Welcome to our update about the Medmerry managed realignment scheme.
Access road construction
We are delighted to let you know that work to construct the access road to what will be the main compound is to start on 12 September.
During September a new temporary works compound will be built near the village of Ham, plus an access route to the compound via the water treatment works at Sidlesham. This will then provide the main works base over the 18 months during which the scheme will be built.
This initial work will take 3 or 4 weeks to complete. During this time there will be lorry deliveries to the site along the B2145. On average this will be about 10 lorries per day. We plan to route the incoming journeys along the B2201, with the return journeys through Hunston.
Following this initial work construction of the scheme itself is due to start in October.
Looking after the reptiles
The ditches and banks at Medmerry hold common lizards, grass snakes and a few adders, and we need to ensure that they are safely removed from the areas where the new flood defences are going to be built. To do this, we have put in blocks of black plastic fencing around the areas where we know our construction activities could have an impact on reptiles. Any reptiles within the fencing are then trapped and moved to areas of rough grassland that we have created for them in undisturbed parts of the site. The black fencing is in addition to the green sheet fencing that we have already used to catch and move water voles to safer areas.
Recent events
We were pleased to see many of you at our recent guided walks to view the site before construction begins. Our thanks to Earnley Concourse and Bunn Leisure for hosting us. We plan to hold more events as the construction progresses.
We also held an Medmerry Stakeholders Advisory Group (MStAG) meeting to review latest plans, and we were delighted to be part of the Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Exhibition at the Selsey Centre, showing people the plans. Thank you to the Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Group for extending us an invitation to attend.
As always, further details about the project are available on our website: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/medmerry
If you have any questions about the project, please email the project team on: medmerry@environment-agency.gov.uk. You can also contact our public liaison officer, Jacqui Bandy, directly by phone on 07917 048912.
