“All planned changes will be done in a sympathetic manner, keeping Sidmouth’s historic architectural and natural beauty in mind.” [District Council press release]
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The news just in is that the Sidmouth and East Beach Beach Management Plan has been fully assured and approved for funding by the Environment Agency.
Along with the contributions pledged by other groups, there is now the funding to proceed with detailed modelling, design, and consultation – and, crucially, construction (pending a successful planning application) – of the agreed-to scheme, without any further external funding approval needed.
It is understood that the District Council and its partners have been working hard behind the scenes – and now have a fully approved Outline Business Case. They are seeking to appoint a consultant soon to help refine the scope under development – including potentially the detailed modelling, consultation and design.
And in January, the Advisory Group will be meeting to consider this next step – as outlined in the official press announcement out today, stating that funding has been confirmed for improved coastal defences in Sidmouth.
The Advisory Group last met up in March of this year – which was followed by the announcement that a massive step forward for Sidmouth coastal protection had been achieved – in the form of a the Draft Outline Business Case, as reported by the VGS as member of the BMP’s Advisory Group.
The VGS will be attending the next meeting in January – and will be reporting back.
Finally, this is a diagram of the proposed BMP – aka Option 6 – rather than the one illustrating today’s press release:
Beach Management Plan: the Draft Outline Business Case – Vision Group for Sidmouth
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