Beach Recycling restarts

- Sat 12th Mar 2005

Anyone travelling along Hayling's seafront this week will have been hard pushed not to have noticed that the annual flood defence work has restarted once again.

The yearly "recycling" operation, co-ordinated by Havant Borough Council's beach defence team, involves redistributing some 20,000 cubic metres of shingle along the Island's seafront.  Shingle is removed by a large excavator from where winter storms have deposited it and transported by large lorry to where it will be needed over the coming 12 months to protect against possible flooding.

The recycling operation is supported, every five years, by an additional "recharge" programme, which involves more shingle being added to the beaches.

Whilst the tactic of recycling and recharging has proven effective is reducing flood damage, particular on the Eastoke peninsula, many islanders have concerns over this choice of strategy.  Seeing the Island's, once sandy beaches, buried under thousands of tonnes of shingle is seen my many as being detrimental to Hayling's tourism and wider economy.

More information on the beach management strategy for Hayling can be found on the HBC website

By forum user, Mat