UK: Dredger “Breughel” to Protect Lincolnshire Coast

Lincshore, the flagship scheme to reduce flood risk to thousands of homes and businesses on the Lincolnshire coast, commenced yesterday at Boygrift.

The Environment Agency scheme played a vital role in helping to protect Lincolnshire’s coastal communities from flooding during December’s tidal surge. This year’s campaign will cost £8.4 million – an increase of £2.4 million on the usual £6-million. Extra money has been needed this year because repairs have also taken place to sand dunes damaged by December’s tidal surge.

Mark Adams, Coastal Engineer, said: “December’s tidal surge reminded us that if defences along the beaches which rely on Lincshore failed, tens of thousands of homes and businesses would be at severe risk of flooding. The scheme did what it was supposed to do against a surge higher than that experienced in 1953. It held up well and protected thousands of properties on the Lincolnshire coast as well as a number of important environmental sites.”

Lincshore began in 1994 and covers beaches between Mablethorpe and Skegness. The scheme maintains protection against a one in 200 year tidal flood (0.5%) for 30,000 properties and 35,000 hectares of land.

Lincshore works by increasing the level of the beach to reduce the risk of waves reaching the main defences and going over the seawalls. It protects the clay foreshore against further erosion and prevents rapid deterioration of the defences.

Adams said: “We time our works to minimise disruption to local communities and visitors but unfortunately some inconvenience is unavoidable as we will need to close off sections of beach while we work on them to keep people safe. Lincshore maintains a vital part of Lincolshire’s coastal flood defences and we hope people understand why we need to carry out this work at this time of year.”

The scheme will see 520,000m³ cubic metres of sand pumped from licensed off-shore sites onto 20km of beach, including Boygrift, Trusthorpe, Sutton on Sea, Chapel Six Marshes, Ingoldmells, Trunch Lane, Huttoft and Moggs Eye.

The dredger Breughel, which was named after the famous Belgian Northern Renaissance painter, is being used on this project. It has a hopper capacity of 11,650 cubic metres and can carry 18,710 tonnes of sand. It has a 1,200mm dredging pipe and can dredge at depths down to 43 metres. It also has the lowest carbon footprint in its class.

The Environment Agency is currently reviewing how the risk of coastal flooding and erosion between Saltfleet and Gibraltar Point will continue to be managed in future.

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Press Release, April 18, 2014