Coastal change on HCC sites

Hampshire County Council have a number of landholdings at the coast including Country Parks, roads, right of way and activity centres. As an accountable public body the County Council need to ensure that they take appropriate measures to safeguard the future of their land and services without damaging the environment. A current threat, and one that will increase with rising sea level is the risk of flooding and erosion.

In Autumn 2003 the County Council's coastal team, based in the Environment Department carried out a consultation on the review of the effects of climate change, in particular sea level rise, on its coastal interests. It is predicted that there will be significant adverse impacts on well used recreational facilities such as Lepe and Royal Victoria Country Parks, Calshot Activities Centre, and popular coastal leisure routes such as the Hayling Billy Coastal Path and the path along the east bank of the Hamble estuary. The main outcome of the review was to set up a number of groups for those areas most at risk to examine the implications for the County Council's sites particularly in relation to the current coastal defence policies and the requirements of environmental legislation. The work of these groups is explained further under the Key Area Working Group section. The final output will be the County Council’s recommendations for the most appropriate coastal defence options for the short, medium and long term balancing all the relevant obligations, duties and other considerations.

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