Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme

Overview

This page provides information about the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme (OtSMRS).  We have organised it to include background information (next section, below recent news and events) and proposals developed prior to obtaining planning consent (lower down this page, under the heading ‘Earlier proposals for the scheme’).  These both describe the development of the scheme and how it has progressed since it was first conceived.

OtSMRS is a joint initiative developed by the Environment Agency (EA) and Associated British Ports (ABP). Using a managed realignment approach we plan to create new habitats for wildlife on the north bank of the Humber Estuary, near Welwick and Skeffling, to replace habitat losses in other parts of the estuary. In total, the project aims to create 175 hectares of intertidal habitat (mudflats and saltmarsh) and 75 hectares of ‘wet grassland’. 

 

Recent news and events:

Winter Update

Our contractors have now finished working in the area for this year. Having completed the new embankment, they removed the site compound off Weeton Lane and have returned it back to agricultural land.  They continued to work on the new pumping station at Skeffling until the end of October and finished off enabling works for the Winestead Outstray pumping station as well.  They will be back in the spring to continue work on both pumping stations and also to review the condition of the breach in the old embankment.  If more work is needed to be done to widen it, to allow the intertidal area to function fully, then this will be carried out in next year's construction season.  We will be monitoring the site over the winter months to see if the breach changes or stabilises in its current state.  

Public drop-in, October 2024

We held a successful public drop-in at Welwick Parish Hall in October, with over 40 visitors joining us for the afternoon.  This gave us a chance to provide an update on work completed this year and explain our plans for next year.  We showed recent drone footage and brought lots of information about the new pumping stations at Skeffling and Winestead Outstray.  Staff from the Environment Agency, JBA Bentley and Assoicated British Ports were on hand to answer questions and talk with visitors.

You can read about the work done during this construction season in the September project newsletter.

“Holderness Histories; A flight through time”, May and June 2024

This exhibition was held at Hedon Museum  If you missed it, you can download the accompanying exhibition booklet here

Construction restarted in spring this year, March 2024

In February our contractors JBA Bentley returned to site and began preparing for what was intended to be the final season of construction.  You can read more about our plans for this year in the Spring 2024 newsletter.

Skeffling and Winestead Pumping Stations

Our planning application for a new pumping station for Skeffling was approved in March and work on this started immediately.  This has resulted in the closure of the path along the old embankment.  We have put a diversion in place to enable visitors to the site to continue walking eastwards from the new embankment to connect with the path beyond Skeffling pumping station towards Easington and Spurn Head.  The diversion is shown on the map below as a green dotted line.

At the end of September the planning application for Winestead Pumping Station was finally approved by ERYC.  We have started some enabling work for this project but there are no diversions or access restrictions in this area at the moment.

A new name for the site: 'The Outstrays' 

In response to our request for ideas for a new name for the site, the Outstray (Wildlife Recording) Group put forward ‘The Outstrays’ Reserve, South Holderness’. They also suggested names for other parts of the site, to help people navigate around it, based on local terminology for coastal landforms. You can read their proposal in full here.

News from earlier in the year:

Plans for new interpretation boards

We have developed ideas for a set of interpretation boards for the site, to be installed just before the end of construction this year.  You can read about these in this document:  Skeffling interpretation board content.  

Fire at Outstrays Farm

In February one of the barns at Outstrays Farm caught fire. Thankfully no animals or humans were hurt in this incident but the site needs to be made safe and cleaned up.  We are asking members of the public to keep away from the farm whilst this work is carried out.  

 

General information about the scheme

What is ‘managed realignment’?

‘Managed realignment’ means altering (realigning) the location of existing flood defences.  In the case of OtSMRS, this involves building a new embankment further inland and then breaching the old embankment so that sea water can enter through the breach during high tides to create new intertidal habitats.

 

The need for compensatory habitat

The Humber Estuary is recognised as one of the most important estuaries for wildlife in Europe and has been designated as a site of nature conservation under both national and international legislation.

Under UK law, any habitat lost in the estuary as a result of human interventions must be replaced with compensatory habitat. In the case of the Environment Agency, this loss of habitat has been an inevitable consequence of building new flood defences in Hull and elsewhere around the estuary which, along with rising sea levels leads to a process known as ‘coastal squeeze’ (for a more detailed description of this, read the section at the bottom of this page on what was proposed in our earlier plans).  For Associated British Ports, the expansion and development of new port facilities around the estuary also rsesult in habitat loss. 

 

What types of habitat will be created

The project will create new areas of intertidal mudflats and saltmarsh on the estuary, along the coastline to the south of the villages of Welwick, Weeton and Skeffling. These play a vital role in the functioning of the estuary’s ecosystem. They also provide food for a variety of rare and endangered bird species found within the estuary such as golden plovers, avocets and curlew.  Some bird species use the estuary as a resting point when migrating whilst others stop and overwinter on the Humber, coming from as far away as Greenland and other parts of the Arctic. 

Photo: Mudflats revealed at low tide on the Humber Estuary near Skeffling

As part of the scheme, we also intend to create other types of habitat on the site such as wet grassland and high tide roosting sites for birds.  These will provide a mosaic of different conditions to support a wider range of species including mammals and insects.

Once the site is built, we anticipate that it will be managed as a reserve for wildlife.   This will ensure that the unique environment of the Humber Estuary is preserved and protected for future generations. The need for this is highlighted and further explained in the Humber Flood Risk Management Strategy (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/308281/Humber_Strategy_Summary.pdf).

 

Other benefits from the scheme

In addition to habitat creation, the scheme offers several other benefits, including:

• improved flood protection for residents in the Welwick, Weeton, Patrington Haven and Skeffling areas;
• new pumping stations built at Skeffling and Winestead;  
• enabling future improvements in flood protection in the Humber Estuary, benefiting 400,000 residents living in the Humber flood plain
• supporting economic development of the Humber’s ports;  
• better access and recreational facilities for visitors to the site;
• increased archaeological knowledge of the site, from surveys carried out before construction started;  

 

Current plans for the OtSMRS

Initial plans for the scheme involved creating compensatory habitat in two main areas on either side of Winestead Drain, labelled East and West on the map above.  In 2020 we reviewed these and made some changes.  The most significant of these has been to prioritise habitat creation on the eastern side, including the area of wet grassland habitat (labelled West 2).  We have therefore paused work on the western side until a later date.  You can find out more about this by downloading our February 2021 briefing.

 

A timetable for construction

Building the scheme is a long and complicated process, lasting approximately four years with pauses in the winter months when environmental restrictions prevent construction taking place.

The first phase of the project started in the summer of 2021.  Our contractors, JBA Bentley, carried out ground investigations and archaeological surveys of the area in order to inform the detailed design of the scheme.  They also started constructing the area of ‘wet grassland’ habitat, north of Winestead Drain.

Photo: A vehicle conducting surveys along the 'footprint' of the new embankment

During the summer of 2022 our contractors started building the new embankment and installed a drainage network on the eastern side. They also continued work on the area of wet grassland habitat on the western side of the scheme. 

During the 2023 construction season, work on the embankment was almost completed and a bowl excavated in the central area where the new habitats will form.  The final stages of work in the area of wet grassland habitat were also carried out.

In 2024 we will make the breach, removing a section of the old embankment and allowing seawater to enter the land at high tides. This will create a new creek system,  with areas of intertidal mudflats and saltmarsh starting to form between the old and new embankments.

 

Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP)

In order to minimise impacts on local residents during the construction phase, we have drawn up traffic management plans for moving vehicles, materials and people to and from the site. You can find a summary of the plan at the bottom of this page.  

Photo: Bulldozers brought in to prepare land for the site compound

 

 

Earlier proposals for the scheme

The information below summarises earlier proposals for the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme, up to August 2019 when planning consent for the scheme was approved by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.   We have kept this part of the page to provide a record of how the scheme has developed and changed over time.

Please take a few minutes to watch our video which explains what the original project is about:

 

What was proposed in 2019:

The Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme is a joint initiative proposed by the Environment Agency (EA) and Associated British Ports (ABP) to create 400 hectares (9,600 acres) of new mudflats and saltmarsh on the north bank of the Humber estuary, near Skeffling.  ‘Managed realignment’ means altering the location of existing flood defences.  In the case of Skeffling, this involves moving the embankment further inland to establish a new line of defence and then breaching the old embankment so that sea water can enter through the breach to facilitate the creation of intertidal habitat.

   Plan of the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme

The site between Outstrays and Skeffling was chosen for a managed realignment scheme because the land levels are suitable.  It is divided into three distinct areas, shown on the map above:

• the western side (from Hawkins Point to Winestead pumping station, labelled as West 1);
• a middle area of wet grassland habitat (above high tide levels and included in the scheme to increase the range of habitats on the site and provide the right conditions for rare species, labelled as West 2);
• and the eastern side, extending up to Skeffling pumping station (labelled as East 1, 2 and 3).

The Humber Estuary is recognised as one of the most important estuaries for wildlife in Europe and has been designated as a site of nature conservation under both national and international legislation. Under the Habitats Directive (2010), the Environment Agency and Associated British Ports are legally obliged to replace any habitat lost as a result of our interventions in the estuary, such as the expansion of port facilities, and by a process called ‘coastal squeeze’.  This occurs where the high water mark is fixed by a flood defence structure such as a wall and the low water mark moves landwards as the sea level rises, leading to a loss of intertidal habitat. The figure below illustrates this process.

Creating new areas of habitat to compensate for those lost will ensure that the unique environment of the Humber estuary is preserved and protected for future populations of wildlife and people.  The need for this is highlighted and further explained in the Humber Flood Risk Management Strategy

Habitat creation

The scheme will create new areas of saltmarsh and mudflat. These will provide habitats and food for a variety of bird species found within the estuary such as golden plovers, turnstones, ringed plover, lapwing, teal, avocets and curlew.  Some of these species use the estuary as a resting point whilst migrating and others stop and overwinter on the Humber. They come from northern locations such as Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland and the Arctic.

Curlew

Other types of habitat (wet grassland and high tide roosting sites) will also be created on the site to provide a mosaic of different conditions supporting populations of redshank, knot and dunlin. Once the site is built, we hope that the area will be managed as a Local Nature Reserve.  

 

Redshank (photo provided by PJ Willoughby)

 

Turnstones

Wider scheme benefits

In addition to creating new habitats for wildlife, the scheme offers other benefits.  These include:

• improved flood protection for residents in the Welwick, Weeton and Skeffling areas;
• better access and facilities for recreational visits to the new nature reserve;
• opportunities to improve drainage on adjacent agricultural land;
• opportunities for industrial growth and development in the ports around the Humber estuary, creating jobs and economic prosperity in East Yorkshire;
• enabling improvements in flood protection to be built in Hull and other urban centres, benefiting 400,000 residents living in the Humber flood plain.

Horse riders on the embankment

 

The view along the embankment towards Hawkins Point

The design process

The design for the scheme has been developed over several years. In order to inform this process, we have carried out a range of investigations including: 

• Tidal modelling – studying how the water will move onto and around the site once the scheme is built; 
• Archaeology – investigating and recording any features of historical interest on the site;
• Environmental investigations – to understand what animals and plants are found in the area and what measures we need to put in place to protect them or relocate them whilst the scheme is being built;
• Ground conditions – we have undertaken tests within the site area to understand what we are building on and to establish whether we can use material found within the site rather than importing materials from outside.

Involving local communities

Whilst developing the designs for the scheme, we have engaged with many different people and organisations in the area to provide them with up-to-date information and give everyone an opportunity to contribute their views.

Over the past few years we have listened to and considered ideas and suggestions from the public and local organisations on ways to improve the design of the scheme. As well as producing newsletters to report on progress with the scheme, we have held regular events in the area, including Q&A style ‘surgeries’ and public ‘drop-ins’.  These have given us the opportunity to provide updates on our plans, listen to the views of residents and answer questions. We have subsequently taken on board feedback from these public sessions and used this information to review and reshape our plans.

Displays in Welwick Village Hall in 2017

In the summer of 2017, we organised workshops to give residents and local groups a chance to comment on our early designs and suggest ways in which the scheme could be enhanced.

A particular concern highlighted by residents was the location of public access routes in the new scheme. In the original design for the eastern side of the scheme, the path for walkers and horse riders ran along the bottom of the (inner) ‘toe’ side of the new embankment. This route was chosen to minimise disturbance to bird populations but would have resulted in a loss of views across the estuary for human visitors. To resolve this problem, we sought advice from a wide range of experts and conservation bodies.  We then redesigned access routes to balance the demands for conservation and public access.  The result was that over 70% of the new route now follows the top of the embankment.  The path only goes down onto the ‘toe’ side where it is near to sensitive areas for wildlife (shown on the map below). It will be designated as a bridleway and surfaced in key places to ensure disabled visitors can access the site. It will also be fenced so that dog owners can let their dogs off the lead without disturbing birds.

Proposed access routes on the site

In March 2019 we submitted two separate planning applications for the scheme to East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC), one for the west side and one for the east. In August that year both of these planning applications (one for the eastern side and the other for the west) were approved by ERYC’s Planning Committee. This will enable us to create an important mixture of habitat for birds and other wildlife, helping maintain the unique nature of the Humber Estuary.  It is also great news for communities along the north bank of the Humber estuary at risk of flooding because the compensatory habitat created by the scheme will allow further flood alleviation schemes to be built.

Prior to submiting these applications, we conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and presented the results from this in an Environmental Statement (ES). This describes all the environmental impacts likely to result from the scheme during construction and after it is completed. It also includes mitigation measures, setting out how we will avoid or minimise some of the possible impacts resulting from construction of the scheme.  The Environmental Statement was submitted along with our planning applications to ERYC.  A Non-Technical Summary of the Environmental Statement can be accessed here. 

Before the planning applications were submitted, we held a series of public events in the area in February.  These gave residents and other interested organisations the chance to see our designs for the project and to ask questions or clarify details. 

We will continue to communicate with local residents, interested organisations and parish councils as the project progresses. You can find a copy of our April 2020 newsletter here:

If you would like to receive these in future, please email us at Welwick.Skeffling@environment-agency.gov.uk and we will add your email address to the list. Or you can contact us by phone, using the contact details given below.

In October 2019 we held a workshop with interested local organisations to explore ideas for the design of an area of terrestrial habitat, which is part of the scheme  (also known as 'wet grassland', shown as West 2 on the map at the top of this page).  From this we gathered lots of information which we have used to develop the design of this area in more detail.  This plan has been submitted to East Riding of Yorkshire Council for approval before work begins on the scheme.

 

Discussion with JBA Bentley's ecologist during the terrestrial habitat workshop held in Welwick Village Hall

When will work start on the scheme?

Building the scheme is likely to be a long and complicated process, lasting two to three years.  As a result of delays during 2020 the first phase of construction will start in the spring of 2021.   We envisage the project will be completed by the autumn of 2023.

We want to ensure that any impacts on local residents from the construction phase are kept to a minimum.  So we will work closely with East Riding of Yorkshire Council to draw up a traffic plan for moving vehicles, materials and people to and from the site; this is one of the conditions for planning consent. We will also make sure that communication channels remain open once work starts on site and that residents and local organisations can pass on any issues or concerns arising during the construction phase.

Project timeline:

Contact us:

If you want to get in touch with the project team you can contact us by email at:  Welwick.Skeffling@environment-agency.gov.uk

Or phone our Natiional Customer Contact Centre on 03708 506506 and ask for:         

• Nikky Wilson, Engagement Specialist, or      
• Marie-Claire Spicer, Project Manager