Spring works move ahead to bolster coastal defenses in Sussex

Major coastal defense works are underway along the Sussex coastline as the Environment Agency begins its annual spring program to protect thousands of homes and businesses from flooding. 

Part of a major investment scheme to better protect Pevensey and Eastbourne from rising seas and stronger storms, the project has started to receive seven lorry loads of timber that will be used later this summer to improve wave screens along the Pevensey frontage. 

The Environment Agency has also launched its annual shingle bypassing operation, moving 5,000 cubic meters of shingle, roughly the equivalent volume of 50 double decker buses, from Eastbourne to Pevensey Bay. 

Six tipper trucks are making up to 96 trips a day, travelling four miles to relocate shingle that accumulates at a rock spur in Eastbourne due to longshore drift. In total, Pevensey Beach will receive around 12,000 cubic meters of shingle from various sources this year. 

The shingle itself acts as the primary sea defense. 

According to EA, this bypassing work prevents shingle from clogging Sovereign Harbor and replenishes the Pevensey Bay frontage, where the material then migrates naturally along the coast via longshore drift, benefiting communities the entire length of the frontage.  

The scheme in the long term (2027-2037) will be one of the most significant coastal flood risk projects in the country, covering a varied 15km stretch of coastline (Cooden Beach to Holywell) that includes chalk cliffs, shingle beaches, promenades, heritage sites and a large marina, and will protect more than 5,000 homes across the next decade, EA concluded.