The giant Norwegian granite boulders are piled up against the new concrete sea wall for nearly 2km from Camber to Jury’s Gap. Further on and as far as the Lydd army ranges, the shingle banks have been reshaped and new wooden groins installed.
This £30 million project known as the Broomhill Sands Coastal Defence Scheme will be completed by the end of this year – on time and on budget. Also thanks to some considerate planning and sympathetic site managers, the beach has remained open for the intrepid wind surfers throughout the course of the whole year.
The Broomhill Sands scheme is part of a group of schemes known as the Folkestone to Cliff End Strategy. Three major schemes that were conceived as part of this Strategy remain to be completed in order to “improve the standard of protection to Romney Marsh” to an acceptable level.
Currently the Environment Agency (EA) is “developing the business case” for these three remaining schemes which includes the Rother Tidal Walls East – the far side of the river from Rye. This particular scheme will cost £7.7 million and is unlikely to be completed before 2021 .
The acceptable level of risk of flooding as agreed by the Government and the EA is assessed as being five per cent up to 2115. It is sometimes referred to as a one in 200 year risk, but this is misleading as it is only a measure of the risk that the EA currently anticipate for the next 100 years . The EA is constantly reviewing the predictions for sea level rise to 2115, and it is unlikely that anyone can say with any degree of certainty how high sea levels will be after that date.
Main photo: Environment Agency Flikr page. Boulder photo: Christopher Strangeways