Hayling Island Coastal Management Strategy
FAQs updated Jan 25
Being a low-lying island community of over 17,000 residents, climate change is one of the largest challenges Hayling Island will face. Climate change poses a significant threat to the Islands economy, environment, health and way of life.
Rising sea levels are predicted to significantly increase the level of coastal flood and erosion risk on the island. Over 3,000 properties are at risk of flooding, along with the A3023, the only access road onto the Island, and 1,518 at risk of erosion in an extreme event in 100 years if we do nothing.
Many parts of Island are already defended; however, the condition, standard of protection against flooding and expected life of these defences is highly variable. Many of these assets are coming to the end of their life and are at risk of failure.
Land use on the Island includes a variety of rural, agricultural and densely populated urban areas. There are also eight former coastal landfill sites around the coastline.
Tourism and recreation are considered important, being the birthplace of windsurfing, the sheltered waters around the Island offer the perfect conditions for a variety of water sports. The island is significant historically, having played a vital role during World War II.
Hayling Island is also surrounded by environmentally designated sites, including the Chichester and Langstone Harbours Special Protection Area / Ramsar site and the Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation. Chichester Harbour is also designated a National Landscape. The Island also supports five Local Nature Reserves, including The Kench and the Hayling Billy Reserves.
With all of the interacting and competing pressures on the coastline, the poor condition of defences, and the anticipated rising sea levels as a consequence of climate change, a long-term plan is urgently needed to manage the risk of coastal flooding and erosion to communities and natural environment now and over the next 100 years.
The North Solent Shoreline Management Plan (https://northsolentsmp.co.uk/), adopted by Havant Borough Council in 2011, provides the high-level policy approach for managing coastal flood and erosion risk between Selsey Bill and Hurst Spit, including for Hayling Island.
The Hayling Island Coastal Management Strategy reviews and sets out how to deliver the North Solent Shoreline Management Plan policies for Hayling Island at a local level and identifies where and when coastal flood and erosion risk management works are required over the next 100 years and their likely cost.
The Strategy covers approximately 38km of coastline around the entirety of Hayling Island, including both the highly dynamic wave dominated open coast and the more sheltered tidally dominated harbour shorelines.
Coastal Partners and Engineering and Environmental Consultancy AECOM have developed the Coastal Flood and Erosion Risk Management Strategy for Hayling Island on behalf of Havant Borough Council.
Engagement has been a key theme throughout. A key stakeholder group, made up of representatives of the local community, including residents, local businesses, landowners, and community groups, regulators, organisations and local Councillors, met at key times during Strategy development.
Landowners have been consulted extensively during one-to-one meetings to understand how they use their section of coast and establish their short and long-term plans and aspirations for their frontages.
Public consultation took place over a three-month period at the end of 2022 with public drop in events, one to one landowner meetings, social media updates, newsletters, press releases and posters. The feedback received during this time was assessed and where applicable and relevant, used to update or amend the final Strategy.
The project was part funded by Defra Flood Defence Grant in Aid, administered by the Environment Agency, and part funded through Havant Borough Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy.
The Hayling Island Coastal Management Strategy was adopted, and its short-term action plan approved by Havant Borough council Cabinet on 18th December 2024.
Once the Strategy is adopted and approved, our coastal management work does not stop here. Subject to securing funding, we will look to progress the coastal management schemes and studies outlined in the Short-term Action Plan.
These projects will need to go through the HM Treasury Business Case process in order to secure eligible flood defence grant in aid funding, alongside identifying and securing additional funding for any proposed scheme to progress. If funding is secured, each project will go from feasibility study and outline design, through to detailed design and consenting and then on to construction. Hence it is unlikely we will see any significant works on the ground (other than ongoing maintenance and monitoring) for a further 7-10 years.
The Council as a Coastal Protection Authority and the Environment Agency have powers to carry out works to protect against coastal flooding and erosion. However, this is not a legal obligation. This means the Council has the 'power' to carry out coastal protection works but is not duty bound to do so and will not be liable for the failure to exercise these powers.
In general, Local Authorities and the Environment Agency will only act where there is a wide public benefit and / or an appropriate engineering solution that is achievable.
Landowners are ultimately responsible for maintaining or improving their own defences.
The Environment Agency provide Defra capital grants to Risk Management Authorities to fund coastal defence schemes using an outcome, bid-based funding approach. Any project where the benefits are greater than the costs can qualify for a contribution from this national funding pot, but funding is not guaranteed. The amount of funding received depends on the benefits and the outcomes of the project and if this funding does not cover all costs, extra money from other sources is required through contributions.
The Strategy recommends economically sound strategic approaches to managing flood and erosion risk. Although some future schemes may be able to attract some public funding, under the current funding regime significant contributions will be required to make up the shortfall to enable any future project to progress.
Adaptive pathway’s is a decision-making approach that allows decision-makers to take actions to manage risk under uncertainty and changing conditions now and into the future.
Adaptive pathways are a new approach, used to help communicate the different actions available to us as coastal managers, especially where there is little justification for funding a traditional Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management scheme.
An adaptive pathway approach has therefore been adopted in the Strategy to allow us more flexibility to manage risks and adapt to changing conditions over time using trigger points where a decision is required to instigate a potential move to another pathway.
For each Option Development Unit (ODU) frontage, adaptation pathways have been developed, with discrete management action pathways and trigger points appropriate to that frontage, highlighting the leading option pathway as recommended in the Strategy.
Coastal adaptation focusses on adjusting to, and managing, the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion, as opposed to the other strategic options which aim to mitigate the impacts through physical flood protection measures. Ways in which communities can adjust to coastal flood and erosion risk as part of an adaptation approach include:
- Creating community flood support groups
- Signing up to flood warning systems and evacuating prior to flood events
- Risk informed land-use planning
- Relocation
- Property flood resilience