(L-R) Keith Matin, vice chairman of West Wittering Parish Council, Andrew Tyrie MP, James Humphrys, Solent and South Downs area manager for Environment Agency
Andrew Tyrie, MP for Chichester, visited the site of the flood defence work in West Wittering on Friday (13th July) to receive a progress report from the Environment Agency.
Andrew Tyrie, MP for Chichester, said: “I have been very closely involved with this project from the start and I am very keen it should succeed. It is a great success story. It shows what can happen when the energies of local people are released to enable them to help look after themselves in conjunction with the authorities responsible for flood and sea defences. We need much more of it in my constituency.
He continued: “We need local people engaged in working out how to defend themselves from the sea and we need to make sure the relevant bodies and the planning authorities let them get on with it because if the local people are allowed to, they will do the job.”
Once completed, the new defences will provide a better level of protection from flooding to around 55 properties, the local school and nearby pumping station. The defences are being made out of earth and clay with rocks protecting the wet side.
West Wittering is low lying and at risk of extensive tidal flooding through overtopping as seen in March 2008. The Environment Agency believes the enhanced defences will improve protection from flooding to the village for the next 100 years.
Mr Tyrie met with representatives of the Environment Agency and West Wittering Parish Council. Work started on the site in April with a target completion date of September which is weather dependent. The local community has contributed over £600,000 towards the Flood Defence Fund. The total cost of the project is estimated at between £1.4 million and £1.8 million.
Keith Martin, vice chariman of West Wittering Parish Council, said: “This is a project that has involved an enormous amount of people in the village who have wanted to improve the flood defences for many years and there has been a tremendous amount of fundraising. To see it all actually happening after several years of campaigning means a great deal.”
James Humphrys, Solent & South Downs area manager for the Environment Agency, said: “We are currently two-thirds of the way through a project which has been long in the making and we are quite excited, despite the challenges of the recent weather, to be getting towards the end of the rebuilding of the flood defences here which is of great importance to local people. The Environment Agency has been delighted to work with the local community to do this.”