Consultation
Approach to consultation for the Roach and Crouch Flood Management Strategy
During development of the Strategy, consultation was undertaken with a range of organisations with interests in nature conservation, wildfowling, farming, fishing, sailing, tourism and recreation, local authorities and individual stakeholders/landowners, in addition to members of the public. Consultation was undertaken to provide a background to the strategy, identify key stakeholders and provide an opportunity for comment and involvement in the decision-making process.

The consultation and information dissemination process is outlined in Table 1 below.

In September 2003, public exhibitions were held at Rochford, Burnham-on-Crouch and Battlesbridge to present a summary of the preferred strategy and to provide an opportunity for stakeholders and members of the public to discuss any issues. In addition, stakeholder meetings were held in September with local authorities, harbour users, landowners and conservation organisations. The preferred management options figures identify the most significant short-term changes in the vicinity of Great Wakering and therefore a public consultation meeting was held in December 2003 to address specific public queries.

The consultation stage of the Strategy has now come to an end and we would like to thank all public participants and stakeholders for your valuable comments.

Since the last public consultation meeting, we have been addressing the issues that were raised during the consultation process, meeting with key stakeholders and developing the final flood management strategy document for internal approval by the Environment Agency.

The final strategy will be reviewed by stakeholders, which will be followed by public exhibitions to provide the public with the opportunity to see and discuss the final strategy flood management options.

The Strategy will be reviewed on a 5-yearly basis during which time stakeholders and the public will be consulted again and more comprehensive consultation exercises will be carried out for specific schemes.

Key Issues
The key issues raised during the development of the Strategy and addressed within the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) include:

• preservation of designated nature conservation sites and protected species/habitats;
• impact on recreational activities in the Strategy study area (particularly water-related leisure), and public rights of way;
• maintaining the integrity of the railway line and associated infrastructure and lifeboat operations within the study area.
• effect on nationally important nursery grounds for commercial and non-commercial fish species;
• impact on archaeological features;
• risk of coastal squeeze, and concerns of land sinkage and sea level rise; and
• impact on agricultural land and farmers, and properties.

Several other issues raised by stakeholders at the public exhibitions and meetings held in September and December 2003 are listed below:

• the land acquisition process;
• the procedures for landowners maintaining their own flood defences;
• sediment losses from the estuary complex due to dredging activity and siltation of the estuary complex;
• potential use of landfill material and dredged material for maintaining/improving the defences;
• land blight;
• flooding risk to properties; and
• obligations under the Habitats Directive.

These issues will be addressed in the final Strategy report or considered in greater detail at the scheme appraisal stage.

Answers to some of the key issues listed above can be found on the Frequently Asked Questions and Useful Links webpages.

Have Your Say
Although each estuary will be considered separately, a consistent approach will be adopted in each case. In order to provide guidance and information about local issues, Consultation Groups will be established for each of the estuary studies. In addition to these groups, all those with an interest in the estuaries will have an opportunity to get involved.

If you wish to register an interest or comment on the development of the Essex Estuary Flood Management Strategies please click here