Cuckmere Estuary Partnership

Q: The ‘Back to Nature CERP’ publication mentioned two features which were not mentioned in the introductory presentation at the engagement events:  1) a proposal to fill in the straight cut, and 2) to reinstate flow through the meanders.

A: The options outlined by Dr Williams in his introduction to the public engagement events should be considered as broad options rather than definitive schemes as they were general alternatives that were considered by the Environment Agency as part of the Flood Risk Management assessment.

One of the main aims of the engagement events was to explore alternative ideas for the future of the estuary. Filling of the cut and reinstatement of flow through the meanders are both still possibilities that could be explored if it was agreed that a managed approach would be the preferred way forward. The second of these two options – reinstatement of flow through the meanders – is of particular interest to the Partnership who have identified the maintenance of the meanders as a landscape feature as a priority for the future. We believe that re-establishing flow through them could be one of the best ways to achieve this, but clearly this would need to be assessed as to whether it would be technically feasible.

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Q: Why were people ‘allowed’ to attend more than one of these sessions? This will bias the outcome!

A: The Partnership had initially asked that people only attend one session each, to allow a range of different voices to be heard. However, some representatives of the ‘Rescue the Cuckmere Valley’ campaign felt very strongly that they should be allowed to attend all three events to ensure they had the fullest opportunity to put their point of view across.

The final report will capture all of the many different views expressed during the engagement process. However it will not come up with a “preferred option” and in that sense there is therefore no outcome to be biased.

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