Flooding and Flood Management Inquiry RURAL AFFAIRS AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE SUBMISSION FROM HENRY TARBATT Subject: Erosion and flood risk, Easdale Island Many thanks for facilitating the organisation of such an historic and successful launch of SIF, and congratulations on your appointment as its first Chairman. Here follow a few lines and inclusions which hopefully will clarify my stance and position at the conference. My attempt to “slot in” a debate on the effects of global climate change on all our islands was made because I believe it was an issue that needed to be raised, and it was intended as a. positive and constructive contribution My comments about Easdale Island were intended to argue from the particular to the general, and after the meeting I was informed by the Tiree delegate that they would find themselves in the same category, i.e. very low lying and vulnerable to storm surges. I have therefore included a copy of a survey commissioned in 1999 by an Easdale islander, Mrs. J. Cunningham, on the storm flood risk to her own particular property on Easdale. As you will see from the report by Prof Fleming, her particular problems affect all the islanders on Easdale. She has, at her own expense, both commissioned the report and made credit-worthy attempts to address the problem by constructing sea defences — at a personal cost to her of £20,000— that not only protect her own property but also the rest of Easdale Island. She has also personally, one by one, placed several hundred tons of stones as back-filling to support the gabions. Thus, God bless her, she has attempted to assess and address the problem. I have to admire her determination and commitment Unfortunately, to add to Mrs Cunningham’s problems, the island owner (Clive Feigenbaum) claims that he owns all the stones collected from the beach to build the gabions and has, through his solicitor, demanded that she either pay him £10,000, or dismantle and remove the gabion protection and replace the stones in their rightful place. This is so incomprehensible as to beggar belief, as these gabions protect his island, and the community living on it. Expanding slightly from the particular, I also wish to refer you to the erosion report by Prof Fleming on both Easdale Island and the adjoining island of Seil, commissioned by Argyll & Bute Council and Seil & Easdale Community Council, and which gives more detail on the land erosion and flood risks for both islands. (There are approx. 600 people on Seil Island and 70 on Easdale Island.) I hope that this information may assist the Federation in its work. Henry Tarbatt 5 December 2007 Evidence of severe erosion on the west coast of Easdale Island, November 2007. The gabion sea defence seen here was commissioned by Mrs. J. Cunningham, at a personal cost of £20,000, and the several hundred tons of stones back-filling to support the gabions were placed there by 70-year-old Mrs. Cunningham herself. Unfortunately, to add to Mrs. Cunningham’s problems, the island owner (Clive Feigeribaum) claims that he owns all the stones collected from the beach to build the gabions and has, through his solicitor, advised Mrs. Cunningham that she must either pay him £10,000 for the stones she has used, or dismantle and remove the gabion protection and replace the stones in their rightful place. This is so incomprehensible as to beggar belief, as the gabions protect his island and the community living on it. (See page 3 of Prof. Fleming’s Land Erosion Report, February 1999.) LAND EROSION - EASDALE ISLAND “THE LAIRD’S HOUSE 1.0 Report on Site Visit: A site visit was undertaken on the 6th of February 1999, and the following are comments following that visit. The site is situated on Easdale Island (Figure 1) and the house looks towards the west directly. The building is constructed on a piece of made ground which was formed from the infill from the historical quarry and consists of various sizes of slate stones. Previous attempts have been made to stabilise the shore, including maccaferri blankets and interlocking concrete block work entwined with metal reinforcement, The slate material is overlain by about 300mm of soil type fine particle stone and this is overlain by grass. A septic tank drains from the house and discharges into the same area and the septic tank is partially exposed by the erosion. The erosion forms a vertical face of approximately 1.5 – 2 metres in height (Figure 2). The shore has a slope of about 10 - 25%. Dolerite dykes run north/sooth across the front of the house and these dolerite dykes are exposed and will probably in part contribute towards sea turbulence at storm times. There is little doubt that the vertical face is very vulnerable and with the exposure to the westerly prevailing winds, it is directly exposed to the storm waves, This involves a very long fetch leading to an abrupt transition at the shore, which is further complicated by the north/south dolerite dykes. These are partially exposed and will cause severe turbulence during big storm fronts The beach material is predominately less than 2 inch size flat slates well rounded. Previous macaferri gabion work has failed, as have the blankets, but this protection has only been localised around the gable end of the house and septic tank. The previous shore protection was effective in the short term and should be reinstated as an emergency local repair. To the north of “The Laird’s House” the shore is replenishing and indicates that the sea is able to lift the material up to the level equal to the garden of “The Laird’s House”. This would indicate that the limit of the wave height activity and therefore the garden height if protected should be still above the current high storm erosion capability. To the north of the site the large area of quarry detritus has as a result of previous quarrying been dumped on the shore and has almost a vertical face which is currently being severely eroded. This material appears to be migrating both south and north. However it’s migration does not reach as far as “The Laird’s House” foreshore, due to the presence of rock outcrops. There is an abundance of material that should be suitable for infilling the foreshore at “The Laird’s House”. Permission for the use of this material would have to be obtained from the relevant authority. The general size of the stones thrown up by the sea onto the accumulating shore face is flat slate 1 inch thick by 1 foot square on average The size of stone on the shore in front of “The Laird’s House” is quite marked. In front of “The Laird’s House” the beach is in a very aggressive erosion mode, It is my general conclusion that without significant engineering works in this area, the beach will continue to erode and the foundations of the house will be undermined. Remediation works should be undertaken as a matter of urgency but it is likely to be expensive due to the scale of the problem for one small property. The shore is now about 12 metres from the gable end of the house and the distance between the vertical eroded bank and the dolerite dyke is about 30 - 40 metres. The eroding shore is within 2 metres of the septic tank. It would be worthwhile checking out the insurance to see if the insurance policy for the house includes anything to do with storm damage. 2.0 Proposed remediation It is clear that the current shoreline erosion adjacent to “The Lairds House” now referred to as An Lionadh need remediation urgently if the property is not to be damaged. More importantly, if under a very extreme storm event the beach erosion extended beyond the property at An Lionadh then the entire village of Easdale Island would be threatened since it lies in a low lying area and is afforded protection by made ground under which An Lionadh is constructed. There are two recommendations therefore that immediate short term shore protection is provided to protect the house at An Lionadh but a second recommendation is that a full review should be made of the Easdale Island communities vulnerability to coastal erosion. Easdale Island has had a history of coastal erosion for some considerable time which has been complicated by the formation of quarry spoil heaps from slate quarrying activities. The slate residues have in the past been dumped in the shoreline and have in some cases helped to form beaches as is the case at the harbour entrance where regular maintenance is required to maintain a ferry access to the island. In other parts of the island the shore erosion is particularly aggressive and the example at An Lionadh carries a high risk of a wider damage to the community and would threaten the long term viability of the community. Two strategies are recommended: 1. A short term remediation be undertaken on the shoreline of An Lionadh to protect the part of the shoreline which is subject to aggressive erosion. This should involve the formation of maccaferri or geotextile mattresses and re- sloping the shore to provide the necessary design slopes required. Figure 2 shows the approximate shape of the shore and Figure 3 shows a sketch of the proposed remediation. Approximate costs of this remediation involving approx. 200m2 of mattress and 20 metres of gabion work would be £15,000 plus VAT including site supervision, design works and.