South Hayling Beach Management

The North Solent Shoreline Management Plan identifies a policy of Hold the Line for the Hayling open coast. The Eastoke Point Sectoral Strategy identifies Beach Management as the preferred option for delivering flood and erosion protection to a 1 in 200-year standard of protection, in line with this Hold the Line policy. The South Hayling Beach Management Plan (BMP) has identified a strategy for delivering the beach management approach along the open coast until 2029.

The team has secured £5.1 million from the Environment Agency to implement a Beach Management Plan along the Hayling Island frontage.

The Council implements a BMP to retain a healthy beach, without which we would see the return of regular serious flooding at Eastoke, as occurred before the 1985 beach recharge works.

The healthy beach takes the brunt of storm waves and helps prevent failure of the buried concrete seawall and subsequent loss of properties. Annual beach recycling is currently more cost effective than building a higher concrete seawall or replacing our beaches with large rock armour for example.

The BMP sets out the requirements for maintenance, monitoring and intervention to maintain the beach and structures to ensure they continue to provide an adequate standard of protection along the Eastoke frontage. It also includes consideration of the likely options available for carrying out emergency works should defences be overtopped, over washed or even breached during a large storm event threatening the low-lying urban area of Eastoke. This strategy is based on the methods and techniques developed and employed by Havant Borough Council since the initial 1985 beach replenishment operation, including beach recycling using land-based plant and beach recharge using dredgers.