The Environment Agency is getting ready to start work in April 2021 on the £40 million Lydd Ranges sea defence scheme.
Photo: Aerial view of Lydd, courtesy Wikipedia
The work is to improve the existing frontage to maintain a sea defence along the existing alignment.
Once completed it will help better protect the environmentally important area and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Lydd firing range from ongoing storm damage and coastal erosion for 25 years.
At Lydd Ranges, the existing shingle beach is being strengthened by:
- building timber groynes
- recharging the rapidly eroding beach
- stabilising the Green Wall trackway in front of the ranges
The beach is vulnerable to storm damage which has been experienced over recent winters.
The frontage is owned and operated by the MoD and is a live firing range. It is one of the Ministry’s most important training sites in the country, contributing to national security.
The area also lies within a number of environmental designations. These recognise the importance of the wider Dungeness foreland and its associated wildlife habitats:
- Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
- Special Protection Area (SPA)
- Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
- Ramsar (important wetlands habitat)
The designations are protected by Natural England.
The Environment Agency has worked closely with both Natural England and the MoD to develop the planning application for the scheme in order to ensure that the scheme design will minimise damage to the existing habitats and include the provision of any required compensatory habitat.
The Lydd Ranges sea defence scheme will cost in the region of £40 million.
Planning permission was granted in December 2020 which will enable work to start in April 2021.
The Lydd Ranges forms part of the Folkestone to Cliff End Strategy (FoCES) approved by Defra in 2010. The strategy sets out the Environment Agency’s plans to manage flood and erosion risks along the coastline of Romney Marsh over the next 100 years, taking the predicted impacts of climate change into account.
Much of Romney Marsh is below the present day high tide level and 14,500 homes, 700 businesses and nationally important critical infrastructure are at risk of flooding.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.