flood event exceeding the coastal defences:
- 1 in 50 years;
- 1 in 100 years;
- 1 in 200 years.
The preferred option
The strategic options for Southern Felixstowe were assessed
based on the latest technical, environmental and economic factors
and take into account consultation to date. The assessment process
identified that ‘Improve to 1 in 100 years standard of protection’
is the preferred option for Southern Felixstowe. (The proposed
standard of protection was subsequently reviewed and considered too
low for Felixstowe. The appraisal was re-run and the standard
subsequently increased to 1 in 150 years).
The implementation of the preferred option will involve the
following:
- Routine maintenance of the existing (plus any new) coastal
defences.
- As soon as funding is available and approval gained (work
commenced in March 2008), construction of 21 rock fishtail groynes
and beach recharge (addition of extra shingle to the existing beach
to raise the level) between the War Memorial and Landguard Common.
The raised beach will serve to protect the existing sea wall from
further damage.
- Throughout the strategy period raising of existing defences
where required and feasible, followed by any necessary replacement
over the next 150 years.
More information about the strategy is available in
the July 2007 project newsletter (new window PDF
193KB).
Follow this link for
help with
downloading and opening PDF
files.