Campaign group Save Lymington and Keyhaven urges New Forest National Park Authority to challenge Environment Agency over Hurst Spit to Lymington Strategy

A CAMPAIGN group has urged the national park authority to challenge Environment Agency plans which could see Hurst Spit abandoned and a large section of Lymington’s sea wall rolled back.

As reported, the Environment Agency is drawing up a 100-year plan that will dictate how the coastline is managed between the spit and Lymington. However, a proposal that could spell the end of maintenance at Hurst Spit has been strongly opposed by local sailing organisations and businesses.

Campaign group Save Lymington and Keyhaven (SLAK) was formed to oppose the draft plans, with a membership including the Royal Lymington, Lymington Town, Hurst Castle, Keyhaven Yacht and sailing clubs, Wightlink ferry, Lymington RNLI, Lymington Harbour Advisory Committee, the Lymington Society, Lymington Yacht Haven, Lymington Marina and Berthon Boat Company as well as Meyrick Estate which owns Keyhaven Harbour.

Speaking on behalf of Slak, Berthon Boat Company director Dominic May described the Environment Agency’s proposals for Hurst Spit, combined with the construction of a new wall inland seawall near Lymington, as “mad” and “extremely dangerous”.

He told a meeting of the NPA: “I consider this proposal to be an extreme danger to both Keyhaven and Lymington.

“Allowing Hurst Spit to breach, plus the destruction of the sea wall to Oxey, will allow south-westerly wave action to roll directly into the Lymington River.

“It will accelerate the decline of the mud flats from Keyhaven in the west to Thorns Beach in the east. The Lymington River channel will silt up, reducing depth, restricting the size of boats which can navigate upstream. Beam-sea wave action will stop the safe navigation of the Lymington River in the prevailing south westerly wind.”

Mr May went on to claim the EA strategy had been developed with “no regard or consideration” of the “important maritime activity of the Lymington River” or for local employment and ferry links to the Isle of Wight.

“The Lymington River provides the economic foundation of a successful and thriving local community,” said Mr May, adding: “This will be destroyed if the Environment Agency’s irrational proposals are allowed to proceed.”

Urging the NPA to join SLAK in opposing the draft proposals, Mr May declared: “A perfectly sensible alternative is to maintain Hurst Spit, and restore the line of the existing mud flats on the Solent side of the sea wall using geo-textile tubes and dredged mud.”

NPA policy and conservation manager, David Illsley, said the authority “understands” the rationale behind the Environment Agency’s emerging proposals.

He explained: “The Environment Agency is leading a project looking at the long-term future of the stretch of coastline between Hurst Spit and Lymington in response to climate change and sea-level rise. The New Forest National Park is one of a wide range of stakeholders that are being actively engaged in the project.

“This stretch of the New Forest’s coastline lies within the designated national park and where the authority is the local planning authority. The national park authority is represented on the Stakeholder Advisory Group that is feeding into the project, alongside more than 20 other organisations and local bodies.”

He added: “We understand the rationale behind the Environment Agency’s emerging proposals for the long-term future of this stretch of coastline. The Environment Agency published further clarification on the proposals for Hurst Spit in December 2024 and the national park authority has not objected to these proposals.”

Claire Francis, the EA’s southern coastal risk manager, has previously told the A&T the authority would continue listening to local concerns, and the strategy is being developed to give the EA the “best opportunity to manage climate change”.