Conservation charity Essex Wildlife Trust, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Harwich Haven Authority, and the UK Environment Agency are collaborating to deliver a two-year project to protect coastal communities from flooding, alongside creating habitat for key wildlife species.
The project is part of a £25 million (US$31 million) programme funded by the Environment Agency.
Together, the partners will be delivering the Blackwater Estuary Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment (BUDS) Natural Flood Management (NFM) project commencing later this year.
The process involves using material dredged by Harwich Haven Authority as part of its regular maintenance of the channel to Felixstowe port and recycling sediment that would typically be disposed of at sea.
BUDS allows the sediment to be recycled back into nature, creating natural replenished sediment beaches in the estuary. These sand and gravel banks will act as coastal buffers for flooding and mitigate coastal erosion.
With the project area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protected Area (SPA) and Ramsar Site (an internationally-important wetland), the partners expect that beach nesting birds such as ringed plover and little terns will also benefit from the new habitat.
The project will help to protect 25 kilometres of coastal flood defence, 406 hectares of coastal flood plain grazing marsh, and 240 hectares of coastal saltmarsh as well as the tourism and boating centres of Tollesbury and West Mersea.