Medmerry Managed Realignment Scheme Opens

2013

In November 2013, the Medmerry managed coastal realignment scheme was completed, the largest of its kind in Europe at that time. The Environment Agency breached the old shingle sea wall to the west of Selsey, allowing the sea to flood approximately 183 hectares of low-lying farmland. The scheme was designed to reduce the flood risk to over 300 homes in Selsey and the surrounding area, while also creating a new intertidal habitat of salt marsh, mudflats and lagoons. A new earth embankment was built further inland to protect the properties. The RSPB took on management of the new reserve, and within months wildlife began to colonise the site. Avocets, lapwings, little egrets, marsh harriers and a wide range of wading birds and wildfowl now use the reserve. The Medmerry scheme has become a national example of adaptive coastal management.