Wetlands project designed to tackle threat of coast erosion

The Environment Agency is looking to replace habitats being lost to the sea at Beacon Lagoons near Kilnsea by creating a large area of lagoons and pools which will attract overwintering birds.

Planning officials at East Riding Council are backing the scheme – costing less than 200,000 – which will be discussed by councillors in Beverley next Thursday.

It involves making water-filled scrapes up to a metre deep on land owned by the Environment Agency and other partners including Associated British Ports, South Holderness Countryside Society and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The agency will also build a car park and at least one bird hide. Vegetation will be kept down by grazing cattle and sheep.

Project manager Tim Cobb from the Environment Agency said continuing coastal erosion was likely to lead to the loss of the lagoons within the next 30 years.

He said the wetland project was a low-cost solution which would satisfy European Union rules on replacement habitats, adding: "Essentially what we are doing is providing replacement habitat for species like knot, dunlin, redshank and grey plover.

"We have purchased some parcels of land close to the lagoons so you can maximise benefits to the birds which won't have to fly too far. It is low-lying and tends to get a bit wet which suits us because basically we are trying to create wet areas."

If permission is given, work will begin next March on the southern parcel of land, the main construction starting in July and August.

Easington Parish Council has objected on the grounds that creating extra wetland could increase the risk of flooding in very wet weather and could cause traffic problems if people park on the roads rather than in the new car park.

They also were unhappy about public money being spent on such a large scheme "designed for birds at a time of financial restraint".

But Mr Cobb insisted they were not creating a flood risk.

He said: "In a lot of ways we are probably making it better by storing a lot of water in there."

There have been 10 letters of support. One of the residents living closest to the site, parish council Jan Crowther, said she backed the scheme, which would make "a relatively featureless area more interesting".

She said: "Personally, without my parish council hat on, I am not objecting – in fact I think it will be quite interesting. The fields involved I don't think have been cultivated lately and they are planning to put on a car park and a hide."

Mrs Crowther, a historian and author, added: "It's the area where the Kilnsea Fleet went across from the sea to the Humber thousands of years ago and there are these barrows, some of which have been excavated and some of which remain. It is quite a sensitive area."

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, which owns the nearby Spurn reserve, says it will be "an excellent facility for visitors and support nature tourism in East Yorkshire...supporting the trust's reserve at Spurn by increasing the connectivity for wildlife in the area and spreading the impact of visitors".

The RSPB also backs the plans "believing it will add value and help protect the natural assets of the area for people to enjoy and wildlife to flourish".

Coastal erosion is particularly aggressive along this stretch of coast and up to three metres of land is lost a year. The Beacon Lagoons, which is owned by the South Holderness Countryside Society, is a protected site of scientific interest and hosts a colony of breeding little tern.

The site is close to a grade two listed First World War acoustic mirror. One of a number built on the North-East coast, they were a forerunner of radar and intended to provide early warning of incoming enemy aeroplanes and airships about to attack coastal towns.