Latest News
This section contains information on the Latest News and Latest Works relating to the sea defences, and the variety of Beach Maintenance tasks that are employed to sustain them.
Storms Erode Beaches
December 2011
Although storms were expected overnight from Monday 12th into Tuesday 13th December, the level of erosion found was greater than anticipated. There was some similarity to the event a year earlier in November 2010 in that most of the damage was due to waves being measured higher than those predicted. On this occasion there was a subtle difference in that rather than big waves not being forecast at all, the timing was three to four hours out. Consequently waves measured at high tide were at their peak just concurrent with high water. The Channel Coastal Observatory wave buoy for Pevensey Bay recorded 4.42m waves at 01:30 - the highest value seen since it was first deployed in 2003. It is therefore not surprising that the coast suffered as a result.
Interestingly in some areas the December 2011 storm was more erosive than the November 2010 one. For instance at Normans Bay East more beach was lost this time around...
Normans Bay East 2011
Normans Bay East 2010
...whereas at Sovereign Harbour's Martello tower it was worse a year earlier.
Sovereign Harbour 2011
Sovereign Harbour 2010
At Herbrand Walk, there was no evidence to suggest the road had flooded close to the automatic level crossing at East Stream, yet several centimetres of shingle were strewn across the road near the beach huts - by far the most seen on the road since 1999.
Hampton Court Flower Show - Garden Winner
July 2011
Barry Chambers, a landscape gardener from Bognor Regis, used old groyne timber from Pevensey to help win a medal at the 2011 Hampton Court Flower Show. As one of six entrants in the English Poet's Garden category, his design based on Keats' "On the Sea" won him a Gold Medal. More details and pictures can be found on the Royal Horticultural Society website here.
Scheme wins 2011 Considerate Constructors Silver Award
April 2011
All registered sites are reviewed annually and the top performing 7.5% are presented with an award for that year. The selection is based on the score given by the Scheme's Monitor but other criteria are taken into consideration, including the manner in which any complaints have been handled by the company. Three years of Silver Awards from 2007 to 2009, was followed by a Bronze in 2010. However, at an award ceremony in London last week, the site regained its Silver status.
Successful Completion of Eastbourne Beach Renourishment Works
March 2011
Renourishment of Eastbourne’s beaches was successfully concluded on Monday 7th March, the day after the final delivery of shingle was made by dredger “Prins der Nederlanden”. In all 170,000 m³ of new shingle was used to replenish depleted beaches. A further 75,000 m³ of beach was recycled along the frontage from areas of accretion to erosion areas. Much of this recycling took place in the western third of the frontage between the Wish Tower and Holywell, where environmental restrictions prohibit all construction activity on the foreshore apart from dump trucks driving along the top of the beach. The total value of the project was £4,000,000.
Although “Prins der Nederlanden” has a capacity of 16,000 m³, loads were restricted to about 7,000 m³ per tide because of the relatively shallow inshore waters off Eastbourne. Even with this reduced volume, she had to stand 1km offshore and pump her cargo though a temporary sunken pipeline onto the beach. To minimise the distance shingle needed to be moved along the beach, the sinker line was moved once during the campaign. It was initially placed near the Sovereign Centre, being floated into place on Friday 11th February and then sunk to the seabed. Latterly it was re-floated and then moved west to a point close to the Wish Tower, where it was again sunk.
Because works had to be completed before the end of March they were undertaken in what is potentially one of the stormiest times of the year. Although bad weather delayed delivery and placement of the sinker line in early February, once Prins arrived on 17th, conditions remained favourable and no time was lost other than when the pipeline had to be moved.
Pevensey Coastal Defence, subcontractor Westminster Dredging, client Eastbourne Borough Council and their supervisors from Shepway District Council Engineering team all worked together to ensure the job was successfully concluded. Work of this nature will always result in some degree of inconvenience for local residents and other beach users, but since the works were completed so swiftly it is believed that disruption was kept to a minimum.
Date for Annual Public Forum Announced
February 2011
Pevensey Bay Sea Defences Annual Public Forum will this year be held in St. Wilfrids Hall, Pevensey Bay on the afternoon of Thursday 28th April between 14:00 and 18:00. This annual event is held to keep residents informed of work being done on their behalf as part of the sea defence scheme, to provide information on the coastline and how it is changing through natural processes, to raise awareness of flood risk in the area, and provide access to other ecological and environmental information.
2011 Considerate Constructors Awards Announced
January 2011
Performance of all registered companies is reviewed annually and the top performing 10% are presented with an award each year. The selection is based on the score given by the Scheme's Monitor but other criteria are taken into consideration, including the manner in which any complaints have been handled by the company. The sea defence scheme has been informed it will be receiving its seventh award in April, although whether Gold, Silver or Bronze won't be known until then.
Defences Suffer Unexpected Erosion
November 2010
See YouTube links to the storm here and here
The storm on Monday 8th November caused significant erosion to almost all of the 9km sea defences. The severity of the event caught everyone by surprise as southerly waves pounded the shore on the noon high tide. Although waves were predicted to come from slightly east of south, it was the height that created most of the problems. Most locals appreciate that storms originating from the south east present the greatest danger to Pevensey, but with offshore waves forecast at 2.6m, the event was expected to have a statistical probability of a 1 in 2 year storm.
However, the two wave buoys offshore from Pevensey recorded waves of 3.9 to 4.1m at the time of high water. This would then mean an event with a severity of 1 in 20 years, accounting for the increased erosion.
By and large the Met Office's wave models are very good, and in terms of the rest of the Channel still performed well. Buoys at Dungeness and Greenwich Light Vessel reported waves much closer to 2.6m, so it seems as though the storm's intensity was focused in or close to Pevensey Bay.
Although forecasting of sea and wind conditions improves year on year, there are always likely to be local anomalies the occasionally defeat even the best models.
Sea Defence Scheme Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary
September 2010
The Pevensey Bay Project completed its 10th year of operation on 1st June 2010. To celebrate what is seen as a successful scheme by all involved in it, a low-key event was held on 9th September at Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club to coincide with the annual beach replenishment works that were taking place.
Representatives of local stakeholder and residents' groups were invited along with flood defence officers from the Environment Agency. Apart from enjoying what was a glorious sunny day there were three main purposes to the event;
- To thank all those who have had input into project over the years, particularly local resident groups and organisations;
- To recognise evolution of 'best practice' for soft sea defences we believe has resulted from the Pevensey management regime, and
- To help identify how lessons learnt at Pevensey can be applied to management of our coast elsewhere
Coincident with the event was a four page article in industry-leading magazine New Civil Engineer. Specialist writer Margo Cole visited the sea defence project and talked to those involved to "find out what has made it a success". Her article can be seen in full here.
Annual Beach Replenishment Scheduled for Late August
August 2010
This year's annual replenishment campaign is due to start towards the end of August. Dredger Sospan Dau has been working in Spain, and is now completing a project in South Wales before heading to the Sussex coast. As has been the case for the last two years works at Pevensey will be combined with recharge at Bulverhythe and Seaford for the Environment Agency.
Bronze Considerate Constructors Award for 2010
May 2010
Pevensey Bay's Sea Defence project has been part of the Considerate Constructors Scheme since 2004 and earlier this month won its sixth straight award. After three years of Silver Awards, 2010 saw a return to Bronze. Although this may seem a retrograde step it is more a reflection that standards within the industry continue to improve and it is thus harder to remain within the top 7% of sites that receive an award each year.
Annual Public Forum held at Sovereign Harbour
April 2010
The scheme's Annual Public Forum was held this year at Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club on the afternoon of Wednesday 7th April. A steady stream of visitors attended the event and were able to discuss issues relating to maintenance of the defences as well as other matters. Amongst other attendees were the Environment Agency, RNLI, ESCC Flood Planning, SHRA, The Rotary Club and the Coastal Biodiversity Project.
