On December 6, the HBC Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting took a deep dive into the current status of the ‘Langstone Sea Wall and Path’ and we encourage all concerned residents to use the links in this post to listen carefully to both the presentation and the discussions which followed.
“HBC has been working in collaboration with partners (Chichester Harbour Conservancy CHC, Hampshire County Council HCC, Environment Agency EA and Natural England NE) to evaluate the potential options available to respond to public demand for action to protect the coastal footpath from being lost and any detrimental impact to the heritage and habitats in the Langstone Mill Pond. Assent from NE, Chichester Harbour Works Licence, EA Flood Risk Activity Permit for maintenance or repair work is not anticipated.”
The single page HBC status report is a good place to start. Click the following image to zoom into the detail.
While ‘assent from NE, Chichester Harbour Works Licence, EA Flood Risk Activity Permit for maintenance or repair work is not anticipated’, this does not mean that we can’t all work together to justify exceptions.
Watch and listen to the following section of this meeting and take particular note of the input from Lyall Cairns, HBC’s Executive Head for Coastal Partnership.
Note that the broadcast did not display the slides for the first few minutes. For those reading this post on a desktop PC, take this link to open the slide set in a separate browser window.
To jump directly to key parts of the discussion, use the following links:
| Coastal Partners presentation | James Spragg – Coastal Partners | |
| County Council Comments | Cllr. Liz Fairhurst and Cllr. Lulu Bowerman | |
| Lyall Cairns Comments | Focus on a pragmatic solution | |
| Committee members question | Cllr. Munday | |
| Lyall Cairns – Response to Cllr. Munday | Further emphasis on pragmatism | |
| Committee member comment | Councillor Crellin | |
| Committee Chair’s comments and question for clarification on funding sources. | Councillor Kennett | |
| Lyall Cairns response on funding | Response on funding | |
| Question from Chair | “Who owns the Chichester Harbour Investment and Adaptation Plan?” | |
| Lyall Cairns’ response | Important points on the currency of the obsolescent Shoreline Management Plans | |
| County Councillor input | Cllr. Bowerman – stressing the wide spread of | |
| Chair comments | Cllr. Kennett – Question on the ‘Community activist’ | |
| Coastal Partners response | James Spragg | |
| Comment from Councillor Weeks | (Inaudible due to failure to use microphone) | |
| Comment from Councillor Gray, with response from James Spragg | What’s going to happen to the mill? | |
| Lyall Cairns comment | Comments on ownership responsibility for flood management | |
| Wrap up from Chair | ||
| Last words from Lyall Cairns | “I would love to see a managed transition, a managed arrangement not the ‘do nothing, hope and wait and see what happens’ that we saw at Southmoore. I want us to find a way forward, a pragmatic solution” | |
| Debate and vote |
So where does this leave us?
The ‘Chichester Harbour Investment and Adaptation Plan’ is an essential and innovative approach to tackling the big picture. Arguments for the right pragmatic solution for the Langstone millpond wall will be far more effective in the broader context taking into account the difference in scale of impact between 200 metres of theoretical coastal squeeze against the very real and quantifiable impact of Southern Water’s CSO discharges into the harbour.
The ‘Investment and Adaptation Plan’ seems to be an initiative from Coastal Partners, whose Exec Head at one point quips with the usual candour and modesty, “I’m making it up aren’t I?” before being quickly corrected by the alert chair: “You’re pioneering, I think is what I would say rather than making it up”. We agree.
Lyall Cairns’ input to this meeting is worth listening to on repeat for a while. If there’s one person who has the ear of the agencies, the mindset and management approach to drive it forward and the proven track record of delivering such complex programmes of work, HBC’s Executive Head for Coastal Partnership is the man for the job.
He’s also a Havant local, who very clearly understands the heritage value at risk here.
Havant Civic Society 