Breakwaters plan wins backing

8:53am Thursday 15th November 2007

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SUPPORT is mounting for the campaign to install breakwaters to save Lymington Harbour.

The Lymington Harbour Commissioners mailed thousands of leaflets urging people to voice their support for what would be a major engineering scheme.

The proposal is to install two breakwaters at the mouth of Lymington River to ensure that one of the UK premier yachting Meccas continues to be protected from the full force of the sea's waves.

Nature has provided a 12-acre salt marsh which currently protects the harbour area but this is rapidly eroding. Experts say it will have disappeared completely in 30 years' time unless action is not taken soon.

Harbourmaster Ryan Willegers told the latest meeting of the harbour commissioners that support for the plans is pouring in.

Leaflets about the scheme have been sent out to 600 moorings holders, 600 people on the moorings waiting list, 1,800 members of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, and 2,000 people at the Lymington Yacht Haven.

Copies have also gone to the Lymington Town Sailing Club, the two marinas and the Lymington Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Willegers said: "We know all the organisations we have sent leaflets to are supportive and will be writing to support the plans.

"We have got a lot of people behind us and I have not heard of anybody objecting to the scheme yet.

"I hope that when we talk to Natural England next month they will exercise some common sense and see that preserving 12 acres of salt marsh at the same time as protecting the harbour is a good thing."

The harbour commissioners are urging supporters of the idea to write in support of the scheme to Natural England, New Forest National Park Authority and the Environment Agency.

Their first meeting with Natural England, whose support could be crucial for a breakwater scheme, is on December 5.

Click on the links to read the reports in full
Environmental Impacts of Inter-tidal Recharge
Estuarine Processes
Inter-tidal Recharge Techniques
Evaluation of Inter-tidal Recharge Techniques
Saltmarsh Management and Inter-tidal recharge References
Saltmarsh Management Bibliography

The downloadable pdf files are taken from Andrew Colenutt's MSc dissertation entitled 'Beneficial Use of Dredged Material for Inter-tidal Recharge: Management Options for the Lymington Saltmarshes' 1999