The next meeting will be on Thursday 26 March at 6.30pm in the New Room, Orford Town Hall. Members of the public are welcome

The Alde & Ore Estuary Plan. 

EXTRACT  showing pages 12 and 13 on the strategic aims and objectives  
              ( footnotes to Para 4.2 shown in (  ) and set out at end of this extract)
                                   

4.2 The strategic aims and objectives underlying the plan to achieve sustaining or enhancing this vast range of features in the estuary area, which stem from the founding constitution of the Partnership drawn up by the community and government bodies, are:

 1. To manage the estuary and adjoining land as a whole (1) so as to ensure, in so far as is reasonable, and in compliance with any mitigatory or compensatory measures set out in the sustainability appraisal, the maintenance of broadly the current configuration of the estuary and its significant contribution to the local economy, the environment, the community and the amenity value of the area, set as it is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

 2. To ensure within the management of the estuary as a whole and, in so far as is lawful and reasonably practicable, flood and river defences of a standard that will withstand overtopping without breaching during a tidal surge of a 1 in 200 year frequency given the sea level rise predicted up to the year 2050 (2). 

3. In close association (3) with the EA, to develop a rolling (4) and prioritised programme of overall works for. the estuary, including routine maintenance and minor repairs, maintaining and enhancing the current environment as far as is possible, consistent with the achievement of the above standard of flood and river defences by the year 2025.

4. To ensure that the rolling and prioritised programme of works takes fully into account the following key considerations: 

  a. Regularly updated assessments (5) of the impact on the estuary as a whole for each vulnerable section of the flood and river defences if that section were to be breached. 

  b. Priorities determined according to vulnerability, probable consequences including built or natural environmental, ecological, economic, social or cultural concerns and funding availability.

   c. Respect for the implications of Government cost benefit analyses where central Government funding may be involved and respect for local priorities where funding other than from central Government may be involved.

   d. The use, where appropriate, of local resources (6).

5. To develop a partnership approach (7) to the management of the estuary and to consult (8) locally (9) in respect of individual projects or works and with the wider local community (10) at regular intervals on more general matters.

6. To co-operate with those responsible for emergency measures, and in particular support EA and SCC in raising awareness of flood risk issues in the estuary and in promoting emergency plans with parish councils that increase community resilience.

7. The plan will be reviewed every 10 years from the date of its approval. 

Footnotes

1. This phrase means an interrelated set of river defences and not as a collection of independent ones. It echoes the phrase in Terms of Reference 1 and footnote 18 of the AOEP constitution (dated May 2013).
2. This reflects the UK Climate Projections 2009 prediction for sea level rise which means that a 1 in 200 year flood in 2050 is expected to be higher than a 1 in 200 year flood in 2012.
3. This phrase respects the overarching statutory (albeit permissive) powers of the Environment Agency.
4. In the sense of being regularly reviewed and amended as appropriate.
5. Starting with the 2011 Survey of the state of the river walls (Hawes et al) and the 2009 Crest Level Survey to include slope, width, height and other key engineering features.
6. This echoes Terms of Reference 2 a ii of the AOEP interim constitution. It suggests where appropriate the use of local labour, contractors, materials, machinery or equipment etc as well of course as local finance.
7. This echoes Guiding Principle 4a of the AOEP interim constitution.
8. This echoes Terms of Reference 3 of the AOEP interim constitution.
9. This would include, where appropriate, consulting on the basis of an individual flood cell or group of flood cells.
10. This might include having a ‘reference group’ of a very wide range of communities of interest in the estuary area with which the AOEP might wish to engage periodically for their views. 

  ( For information pages 16 and 17  show the assessment of the current state of defences) 

The full text of The Estuary Plan is available on  www.aocp.co.uk  under the heading ’The Estuary Plan’ and scroll down below ALDE AND ORE ESTUARY PLAN ANNEXE- SITUATION REPORT: SPRING 2024