The Alde & Ore Association s1

DRAFT – FOR AGREEMENT ON 5TH FEBRUARY

MINUTES OF THE ALDE AND ORE ESTUARY PARTNERSHIP HELD ON THURSDAY 4th DECEMBER 2014 IN ORFORD TOWN HALL

PRESENT Edward Greenwell (Chairman, Farmer Nominee) Guy Heald (Finance and Business) Alison Andrews (A&O Association Nominee) Richard Marson (Aldeburgh Town Council Nominee) Tim Beach (Snape Parish Council Nominee) Peter Smith (Orford and Gedgrave Parish Council Nominee) David McGinity (Butley Parish Council Nominee) Brian Johnson (Boyton and Bawdsey Parish Council Nominee) Karen Thomas (Environment Agency) Rodney West (Ecological Representative for RSPB, NT, SWT) Barry Leach (Aldeburgh and Orford Business Associations Nominee)

Lizzie Hammond (Householder Representative) Amanda Bettinson (Partnership Secretary)

ADVISORS Jane Burch (SCC) Emma Hay (Natural England) Haidee Stephens (SCHU)

IN ATTENDANCE Andrew Hawes (Hawes Associates- Partnership Consultant) Frances Barnwell (Secretary AOET) Giles Bloomfield (IDB Engineer)

APOLOGIES Cllr Jane Marson (Landowner Nominee) Bill Parker (SCDC)

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC Lindsay Clubb, Tunstall PC, Trevor Wilkinson Roger Baxter

1. PRIVATE SESSION Action At a private session the Partnership agreed to the appointment of the Landscape Partnership to provide a statement for SCDC in support of enabling development to part fund the proposed upgrading of the defences.

2. PREVIOUS MINUTES The minutes were agreed with 2 exceptions: i) Minute 4 Enabling Development penultimate sentence should read “Value of every site would be variable but it was thought approximately £50K would be an average value per plot for a dwelling on a site of say 5-10 plots” ii) Minute 7 – 100 years should read “a mid to long term” Minutes altered and placed on the web site.

3. MATTERS ARISING Footpath Trial – Construction will start shortly on land at Martlesham, the site chosen for the trial as the landowner was in any event repairing the wall. Two low sills which will be overtopped at high tides are to be incorporated to test the various materials as would have been used at Aldeburgh or Orford. An Engineering appraisal and public opinion will be sort in the spring. NE SIP – although this is an evolving document it is now available on the NE website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improvement- programme-for-englands-natura-2000-sites-ipens)

FC1 realignment – discussions are still continuing and hopefully will conclude shortly.

4. ENABLING DEVELOPMENT The Chairman and Cllr Jane Marson had met with Cllr Andy Smith and Cllr Geoff Holdcroft, Cabinet member for Planning, who are supportive of the enabling development initiative and are keen for this to be agreed prior to the election. With the appointment of the Landscape Partnership it is hoped that a statement in support of ED can be provided early in the new year. A consultation with the parishes and the community to discuss the first few sites would be arranged post election.

5. ESTUARY PLAN Jane Burch noted that the remodelling data at present being sought by the EA and Professor Pye would be required before anything further on the sustainability appraisal could be assessed. It would also be necessary to get a feel for the number of enabling development properties that would be required to fund at least part of the shortfall in Government funds. It was thought that about 80-140 houses across 18 parishes would be an early assessment of the housing required. JB noted it would be useful to ask SCC Highways for an unofficial opinion on the proposed sites as they might ultimately have the final veto on ease of EG access/egress onto the highway. It was also noted that the criteria guidelines for enabling development had not been adopted by SCDC but it was hoped they would become a supplementary planning document or a material consideration.

6. SLAUGHDEN COASTAL FRONTAGE Karen Thomas reported that the EA are in discussions with the MMO in an attempt to fast track the licences required for work to place rocks in front of the sea wall. Considerable savings are being made by placing an order for rocks, to be delivered in February, to coincide with the Clacton Scheme. Designs and statutory approval need to be in place before the MMO will start the licence process which normally takes 14 weeks. This would put a February start at KT significant risk. Letters of support from the Partnership and SCAR may help to ensure a speedier process and KT would advise if this was necessary. RM noted that action was required rather than talking and thought the Mayor of Aldeburgh should also write to support this work.

KT also discussed the reports that the EA and NE had commissioned from Prof Bradbury (who had recently died before finalising his report) and Prof Julian Orford. As they were both coming to the same conclusions Prof. Orford’s report would be utilised by both agencies. An options appraisal would be required to assess funding of various proposals from maintenance, holistic approach of managing the shingle differently, sand or shingle engines, and several million pounds on a major capital scheme. There would be a wide consultation in 2015.

7. i) SNAPE REPAIR WORKS Giles Bloomfield reported that rds of the wall had been repaired with 5,000 tons of clay and although a further 1800 tons of clay was stockpiled, and a further 1000 due, it was too wet for the machines to negotiate the marsh. With the private funding, and further EA funding that has been made available, it is hoped that work will be finalised by the end of the financial year (a requirement for the reinstatement funding) or earlier if it freezes. The project has benefited hugely from developers generously giving clay which would otherwise have been sent to landfill.

Clay stock piles: the Waste Licensing Team are discussing a broader licensing agreement with regard to amounts (in excess of 5000 tons) and location of storage sites across the estuary. KT agreed that the EA would write to the IDB to discuss location details. KT ii) HAZLEWOOD MARSH The breach had been deepened to allow the marsh to drain to enable wall defences to be built. NE expressed surprise as they had not been consulted on these works. The new river walls within the marsh are yet to be finished. Thanks are due to SWT who have been very neighbourly in allowing these works to proceed. It was noted that the number of birds on the site have greatly increased. The EA provided £10,000 to facilitate SWT with the formation of islands within the site to support breeding avocets.

The EA also funded £30,000 for localised protection for the residents however Trevor Wilkinson is concerned that the deeper breach has altered the dynamics of volume and velocity into the marsh as his newly built bund is now being overtopped. It is hoped that the data collected by EA and Prof. Pye may inform the situation. It was regretted that as the houses had not flooded little financial help was on offer. AH AH agreed to check the wall levels.

iii) UPPER ESTUARY SURVEYS Results of the surveys at Snape and Butley with possible areas at Boyton to balance Hazlewood should be available by early March and these would feed into a new flood risk model.

8. NEW SALTINGS PROJECTS DMcG discussed various sites that had been viewed by boat and would be preparing a paper for the January meeting with sites maps and project costs. It was felt it may be useful to DMcG widen the saltings brief to include sites other than the toe of the wall. EG asked that Ham Creek should be listed as a possible candidate and DMcG was also asked to discuss with SWT whether the Saltmarsh Group could help with re- establishing of saltmarsh within Hazlewood Marsh. It was agreed that landowners should be approached to help fund the projects once the scheme and total costs were established. Haidee Stephens thought it would be useful to have a suite of projects worked up to take advantage of any funding from the Sustainable Development Fund and other local charities. Monitoring accretion would take place in March: initial findings were looking encouraging as in excess of 200mm appeared to have been gained at Orford in some places. 9. WEB SITE It was agreed essential to have a significant website which would greatly assist the community in understanding the flood risks to the estuary and it could help in supporting local fund raising. It was thought £2-5,000 would be required to set up the site. The Partnership would like a volunteer webmaster - please send any further comments or offers of help to Lizzie Hammond ([email protected]) – perhaps there is a parish clerk who would be prepared to help? Funding this may need to come from Locality Budgets, sponsorship from local businesses, Suffolk Foundation etc. All ideas are welcome. ALL 10. TAX BENEFITS FOR FLOOD DEFENCE It was welcome news that the Government was to introduce tax incentives for business contributions to flood defence schemes which will now be tax deductible.

11. MEETINGS will be 5th Feb, 26th March and 26th May 2015 at 2pm in Orford Town Hall

AJB/9.12.14