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Coastal protection

Fareham Borough Council works in partnership with Coastal Partners to manage coastlines, improve community resilience and enhance the natural environment. Founded in 2012, the highly skilled team of coastal engineers and officers at Coastal Partners lead on coastal issues, such as:

It has evolved its expertise to support and enhance: community resilience, habitat and environmental issues, research, ecology, data analysis, geomatics, environmental protection and funding skills, in addition to its core coastal engineering services.

Costal Partners can also offer advice on issues such as project strategy, planning, design, monitoring, implementation and maintenance and stretches beyond coastlines to on land, highways and flood risk areas.

To find out more about Coastal Partners and the work it is doing in Fareham, please click here External Hyperlink.

Hook Lake Coastal Management Study

Coastal Partners as part of Fareham Borough Council has secured £556,000 from Defra Grant in Aid to commence a two-year study focusing on the future management of Hook Lake (part of the Hook with Warsash Nature Reserve) and opportunities to create new habitat at the site.

The Solent coastline is facing significant pressure from rising sea levels, more frequent and bigger storms, and increased flood and erosion risk. As a result, important coastal habitats such as saltmarshes are slowly being lost as they are squeezed against existing sea defences.

Hook Lake has been chosen as a potential area to create new coastal habitat to offset these losses in the Hamble Estuary and the wider Solent. The creation of new compensatory habitat is a legal requirement and will help to offset habitat losses today and in the future from new defence schemes. This new habitat must be reinstated in order to enable future coastal defence schemes in our area to progress.

The Hook Lake Coastal Management Study will look to maximise the potential benefits for both local people and wildlife to ensure that Hook Lake remains a special place. The study will explore the potential for creating new habitats, look at wider recreation opportunities and develop preliminary designs for a scheme. 

We recognise how popular this area is to both the local community and visitors, so Costal Partners would like to hear from you to understand how you value and use the site, and to gather information or ideas you have to help the study. Please have your say be completing this short questionnaire External Hyperlink.

To stay up to date on the project, please visit the project webpages External Hyperlink, where you can also sign up to receive updates to your inbox via the new 'Fareham Coastal Projects e-Newsletter'.

Beach management

Fareham Borough Council does not own the beaches and slipways but holds a lease from the Crown Estate. We have permissive powers under the Coast Protection Act 1949 for coast protection - the protection of land from erosion or Seagull on a railingencroachment by the sea. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for coastal protection within the Borough. A joint coastal defence strategy External Hyperlink has been produced by Southampton City Council, Eastleigh Borough Council and Fareham Borough Council.

Water quality

Each week the Environment Agency takes samples of the local sea water. After testing, the water quality results are sent to Fareham Borough Council and displayed in designated notice boards at Salterns beach and Monks Hill beach. A rating of 'poor, good or excellent' is given. The water around the Fareham foreshore has always complied with the standards of the Bathing Water Directive.

Restrictions and Prohibited Activities:

Byelaws

There are specific byelaws that relate to the seashore, details of which can be found in the Seashore Byelaws PDF (325 KB) document.

Metal Detecting

Anybody wishing to carry out metal detecting on our foreshore on land owned by the Crown Estate should refer to their website External Hyperlink for information.

Bait Digging

In 2001, a Special Nature Conservation Order (SNCO) was placed on the northern part of Fareham Creek to prevent commercial bait digging activity from occurring. Bait digging for personal use is permitted and indeed, is part of the Magna Carta right to fish. Commercial digging however, is illegal within the SNCO area.

Natural England consider that the collection of approximately 3lb of worms represents an amount permitted for personal use.

Dogs

National law states that dogs should be kept under control at all times, and any dog waste should be deposited in the many dog bins provided. More details are available on the Public Space Protection Order for Dog Control page.

 




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Tel: +44 (0) 1329 236100 | Mobile Text/Photo: 07860 098627
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