Breakwater plan 'holed below the line'
THE Enviornment Agency's decision to pump £6million into a conventional sea defence programme at Eastoke has seriously damaged a marine engineer's hopes of regenerating Hayling's economy by building a breakwater to protect the Island.
Round-the-world sailor Alan Priddy spent a month travelling to one of the most volatile regions in India as part of a Rotary charity project in January.
But he was dismayed to learn just days after his return to the UK that the government agency charged with protecting the country's shoreline from flooding had "rushed through" its decision - just weeks after a public exhibition had outlined how it could protect the low lying south east corner of Hayling.
And crucially the same Government quango has committed to starting the work to strengthen the sea defences from the pounding it takes day in, day out from powerful tides and waves around the entrance to Chichester Harbour, has not even started its own masterplan to protect the whole of Hayling in the coming decades.
Mr Priddy – who unveiled his plans through the Islander in January last year – said: "I am the first to admit that the Environment Agency has dealt a large blow to the breakwater plan.
"I will be honest and say this could well end up leaving the dream dead in the water.
"I can't pretend that a decision to throw 6million at the problem in one go is not a serious blow to my proposal."
Mr Priddy, who has challenged both Havant Borough Council and the EA over the accuracy of its data on rising sea levels - and the threat posed to the Island's flood defences - had estimated his idea to build a two-pronged breakwater extending more than a mile-and-a-half off the Island would cost 10million.
But while he has been speaking to the borough council's coastal protection officer and trying to form a dialogue to convince the powers that be that his radical solution was the right one for Hayling, a consultant's report – unveiled by Havant council in the autumn – has been fast-tracked and funded before the 56-year-old could prove his case.
Mr Priddy added: "This series of remedial work may do the job… but what it will not do is help in anyway shape or form to help breathe new life into the Island's economy.
"I dubbed the project Team Hayling when I unveiled it at the United Reformed Church to an excited audience just 13 months ago.
"The breakwater would have protected the Island from serious storm damage and surges for sure, but it would have also helped create jobs and bring people to Hayling – and after spending a large chunk of my life here, I am convinced it desperately needs it.
"But my other nagging doubt is that we can't be completely confident the Environment Agency's scheme will work.
"There are so many imponderables about climate change and rising sea levels we just don't know, and probably won't for many years to come.
"I hope what they have done is right, but wish they could have waited longer to consider all the options fully instead of rushing into this.
"It will be a very costly mistake if they are wrong."
Mr Priddy had vowed to fight the council and EA over their determination to proceed with the Eastoke plan just two months ago.
But he promised Islanders he would not accept defeat completely despite being very demoralised by the speed of the decision.
He said: "I am going to go away and think about the whole scheme and look at it again. I am not giving up completely, but we may have to revisit it from a different angle."
Ironically, it came to light this month that one of the breakwater scheme's strongest critics has come up with an even more radical plan to dam both Langstone and Chichester Harbour and create two new road links off Hayling to Portsmouth and West Sussex.
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Weather for Hayling
Sunday 05 February 2012
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Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
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Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
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