Meeting on North Portsea Island Project Set for This Week

Portsmouth City Council has announced that a pre-construction exhibition focusing on the next stage of coastal defenses, set to protect North Portsea Island from the risk of coastal flooding, will take place today.

In the lead up to the start of construction, a public exhibition will be held at The Great Salterns Mansion Harvester, Eastern Road, Portsmouth, between 1pm – 7pm.

During the exhibition, the scheme plans will be on display, as well as information on what to expect during construction and timescales for delivery.

This event follows on from previous public consultation held in March 2014, January 2015, April 2016, February 2017 and November 2018 which helped shaped the design of the scheme following public feedback.

The next phase of defenses will be delivered in two parts, the first involving the construction of an earth embankment, a steel sheet pile wall and raising the road adjacent to Kendall’s Wharf on Eastern Road.

The second stage includes the construction of a seawall along 2.4km of the Eastern Road, encasing the existing seawall and raising the defense level by approximately 1.2m.

The principal design for Phase 4 is now complete and construction on the first package of work is due to start in September 2019 on the Kendall’s Wharf section, which has just been approved by the local planning authority, and is expected to be completed by April 2020.

The planning application for the second package of work, taking place along Eastern Road is due to be submitted in August 2019. Subject to planning approval, work could begin on this section of the defenses in April 2020 with a view to being completed in late 2022.

The North Portsea Island Scheme, which is being delivered by the Eastern Solent Coastal Partnership on behalf of Portsmouth City Council,  covers 8.4km of coastline from Tipner through to Milton.