River Hamble to Portchester Strategy

Strategy Development

This Strategy has been developed by the Coastal Partners on behalf of Gosport and Fareham Borough Councils. The Coastal Partners also commissioned the engineering and environment consultant AECOM to help develop the Strategy.

The Coastal Partners worked closely with other organisations, groups and individuals in the area to ensure that well informed decisions were made and the best strategic approaches to managing coastal flood and erosion risk were selected.

The strategy was undertaken in 2 stages:

• Stage 1 - Scoping Phase. Work was completed to assess and compile the evidence required to develop a comprehensive, sustainable strategy that promotes technically, environmentally and economically sound defence measures for the coast.

• Stage 2 - Development Phase. The outputs from the scoping phase were used to implement a programme of work to develop proportionate coastal management options or flood defence schemes along the strategy frontage.

What area does the strategy cover?

The Strategy covers a 58km (36 mile) stretch of coastline between Portchester Castle (in Portsmouth Harbour) to Burridge on the east bank of the River Hamble. This coastal frontage is highly varied and ranges from very sheltered estuarine and creek environments to much more exposed open coast beach environments.

The Strategy area includes the major settlements of Fareham, Gosport and Lee-on-the-Solent.

Who paid for the Strategy?

The Environment Agency approved the development of this Strategy and have made funds available for the work through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) 'Flood Defence Grant in Aid' funding pot. 

What Next?

Fareham and Gosport Borough Council in 2015 adopted a strategy to guide coastal engineers on the future delivery of coastal management. This strategy was approval by the Environment Agency in 2016.

It is recognised that a large proportion of the funding required to deliver the Strategy will have to come from funding sources other than Flood and Coastal Risk Management Grant in Aid. Financial contributions may take some years to be realised through investment plans, community funding, Local Authority contributions and coastal re-development opportunities.

In the short term the Coastal Partners, on behalf of the residents of Fareham and Gosport, will continue efforts to secure grant funding to deliver the priority schemes set out in the Strategy. They will also regularly inspect the existing network of defences to ensure they are fit for purpose and make recommendations for maintenance activities where they are required.

In the medium term the Coastal Partners will also continue to seek opportunities to work with others to deliver coastal management projects through contributions and also to help others deliver projects with mutual benefit and broader outcomes.

There will be a requirement to think creatively and deliver differently to ensure that the Strategy’s recommendations are implemented for the communities of Gosport and Fareham.