Phase 4 of the North Portsea Island Coastal Flood Defense Scheme

The Eastern Solent Coastal Partnership (ESCP) recently presented additional data on the North Portsea Island Coastal Flood Defense Scheme.

The new coastal defenses have been designed to reduce the risk of coastal flooding and erosion to the area over the next century.

According to the ESCP, the implementation of the project has been split into five phases, two of which are complete and the third phase is under construction.

The North Portsea Island Coastal Flood Defense Scheme:

• Phase 1 –Anchorage Park: the construction of 1.4km of earth embankment with rock revetment toe completed in 2016 at a cost of approx. £5m;
• Phase 2 – Milton Common: the construction of 1.5km of set back earth embankments and rock revetment structure, completed in 2016 at a cost of £3m;
• Phase 3 – Tipner Lake: is the construction of 1.9km of a seawall which commenced April 2017 and is programmed for completion by the end of Autumn 2019;
• Phase 4 – Eastern Road and Kendall’s Wharf: the construction of a seawall with road raising at the entrance to Kendall’s Wharf;
• Phase 5 – Ports Creek: 1.3km of earth embankment with a rock revetment toe to be constructed in 2023 and 2024.

Phase 4 is the next phase of works with a combination of two distinct sections: Kendall’s Wharf and Eastern Road. The full length of the frontage is 2.4km (300m for Kendall’s Wharf and 2.1km for Eastern Road), reported the ESCP.

Construction is due to start in September 2019, with completion of the construction works by October 2022 excluding landscaping works which will be completed by February 2023. The new defenses at Kendall’s Wharf will tie in with those built at Anchorage Park in 2016.

The ESCP also added that the first 150m of new defenses will be a raised earth embankment with a continuation of the 3m wide coastal path. This embankment will tie into the area of road raising landward of Kendall’s Wharf, where the road will be raised by approximately 1m. South of the road will be 150m of steel sheet pile wall and will tie into the coastal defenses at Eastern Road.

At Eastern Road the works will include the demolition and removal of the existing seawall in the southern section of the site, and the construction of a vertical reinforced wall with a stepped revetment.

In the northern section, the existing seawall will be encased and the existing path behind the seawall reconstructed. Landscaping works will be carried out to enhance this much loved coastal region including new access points to a public footpath, four slipways and three access steps.