The Environment Agency, RSPB and Natural England are working together to adapt approximately 150 hectares of the Moors at Arne in Poole into a diverse wetland habitat.

With rising sea levels, important habitat for wildlife along the coast will be lost over the next 30 years. This “coastal squeeze”, where rising waters press against essential fixed sea defences, will mean a loss of inter-tidal features such as mudflats, salt marsh and reedbeds. New places for coastal wildlife will need to be created.

The Environment Agency has a legal obligation to provide compensatory habitat to mitigate for losses to conservation sites caused by sea level rise in the Poole Wareham area resulting from flood risk management activities. In Poole Harbour, the partners are working together to explore how The Moors at Arne can be converted to inter-tidal habitat to compensate for the losses.

The project offers potential to make the site more resilient for sea level rise in the future and to manage the changes as naturally as possible, while protecting vital infrastructure.

When finished, the coastal change project will enable the Environment Agency and its partners to continue to protect properties around Poole Harbour from the increased risk of flooding due to climate change. It is predicted up to 10,000 local properties could be at risk within 100 years.

Feedback from this phase of the project will be accepted until the end of November 2017, followed by a summary which will be published by the end of the year.

Contractors and plant will be on site collecting borehole samples and establishing what materials are present, the water table, and groundwater flows. This information, combined with modelling and topographic surveys, will help develop the project and address technical challenges in delivering a preferred option. The information will also help answer any local concerns.