Delivered by the The Environment Agency in 2003, this was the first managed realignment scheme along the Humber Estuary. It is located just outside the village of Paull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The defences in this area were threatened by erosion and were not high enough to offer adequate protection from flooding. A number of options were considered and the decision was taken to deliver managed realignment here to support not only the issue of eroding defences, but to provide habitat to compensate for that being lost by major chemical works on the south bank encroaching on to the foreshore. The site is just outside the village of Paull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire and in 2001 work began to build new earth defences inland of the existing defences, in preparation of breaching the old defence in 2 places in 2 years time.

The site is adjacent to areas of immense value to wildlife - especially wildfowl and waders - which thrive in the rich intertidal habitat. The importance of the Humber estuary for wildlife is already widely recognised. National, European and International designations are awarded to the area, including Special Protection Area (SPA), Ramsar Site and possible Special Area of Conservation (pSAC).

Natural England
Find out about the designations of areas for wildlife value and what they mean. www.naturalengland.org.uk

Benefits for wildlife
The site was breached in October 2003 creating 80 hectares of intertidal habitat - 45 hectares of mudflat and 35 hectares of saltmarsh. It now supports a great diversity of waders, such as golden plover, lapwing, redshank, dunlin, curlew, black-tailed godwit and avocets (breeding) plus wildfowl, such as mallard, teal, shelduck and brent geese - all of international importance.

The RSPB
Get information about wetland birds and conservation from the RSPB.
www.rspb.org.uk

The site is also now home to:

And much more.

Benefits for people
Paull Parish Council supported construction at the site and was part of the Project's Steering Group from the outset. The village expects to gain from increased visits to the site by tourists and naturalists, who will bring additional income to local businesses.

Paull Parish Council
More information about the village of Paull and its attractions.
www.geocities.com/paull_parish_council

The site is not only popular with villagers themselves, but with people from all over the UK. Popular activities include:

The Wash is the most important area in the UK for wintering and migrating waterbirds; it attracts more than 300,000 birds a year and has multiple nature conservation designations (SSSI, SPA, cSAC, Ramsar).

Land at Freiston Shore, Lincolnshire, was the last area to be claimed from the Wash in 1983, when a sea wall was built and the reclaimed land put into arable production. 

However, the sea wall was very exposed to wave attack at high spring tides, and it was estimated that in the absence of work to improve flood defences at Freiston Shore, over £19million worth of damage would occur. To repair and maintain the flood defences over a 50yr period here was estimated at £2.47million. A managed realignment option was costed at £1.98million - a far more cost effective way to manage flood risk on The Wash, over a longer period of time.

A partnership between RSPB, Environment Agency and Natural England led to 92 hectares of land being acquired by RSPB with the intention of carrying out the managed realignment project.

Benefits for wildlife

The site was breached in August 2002, allowing the formation of 66 hectares of saltmarsh and a 15 hectare saline lagoon. The work was highly successful, and saltmarsh formed faster than expected: just 13 months after the breach, 61-71% of the realignment area had been colonised by 11 different species of saltmarsh plants; and eight species of fish were also recorded. As a result, birds such as dark-bellied brent geese, golden plover, lapwing, dunlin and oystercatcher have all increased in numbers. Avocets have also started to breed on the newly created lagoon islands for the first time.

Benefits for people

Freiston Shore is a great day out and is estimated to bring £150,000 into the local economy, as well as supporting four full time jobs in the local area. Today it attracts 57,000 visitors a year, compared to an estimated 11,000 per annum before the breach.

For further details and directions please click here

The Washbanks Improvement Project (a partnership led by the Environment Agency and including the RSPB, Boston Borough Council and Lincolnshire County Council) carries out the vital conservation work and promotes Freiston Shore to visitors ensuring it remains an asset to local communities.

For further information please visit www.thebostonwashbanks.com

Alkborough Flats is one of the largest managed realignment sites in Europe, and makes a significant contribution to flood risk management on the Humber estuary as a whole. It will help to protect 300,000 people and has enabled 440 hectares of new wildlife habitats to be created.  The project is a partnership of the Environment Agency, Natural England and North Lincolnshire Council.

Alkborough Flats is located on the south bank of the Humber estuary in the county of North Lincolnshire, at the confluence with the River Trent and River Ouse. The Flats lie below the village of Alkborough, adjacent to the Humber and Trent. To the rear of the Flats is a natural escarpment which provides an area of high ground to the rear of the managed realignment site.

The Flats consist of 440 hectares of low-lying agricultural land and was previously surrounded by flood embankment, which was built in 1956 following the extensive flooding in 1953. These flood embankments would have been compromised in the future due to factors such as bank settlement, erosion and sea level rise.  Therefore the decision was made to look at this site as managed realignment and flood storage options.

The scheme was breached on 7th September 2007 with official launch by Ian Pearson MP on 20th September 2007. The spring tides that followed  flooded c150ha of lowest lying land between the main track to Flatts Farm and the breach location.

Benefits for wildlife

Within the new intertidal zone, 3 main islands have been created and are already being used by roosting/loafing birds.  4 additional islands have been created by surplus spoil extracted from the distribution channel (located near the breach).  These will be suitable breeding islands if the area remains wet during spring.

This range of habitat will provide much needed homes, feeding and roosting sites for wildlife and birds, with the opportunity for visitor information.

Public footpaths around the site were reopened in October 2006 and a new footpath will exist on the new flood banking at the base of the escarpment - the floodwater reaches this point. Natural England will shortly be adding 5 bird hides around the site also.   Access for walkers and cyclists has been extended, as well as the opportunity to promote the heritage and wildlife aspect of the area.                                    

For further information click on the following specific link

www.essexwt.org.uk/sites/Abbotts Hall Farm.htm 

Located on the south side of the river Crouch in Essex, the area itself has not only SSSI conservation status, but internationally it is recognised for its environmental designations also (cSAC, SPA and Ramsar)

To find out more about designations please click here

In the surrounding area the distance between the riverbank and adjacent properties was very narrow and existing defences were only concrete posts and planks that were in poor condition and at the end of their useful life.  Further downstream was an area of internationally important saltmarsh (with cSAC designation). 

If the above river defences were to be improved, then it was considered that this would prevent the saltmarsh from naturally migrating inland as sea levels rose - known as 'coastal squeeze'.  Therefore this area of international importance would be lost and would have been a breach of the EU Habitats Directive (1994).  However, overriding public interest (OPI) also plays a part and therefore works could go ahead to make the river defences improved, as long as the saltmarsh that would be lost could be compensated elsewhere in the area. 

The Environment Agency sourced a suitable area of land close to the site that would be ideal in creating this compensatory habitat.  The landowner agreed to sell and here and works started on the site in July 2002 with breaching occurring in November 2002 - however final landscaping was delayed until May 2003 due to wet weather. This habitat creation site is approximately 12ha and habitats such as mudflats, saltmarsh and rough grassland are being encouraged. 

Situated in St Lawrence Bay on the southern side of the Blackwater estuary, this site was delivered by the Environment Agency (and its predecessor the National Rivers Authority (NRA) in April 1995.

Up until the 1950's the 2.2km stretch of Orplands seawall was fronted by extensive saltmarsh and high level mudflat foreshore.  By 1993 the seawall had lost nearly all this protective saltmarsh and the concrete face was exposed to direct wave impact and damage from the tide.  In addition to this the seawall was no longer adequate enough to resist overtopping of waves scouring by the extreme tides. 

The cost of the needed major repairs to the wall to provide sufficient protection to the farmland behind, would have been four times greater than the cost of the land it would have protected.  There such expenditure was considered uneconomic and therefore the alternative was to restore the ancient saltmarsh behind the existing seawall and create a more natural sea defence instead.

The design was to be as natural as possible, allowing the habitat to create itself with as little engineering as possible.  The site has 2 breaches along the existing seawall, the most northern breach was 50m wide and the southern most breach 40m wide, rather than the whole wall being removed.  This was designed to protect the site from exposure to wave action while the old seawall broke down.  This type of approach also reduces the overall cost of the scheme.

Other features of the site were: -

• the addition of a small water body within the site to help not only land drainage, but to provide a fresh water to brackish water habitat
• the construction of 9 creeks and a drainage system on the landward side of the site, to help the process of saltmarsh development
• the extension of a counter wall was included to split the site into management units/separate compartments, to encourage accumulation of sediment brought in by the tide