ABPmer at Wallasea
On 8th October 2007, the RSPB published their plans for an exciting, large-scale coastal habitat creation project on Wallasea Island in the Crouch and Roach Estuaries (Essex). Their plan is to make Wallasea Island, close to the Thames Gateway, one of the largest and most important coastal habitat creation scheme in the UK. To achieve this they will transform a large area of arable farmland at Wallasea back into coastal marshland and create a wetland mosaic of mudflats and saltmarshes, shallow lagoons and pastures. This work follows on from, and will integrate with, and existing Defra-led Managed Realignment scheme on the north bank of the island.
ABPmer continues to have a longstanding involvement with these Wallasea projects. We carried out the site selection, scheme design and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the preceding Defra-led Managed Realignment on the island’s north bank We were also the environmental advisors throughout all the supporting stages that eventually led up to the selection of the Wallasea site for Defra’s realignment. These preceding stages included the site selection process which extended across the whole of the Greater Thames Natural Area, the preliminary investigative hydrodynamic modelling and the scheme design work. Our involvement in this Defra project is ongoing as we are currently undertaking the majority of the work on the five-year environmental monitoring programme and are also populating and maintaining the web-site for this project on behalf of the Environment Agency. This work will continue until December 2011.
ABPmer is currently engaged in undertaking the hydrodynamic modelling and project design studies for the new RSPB proposal. We have also recently been commissioned to carry out the EIA that is required to accompany the Planning Application for this project. When commissioning ABPmer, the RSPB’s project manger Mark Dixon commented: -
‘Having detailed, robust and high-quality EIA underpinned by equally high-quality hydrodynamic studies are essential components for coastal habitat creation projects and especially for this RSPB proposal. ABPmer is, in RSPB’s opinion, a company that is in the best position to deliver such quality work especially in this part of the country’
ABPmer will work as part of a team of experts alongside ornithological specialists within RSPB; engineering/design consultants Faber Maunsell and an overseeing Technical Advisory Panel that will include representatives from key stakeholders.
Link to BBC website article about the RSPB proposal: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7030298.stm
Link to RSPB’s Wild Coast Webpage: http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/w/wallaseaisland/index.asp
Link to ABPmer’s Wallasea website (for the Defra north bank Managed Realignment):
http://www.abpmer.net/wallasea/
For further information contact djones@abpmer.co.uk
