Leading Chichester District councillors have agreed to apply for grant funding which will be spent on protecting coastal homes as part of the council’s Beach Management Plan.
The council will apply to the Environment Agency for £250,000 each year until 2026 as part of the third phase of beach management works that the council is carrying out along Selsey, Bracklesham and East Wittering.
The decision was made at a meeting of Full Council on Friday 12 March.
“By the end of this month we hope to have finished the second phase of beach management works which cover Park Lane to approximately one mile west of Shore Road, West Wittering” explains Councillor Penny Plant, Cabinet Member for Environment at Chichester District Council. “The works here have involved enhancing timber groynes and placing more than 35,000 tonnes of new shingle at Selsey to enhance and protect the existing coast defence assets.
“A new round of applications for funding from the Environment Agency will allow us to carry out further work over the next five years to protect those homes that are most at risk, and will be similar to the works which have been carried out over the last ten years.
“The works will provide a substantial improvement to the standard of protection offered to our coastal communities and give them a greater sense of security. The policy is to ‘hold the line’ – this means maintaining, upgrading or replacing defences – for the next 100 years. In order to achieve this we need to apply for further funding.”
Once funding is received, works will take place during the autumn and winter of each financial year. The works will involve groyne improvements and the importing and placing of shingle.
