Following completion of the Mersea Recharge project the Trust are pleased to present the Year One Monitoring Report.
As a condition of the MMO licence the trust is required to produce a series of five annual reports to monitor the effects of the work and in particular any adverse consequences. You will be pleased to note that at this stage all has gone according to plan.
The report has been prepared by our environmental consultant Carol Reid with material from Mark Dixon, surveyor Jim Pullen and Kieren Alexander of RSPB to whom we owe sincere thanks.
Read the full report here.
The project to protect Mersea Harbour from erosion was completed on 16th January 2022 when the last load of sand and gravel dredged from the approaches to Harwich Harbour was delivered and pumped onto Old Hall Point.
The Harbour has been under severe threat from the rise in sea levels and storm wave action. It is protected by islands that have been washing away for many years due, increasingly so in recent years. The Save Mersea Harbour project, led by the Mersea Harbour Protection Trust, a group of local volunteers, began back in 2014. After 4 years of effort to meet stringent marine, environmental, ecological and legal requirements they received approvals to place 98,000 m3 of dredged sand and gravel from Harwich Harbour to ‘recharge’ locations on Cobmarsh, Packing Marsh and Old Hall Point in Mersea Quarters as well as at Shinglehead Point at Tollesbury Wick.
The recharged materials will reinforce the islands to slow down the erosion ensuring the harbour can remain active and usable for many years to come. It will ensure that important wildlife sites and oyster beds are protected and waterfront properties and businesses will no longer come under threat from increasing storm wave action. Brushwood fencing has been installed at two locations to ensure no material can move into any navigable channels.
The work was carried out on behalf of Harwich Harbour Authority by a joint venture between leading international marine contractors Boskalis Westminster and Van Oord. They employed specialist dredgers ‘Sospan Dau’ and ‘Scald’ to make a total of 95 round trips from Harwich to deliver 98.944 cu m (158,310 tonnes) of material. Brushwood fencing was installed by Exo Environmental Ltd
Harwich Haven Authority, one of the UK’s largest trust ports, funded much of the recharge project, in excess of £1.2M. The Environment Agency contributed almost £300k towards the recharge costs as well as funding essential pre and post recharge monitoring, aspects of which are also being carried out by RSPB at no cost to the Trust.
In order to prepare the application for the necessary consents to carry out the Recharge, Mersea Harbour Protection Trust raised over £70,000 locally from donations and grants from Essex County Council, Essex Community Foundation, Colchester Borough Council, West Mersea Town Council, Mersea Island Society, Mersea Moorings Association and other local organisations and individuals.
The Trust is grateful to its stakeholder members and all the above organisations for their efforts, contributions and support.
It is hoped that the project will ensure that people are able to enjoy the wildlife, the beautiful creeks and all the activities that are based around them for the foreseeable future.
The Recharge is underway and progressing well.
In September we had specialist contractors Exo Environmental install the brushwood fencing to manage potential recharge material movement by storm waves to Cob Marsh and Packing Marsh.
On 7 November the dredger Sospan Dau commenced recharge at Packing Marsh. She finished placing the 5,000m3 (12,000 tonnes) after three days, working two tides every 24 hours.
She then moved onto Tollesbury Wick and three days later the 5000m3 recharge was complete.
Dredger Sospan Dau recharging Tollesbury Wick east end.
Work then commenced at Cob Marsh with a change to floating pipeline with initially the Sospan Dau and then a different dredger the Scald, as the Sospan had another contract to complete in Ireland.
The placing of 48,000m3 (115,000 tonnes) to Cob should be finished by the end of 2021 and work will then move to Old Hall Point where 40,000m3 (96,000 tonnes) will be complete by the end of January 2022.
This will be the end of the construction phase to be followed by five years of post-placement monitoring.
This project could not have happened without the very generous support of the Harwich Haven Authority, the Environment Agency, RSPB and all the public members and sponsors of the Mersea Harbour Protection Trust.
Thanks to you all for helping save Mersea Harbour for the next generation of people and wildlife to enjoy.
The Save Mersea Harbour project is starting in November
Work to protect Mersea Harbour from erosion is due to start this November. The Harbour is protected by islands that have been washing away for many years due to the rise in sea levels and storm wave action, increasingly so in recent years.
The Save Mersea Harbour project, led by the Mersea Harbour Protection Trust, began back in 2014, has now been given final approvals after meeting marine, environmental, ecological and legal requirements.
The approved plan will see 98,000 m3 of dredged sand and gravel from Harwich Harbour ‘recharged’ to locations on Cobmarsh Island, Packing Marsh Island and Old Hall Point in Mersea Quarters as well as at Shinglehead Point at Tollesbury Wick.
The recharged materials will protect the islands to slow down the erosion ensuring the harbour can remain active and usable, important wildlife sites and oyster beds are protected and waterfront properties will not come under threat from increasing storm wave action. Brushwood fencing has been installed at two locations to ensure no material can move into any navigable channels.
Harwich Haven Authority, one of the UK’s largest trust ports, is funding much of the recharge project, up to around £1M. The Environment Agency is contributing almost £300k towards the recharge costs as well as funding essential pre and post recharge monitoring, aspects of which are also being carried out at no cost by RSPB.
“We are currently undertaking a nationally significant project, costing approximately £120m, to deepen the Harwich approach channel and inner harbour to -16m Chart Datum,” says Neil Glendinning, Chief Executive, Harwich Haven Authority.
“The recharge at Mersea Island is one of two beneficial placement projects we are supporting and funding as part of our larger channel deepening project in Harwich. The second project, working with the RSPB to recharge a Lible Tern habitat in the Walton backwaters, has already commenced.
“We are delighted to be supporting the Mersea Harbour Protection Trust who have worked tirelessly to get this project off the ground to protect its harbour from further erosion.”
Once the operations are complete the Trust will be working with RSPB and other bodies to monitor the long-term impacts of the project, as well as creating a legacy record of the project to inform others about this significant undertaking. It is hoped that the project will ensure that people are able to enjoy the wildlife, the beautiful creeks and all the activities that are based around them for many years to come.
In order to prepare the application for the necessary consents to carry out the Recharge, Mersea Harbour Protection Trust raised over £70,000 locally from donations and grants from Essex County Council, Essex Community Foundation, Colchester Borough Council, West Mersea Town Council, Mersea Island Society, Mersea Moorings Association and other local organisations and individuals.
To our Members and Stakeholders,
The Mersea Harbour Protection Trust is pleased to announce that the Recharge is, at last, going to happen in September.
We obtained a licence from the Marine Management Organisation to carry out the work. We obtained the finance from the Environment Agency to pay for the delivery of the material and have an agreement from Harwich Harbour Authority to make available up to 170,000 tonnes of sand and gravel from a major capital dredge of the deep water approaches to Felixstowe. As that dredge is now about to start, the Mersea Recharge can proceed. It has taken 7 years and £70,000.
HHA have appointed a joint venture between leading Dutch marine contractors Boskalis and Van Oord to carry out the work. For the Mersea Recharge, they will be using specialist dredger “Sospan Dau” which will be bringing up to 1500 tonnes to Mersea on every tide and delivering it on the first of the ebb.
We have been able to get this far with the support of our members and RSPB as well as generosity from Essex County Council, Essex Community Foundation, Colchester and West Mersea Councils, Mersea Moorings and other organisations and individuals. We offer very sincere thanks to you all for your support, generosity and patience.
Richard Taylor
Trustee – The Mersea Harbour Protection Trust
Under normal circumstances, we would be sending out a Notice of General Meeting. However since such gatherings are not currently permitted, the Trustees have decided to cancel the Annual General Meeting for the year to October 2019 as permitted by the Charity Commission. Please see the Accounts and Trustees Report. Any questions about those should be directed to Trustee Richard Taylor at crtaylor@btconnect.com.
However, we are pleased to advise you that plans for The Mersea Recharge are very much on track. We have the necessary consents and arranged the finance. We are now simply waiting for Harwich Harbour Authority to give the go-ahead for their dredge of the approaches to Felixstowe which will provide the material.
To summarise our current position:
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) have issued us with a 10-year licence to carry out the recharge, with (manageable) conditions. This has cost us over £80,000 raised locally.
The Environment Agency (EA) have committed to providing £300k to finance the costs of the material and a further £52k to cover the follow-up monitoring required by MMO.
Harwich Harbour Authority have agreed to arrange the supply and placement of 98,000 cu m of material to the four Mersea sites from a Capital Dredge of Harwich Approaches increasing the depth to 15.5 or 16.5m. They expect their MMO licence imminently and are issuing tenders for the dredging work, and delivery to Mersea. We have agreed that they will bill EA directly for the costs.
RSPB have generously agreed to carry out the bird monitoring surveys specified by the MMO licence prior to and for 5 years subsequent to the recharge. Other survey work will be carried out by ourselves, the oystermen and other groups.
Mark has produced a detailed “manual” of the actions required for preparations towards the delivery of the material and subsequent monitoring.
Dougal Urquhart has joined the team to work with RSPB and coordinate the wildlife aspects.
Richard Bailey has joined the team to support Mark, Richard T and Jon F in the planning and management of the recharge process.
We are instructing our Environmental Consultant, Carol Reid, to assist us with the statutory and contractual issues of the recharge process.
HHA have applied for their licence from MMO and will be putting out tenders for the dredge including delivery of our requirement to Mersea. Although in current global trading conditions the HHA dredge project cannot be 100 % certain, they are currently hoping the final go-ahead to be confirmed in March 2021. But it could then commence without delay and probably allow the Mersea Recharge to take place in the winter of 2021/22, avoiding the key nesting and boating seasons.
In preparation, there will then be three key activities for the Trust to arrange:
Construction of the brushwood fencing to control the movement of the recharge material. This will need a team of volunteers for a work party.
Placing of navigational marks to indicate for the dredger where to unload.
A rota of oystermen to accompany each shipment to ensure that it is delivered to the correct location and on the first of the ebb tide.
