Egremont sand replenishment proposals – November 2013 update.
In 1987 Wirral Council backed my idea to use trucks to move 100,000 tonnes of sand on to New Brighton beach. Since then the beach has attracted over three million visitors. The return of golden sand beaches to Egremont however, is a much trickier proposition. Wirral Council have no money and the shore is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest for wading turnstones under the stewardship of Natural England.
Any ‘sand replenishment’ by dredger can therefore only succeed if it contributes to a wider scheme of habitat improvement for all wading birds, any social benefits would be indirect but potentially very significant.
In an important development, Natural England has commissioned a £20,000 study to improve turnstone habitat at Egremont. The turnstones’ favourite two habitats are rocks on the lower shore and higher dry sand beaches on the upper shore. New Brighton’s artificially replenished beach and rocks are locally the most popular site for wading turnstones. One of the options suggested in the Natural England study is to artificially increase the amount of rocks on the lower shore, however it is acknowledged there may be public opposition to this.
Last month I wrote to Natural England suggesting that a more successful approach would take into account the needs of the local community. Any concerns at the aesthetics of placing rock on the distant lower shore could be more than countered by creating beautiful amenity sand beaches on the nearer upper shore.
My detailed proposal is an attempt to ‘start small but aim big’ by moving 50 tonnes of bare rubble (currently blocking Manor Lane / Mother Redcaps slipway) far down the shore to create a small ‘habitat reef’ of rock pools for wading birds. Sandstone blocks already moved down shore this summer showed 50% surface colonisation by barnacles (the main food of turnstones) in just eight weeks.
Two dredger loads of sand would then be placed at Manor Lane slipway to replace the relocated rocks. Mersey Docks and Harbour Company dredgers have a shallow draft and could run near shore, alternately they can shoot sand 100m through the air on to the beach – a process known as ‘rainbowing’.
This would further improve access to the sands, mainly in summer and provide additional high tide feeding and roosting grounds for migrant wading birds, mainly in winter. If this is not successful then there would be no subsequent larger schemes. An alternative potential site would be at Egremont Ferry – the existing groynes keeping the sand in place at both sites.
Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (owned by Peel Ports) currently dump one million tonnes of dredged sand in to the Irish Sea each year. They are actively looking for alternative places to offload sand after advice from Natural England and the Environment Agency. The deepening of the sea channels (off Formby) for the Liverpool 2 river berth will double the amount of annual maintenance sand dredging to two million tonnes while initial excavations will yield 8 million tonnes of sand, silt and sandstone bedrock.
Of course any larger scheme must not cost Wirral Borough Council anything and rely on 100% recycled materials that would otherwise be dumped at sea. Peel Ports have just received a £35 million grant for additional dredging and disposal of both sand and sandstone bedrock associated with Liverpool 2.
Last year Douglas Coleman of Peel Ports stated that sand replenishment at Egremont is ‘an intriguing proposal that deserves our full consideration’ He later stated that after careful consideration there would be a number of environmental and technical obstacles to be overcome.
I believe all these obstacles can be overcome and will be presenting this case at a site meeting with Natural England in the next few weeks. I have also proposed several other ways to improve rocky turnstone habitats in conjunction with proportionately greater levels of sand replenishment. These proposals were well received at a conference organised by the Marine Biological Association in Bristol in July. The full proposals can be found on the internet at ‘techknack egremont’.
At Colwyn Bay a sand replenishment scheme has transformed the look of the town…… at a cost of £5million. At Egremont there is no limit to the amount of free sand and rock that can eventually be used. Remaining mussel beds fronting the seawall are protected however, and cannot be covered with sand. The mussel beds are naturally sanding over in the long term and the potential is there to eventually transform this area as a place to live by reinstating at least some of the beautiful dry sand beaches that existed 100 years ago.
In March 2013 an EU Directive laid down that marine conservation must not be looked at in isolation but include the needs of adjacent communities and local initiatives to make more efficient use of marine resources.
It will ultimately be up to Natural England to decide the optimum balance (if any) between wildlife and people, and I hope to relay their response in the next edition of the Walrus.
John Lamb
Email [email protected]