to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
Whilst the approval of plans to build an Energy Reclamation Facility on Portland has been a blow for many local people (read our blog on this for our reaction), another conservation issue on Portland has been making the news recently. Dorset Council are in the early phases of designing a scheme to strengthen and protect the Chesil Cove sea wall that was originally built in the 1960s. Failure of this wall could destabilise the large landslide behind it and subsequently threaten the main road used to access the top of the island. The outline proposal includes putting rock armour in front of the wall, and some people have expressed fears that this could negatively affect the beach. But what could it mean for the World Heritage Site?
A BBC news report referred to the proposed scheme as ‘work to protect part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site’, but this of course is not the case. The Jurassic Coast depends upon unconstrained natural processes, and in order to protect its World Heritage Status we must embrace the changes that come with erosion. At Chesil Cove that would ideally mean letting everything return to a more natural state i.e. no coastal defences, but that is not realistic when the people of Portland depend on that sea wall and the infrastructure it helps to sustain. So this is one of those occasions where compromise is necessary. It is also important to remember that the sea wall at Chesil Cove was already there when the World Heritage Site was inscribed, so work to strengthen it should not be seen as a new intervention into what is otherwise a totally natural environment.
There are many stages to go through before construction begins, and Dorset Council are already gathering views and comments as part of the process. The Jurassic Coast Trust are being actively consulted and will continue to represent the interests of the World Heritage Site as the designs continue to be refined.
You can learn more about the project here
https://www.dorsetcoast.com/project/chesil-cove-curved-seawall/
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