Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne Coastal Management Scheme: Concerns raised by community members

The scheme stretches 15k from Cooden Beach to Holywell and is intended to protect more than 10,000 properties against flooding.

Community members of the PBCCG met with MP Huw Merriman and Nick Gray, project manager from the EA, to discuss the scheme. The EA is in partnership with Eastbourne Borough Council for the £100+ million project.

Find out more about it here

The community members of the group raised several concerns:

Lack of urgency from the EA

The sustainability of current beach management practices

Timelines and plans ‘in a state of constant flux’

Flood risks being underestimated

The EA’s response:

It was addressing matters as quickly as it could

Current beach management was presently necessary to protect against flooding

It was undertaking further work to fully understand how the risk should be assessed

There would be a full public consultation on a short list of proposals in winter 2023

Mr Merriman said: “It was good to meet community members of the PBCCG and officers from the EA to discuss this important coastal defence project. The PBCCG is a joint group of community and EA representatives who are doing a great job in working collaboratively on this project. It is right that the community members challenge and question both the EA and me to ensure that the new project is right for local residents and the wider area.

“Over the past three years, I have been speaking with Defra ministers for assurance that our coastline will continue to be protected when the current sea defence contract expires in 2025. It is essential that the replacement project will be designed and fully funded to meet climate change and extreme weather challenges for generations to come. I am pleased to be working with the PBCCG to achieve this.”

Mr Gray said: “The Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne Coastal Flood Management Scheme is assessing the options for ensuring that the local coastline, and its communities, are resilient to coastal flooding and erosion both now and in the future.

“To help that process we are undertaking extensive engagement with stakeholders such as the PBCCG. Their input is an essential and valued element to creating a final scheme that both protects the community and works for them.”

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