This is the news you have all been waiting for...
Today (Friday 20th November 2015) representatives from Natural England attended a meeting with our MP Gordon Henderson and then afterwards with the Eastchurch Gap Erosion & Community Committee to try to resolve the previous issues relating to the proposed work to the Eastchurch Gap cliff area - to help stem the fast and accelerated erosion...This meeting was most constructive and over the course of two hours a clear direction and understanding was gained by both parties.
It has now been made clear that once we have satisfactorily addressed a few small formalities there would be no objection on the part of
Natural England for the proposed work to proceed on the cliffs ASAP.
The short video just says the same. -
WATCH THIS SPACE.
I had a comment posted on "Streetlife" and I replied and I have copied it here for other interested parties to see below...
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question the mating we are to use is well known to the Environmental Agency, Highways Agency, Network Rail and many others and the scheme to stabilise the cliff has been excruciatingly examined in great detail by many environmental engineers as there would indeed be no point in doing the project if it had no chance to succeed. The scheme is a pilot project and as such it represents a very minimal cost outlay and the idea is to monitor the results and see what the short / long term benefits are over the years.
The Environmental Agency has had nothing to do with this scheme because they only seem to deal with millions of pounds on projects - so our little one is worth nothing however the methods to be used at Eastchurch Gap should clearly work - as have been clearly demonstrated by all the others agencies who have used the method and matting surface so we are giving it a try. Regarding your point on what to plant there - there are very clear restriction as to what we are allowed to do so even the Willow sticks need to be local as this will help keep the existing natural established plant networks within the cliff area.
It is hoped that after a few years the cliff surface will become locked enough with vegetation to reduce greatly the dramatic slips that have occurred in recent years... We all know it can't be stopped but if this pilot scheme works to any reasonable degree the idea and methods used can be of benefit to other cliff / erosion areas around the country so a lot of interested parties are looking at this venture to see how it transpires (check out the hits we get to the Blog site) so we are staying positive because the short term implications now are not only to help residents on the Eastchurch Gap Cliffs but also perhaps give hope to others who's homes and environment are at risk - so as you can see we have our fingers crossed as well as we can also do with some positive luck generated from everyone.
We have had loads of help getting this far as mentioned in my first post. It should be remembered that when you ask for something it's generally far easier for any organisation to just say "NO" however in our communities case we found everyone approached said "YES" eventually when they became fully aware what was being proposed which is truly amazing. Thanks for your kind enquiry and input.
Check out the Blog site... Regards Peter
Well done to all involved.
ReplyDeleteHi Mandy. Thanks for your comment. - not many of us around = Peter Bruce.
ReplyDelete