New nature haven in Dorset 'has to go ahead, say Environment Agency
The ambitious scheme would compensate for impacts of climate change
Planning permission has been granted for a ‘new nature haven in Dorset’ called The Moors.
Situated on the Isle of Purbeck, the scheme will turn roughly 150 hectares of low-lying grassland into diverse wetlands.
Project Executive, Neil Watson said:
“This process is driven by rising sea levels and the need to find compensatory habitats. This land is the optimum site for the project.”
The granting of planning permission by the Dorset Council means this ambitious scheme to compensate for the impacts of climate change can proceed, and a three-year programme of construction will begin in spring 2023.
The Moors project is 10 years in the making. Discussions about shoreline management began in 2012 with a ‘flood risk management’ strategy, assessing how many hectares were going to be lost, being put in place in 2016. The Environment Agency identified this plot the following year and submitted a planning application in July last year.
The project is being overseen by the Environment Agency and they are working closely with the RSPB and Natural England to provide essential space for nature and replace the areas lost elsewhere in Poole Harbour due to rising sea levels.
Mr Watson said:
“We put together a team of experts who advised us all the way and we got the RSPB and Natural England, who have a track record of managing wild spaces, involved.”
The idea is to build setback embankments and let the sea into an area that is currently grazing marsh. Upon completion, there will be two intertidal lagoons that will be at constant water level, similar to the ones at Brownsea island.
Mr Watson said:
“We are losing intertidal habitats so there is a compensatory need, so this project has to go ahead in order for us to maintain and extend defences elsewhere within Poole Harbour.”
Careful construction of new tidal embankments will create a variety of saline and freshwater areas. These new areas will take several years to establish and will continue to evolve over time, but in doing so will protect natural surroundings, while improving and maintaining flood resilience.
Mr Watson told us the project will house “a variety of habitats” and “would be an attractive place for birds to feed and rest” as the islands will “encourage roosting and breeding”.
Dante Munns of the RSPB added:
“This will create fantastic homes for wildlife, with opportunities for people to experience the wonderful birdlife this area has to offer.”
When the Moors at Arne is complete, visitors will be able to enjoy the site’s new permissive walking paths and bird-viewing points all year round to catch a glimpse of avocets. Mr Watson said: "the project offers visitor amenities but is set in a location where we don’t get disturbance.”
This scheme marks an exciting new chapter in the landscape’s evolution. Without these works, this coastal landscape and its protected species were at risk from sea level rise and potentially being lost in the future.