Environment Secretary Praises Portsea Scheme

The environment secretary Liz Truss has praised the new £6 million flood defenses on Portsea Island’s northern shore following a recent visit to the site.

This is the second time in a matter of a few weeks that Ms Truss has visited and praised a scheme delivered by Team Van Oord working on behalf of the Environment Agency.

Following her visit to the Portsea scheme, the first phase of the wider £44 million Anchorage Park project, Liz Truss said: “It’s good to see a scheme that both looks attractive and is useful for local residents in terms of recreation.

“It’s an area for people to walk their dogs and go cycling at the same time as providing protection for houses and business.”

Commissioned by the Eastern Solent Coastal Partnership and made possible through funding provided by the Environment Agency, the recently completed works at Portsea will reduce the risk of coastal flooding and erosion to the area over the next 100 years.

The scheme involved the construction of 1.4 km of coastal defenses along the north of Portsea Island, a small, low-lying island which contains a large proportion of the city of Portsmouth.

It is the third largest (by population) of any island in the British Isles after the mainlands of Great Britain and Ireland, and has the highest population density.

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