The Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project (hereafter: Wallasea project) is a 783 ha coastal wetland restoration initiative taking place on Wallasea Island in the county of Essex in the southeast of the UK. It involves a ‘managed realignment’ of the island’s coastal defences, i.e. the construction of new sea walls setback from the old coastal defences and subsequent breaching of the old sea walls to allow controlled tidal flooding of the land between the two sea defences, thereby creating new shoreline habitat while also improving hinterland coastal flood protection (RSPB et al., 2012).
The area of species-rich mudflats and saltmarsh in the UK has decreased vastly in recent centuries due to rising sea levels and human encroachment. Therefore, one of the goals of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was to restore and recreate coastal habitat and they were actively searching for suitable locations to realize this goal. The first episode of the Wallasea project started in 1999, when representatives of the RSPB participated in a local flood committee meeting which included a visit to the Wallasea Island, then farmland. To protect the low lying Wallasea Island and its hinterland from flooding, large investments in flood protection measures were needed, which were unlikely to be made by the sole land owner of the island. Due to its strategic location and the possession of the island by only one farmer, the RSPB realized the potential of the island to recreate coastal habitat. In the following years the RSPB maintained contact with the landowner and after a negotiation process bought Wallasea Island in 2007, the start of the second episode. The RSPB started communicating about its ideas for the island, which was originally the establishment of a regulated tidal exchange scheme controlled by sluices. The ideas were picked up by people from Crossrail, a governmental organization establishing an underground railway in London: ‘It was actually very good timing
because although they started to develop Wallasea in terms of what they wanted to do with it, they needed someone like Crossrail to make it work’ [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014].
Crossrail was searching for suitable locations as it committed itself to the beneficial re-use of excavated material resulting from their tunnelling activities. A Crossrail representative decided to visit Wallasea and contacted the RSPB to explore opportunities for cooperation. When he was convinced that Wallasea was a promising site to deposit large amounts (i.e. 3-4 million tonnes) of material, in 2007-2008 he started to lobby internally to convince other people within Crossrail about the ideas: ‘Wallasea was a great opportunity for us. It was an opportunity that
we could (...) make it fit our programme (...). That very much fitted with our whole sustainability agenda’. [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014]. In 2009 Crossrail and the RSPB reached an
agreement about this innovative cooperation. The third episode started in 2011 with the implementation of the Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project. The involvement of Crossrail meant that the original idea of a regulated tidal exchange was abandoned. Instead, managed realignment was now possible because of the large amounts of excavated material available, which was seen as a more sustainable flood defence. The RSPB framed the Wallasea project as part of her national Futurescapes’ programme; an attempt to expand the area of wildlife-friendly landscapes in the UK through establishing partnerships. They involved regulators in the project to deal with various regulatory issues and raised awareness about the project through organizing public events on site together with Crossrail. Gaining experience and generating knowledge about the innovative approach was also an important goal of the RSPB and Crossrail, as well as for a consultancy firm that was closely involved from the start of the project (ABP MER):
‘Commercially you might get more work because you did the last one, and if you did it well you might get more work’. [ABP MER representative, May 30, 2014]. In 2015, the final material
from Crossrail was delivered to Wallasea Island. The whole project will not be finished until 2025, meaning that the RSPB has to continue looking for partnerships to complete the managed realignment scheme.
We identified three distinct episodes in the Wallasea project where opportunities were created as a result of the various strategies deployed by public and private entrepreneurs (Table 2.2).
41
2
2.4.1 Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project
The Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project (hereafter: Wallasea project) is a 783 ha coastal wetland restoration initiative taking place on Wallasea Island in the county of Essex in the southeast of the UK. It involves a ‘managed realignment’ of the island’s coastal defences, i.e. the construction of new sea walls setback from the old coastal defences and subsequent breaching of the old sea walls to allow controlled tidal flooding of the land between the two sea defences, thereby creating new shoreline habitat while also improving hinterland coastal flood protection (RSPB et al., 2012).
The area of species-rich mudflats and saltmarsh in the UK has decreased vastly in recent centuries due to rising sea levels and human encroachment. Therefore, one of the goals of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was to restore and recreate coastal habitat and they were actively searching for suitable locations to realize this goal. The first episode of the Wallasea project started in 1999, when representatives of the RSPB participated in a local flood committee meeting which included a visit to the Wallasea Island, then farmland. To protect the low lying Wallasea Island and its hinterland from flooding, large investments in flood protection measures were needed, which were unlikely to be made by the sole land owner of the island. Due to its strategic location and the possession of the island by only one farmer, the RSPB realized the potential of the island to recreate coastal habitat. In the following years the RSPB maintained contact with the landowner and after a negotiation process bought Wallasea Island in 2007, the start of the second episode. The RSPB started communicating about its ideas for the island, which was originally the establishment of a regulated tidal exchange scheme controlled by sluices. The ideas were picked up by people from Crossrail, a governmental organization establishing an underground railway in London: ‘It was actually very good timing
because although they started to develop Wallasea in terms of what they wanted to do with it, they needed someone like Crossrail to make it work’ [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014].
Crossrail was searching for suitable locations as it committed itself to the beneficial re-use of excavated material resulting from their tunnelling activities. A Crossrail representative decided to visit Wallasea and contacted the RSPB to explore opportunities for cooperation. When he was convinced that Wallasea was a promising site to deposit large amounts (i.e. 3-4 million tonnes) of material, in 2007-2008 he started to lobby internally to convince other people within Crossrail about the ideas: ‘Wallasea was a great opportunity for us. It was an opportunity that
we could (...) make it fit our programme (...). That very much fitted with our whole sustainability agenda’. [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014]. In 2009 Crossrail and the RSPB reached an
agreement about this innovative cooperation. The third episode started in 2011 with the implementation of the Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project. The involvement of Crossrail meant that the original idea of a regulated tidal exchange was abandoned. Instead, managed realignment was now possible because of the large amounts of excavated material available, which was seen as a more sustainable flood defence. The RSPB framed the Wallasea project as part of her national Futurescapes’ programme; an attempt to expand the area of wildlife-friendly landscapes in the UK through establishing partnerships. They involved regulators in the project to deal with various regulatory issues and raised awareness about the project through organizing public events on site together with Crossrail. Gaining experience and generating knowledge about the innovative approach was also an important goal of the RSPB and Crossrail, as well as for a consultancy firm that was closely involved from the start of the project (ABP MER):
‘Commercially you might get more work because you did the last one, and if you did it well you might get more work’. [ABP MER representative, May 30, 2014]. In 2015, the final material
from Crossrail was delivered to Wallasea Island. The whole project will not be finished until 2025, meaning that the RSPB has to continue looking for partnerships to complete the managed realignment scheme.
We identified three distinct episodes in the Wallasea project where opportunities were created as a result of the various strategies deployed by public and private entrepreneurs (Table 2.2).
40
2.4.1 Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project
The Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project (hereafter: Wallasea project) is a 783 ha coastal wetland restoration initiative taking place on Wallasea Island in the county of Essex in the southeast of the UK. It involves a ‘managed realignment’ of the island’s coastal defences, i.e. the construction of new sea walls setback from the old coastal defences and subsequent breaching of the old sea walls to allow controlled tidal flooding of the land between the two sea defences, thereby creating new shoreline habitat while also improving hinterland coastal flood protection (RSPB et al., 2012).
The area of species-rich mudflats and saltmarsh in the UK has decreased vastly in recent centuries due to rising sea levels and human encroachment. Therefore, one of the goals of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was to restore and recreate coastal habitat and they were actively searching for suitable locations to realize this goal. The first episode of the Wallasea project started in 1999, when representatives of the RSPB participated in a local flood committee meeting which included a visit to the Wallasea Island, then farmland. To protect the low lying Wallasea Island and its hinterland from flooding, large investments in flood protection measures were needed, which were unlikely to be made by the sole land owner of the island. Due to its strategic location and the possession of the island by only one farmer, the RSPB realized the potential of the island to recreate coastal habitat. In the following years the RSPB maintained contact with the landowner and after a negotiation process bought Wallasea Island in 2007, the start of the second episode. The RSPB started communicating about its ideas for the island, which was originally the establishment of a regulated tidal exchange scheme controlled by sluices. The ideas were picked up by people from Crossrail, a governmental organization establishing an underground railway in London: ‘It was actually very good timing
because although they started to develop Wallasea in terms of what they wanted to do with it, they needed someone like Crossrail to make it work’ [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014].
Crossrail was searching for suitable locations as it committed itself to the beneficial re-use of excavated material resulting from their tunnelling activities. A Crossrail representative decided to visit Wallasea and contacted the RSPB to explore opportunities for cooperation. When he was convinced that Wallasea was a promising site to deposit large amounts (i.e. 3-4 million tonnes) of material, in 2007-2008 he started to lobby internally to convince other people within Crossrail about the ideas: ‘Wallasea was a great opportunity for us. It was an opportunity that
we could (...) make it fit our programme (...). That very much fitted with our whole sustainability agenda’. [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014]. In 2009 Crossrail and the RSPB reached an
agreement about this innovative cooperation. The third episode started in 2011 with the implementation of the Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project. The involvement of Crossrail meant that the original idea of a regulated tidal exchange was abandoned. Instead, managed realignment was now possible because of the large amounts of excavated material available, which was seen as a more sustainable flood defence. The RSPB framed the Wallasea project as part of her national Futurescapes’ programme; an attempt to expand the area of wildlife-friendly landscapes in the UK through establishing partnerships. They involved regulators in the project to deal with various regulatory issues and raised awareness about the project through organizing public events on site together with Crossrail. Gaining experience and generating knowledge about the innovative approach was also an important goal of the RSPB and Crossrail, as well as for a consultancy firm that was closely involved from the start of the project (ABP MER):
‘Commercially you might get more work because you did the last one, and if you did it well you might get more work’. [ABP MER representative, May 30, 2014]. In 2015, the final material
from Crossrail was delivered to Wallasea Island. The whole project will not be finished until 2025, meaning that the RSPB has to continue looking for partnerships to complete the managed realignment scheme.
We identified three distinct episodes in the Wallasea project where opportunities were created as a result of the various strategies deployed by public and private entrepreneurs (Table 2.2).
41
2
2.4.1 Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project
The Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project (hereafter: Wallasea project) is a 783 ha coastal wetland restoration initiative taking place on Wallasea Island in the county of Essex in the southeast of the UK. It involves a ‘managed realignment’ of the island’s coastal defences, i.e. the construction of new sea walls setback from the old coastal defences and subsequent breaching of the old sea walls to allow controlled tidal flooding of the land between the two sea defences, thereby creating new shoreline habitat while also improving hinterland coastal flood protection (RSPB et al., 2012).
The area of species-rich mudflats and saltmarsh in the UK has decreased vastly in recent centuries due to rising sea levels and human encroachment. Therefore, one of the goals of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was to restore and recreate coastal habitat and they were actively searching for suitable locations to realize this goal. The first episode of the Wallasea project started in 1999, when representatives of the RSPB participated in a local flood committee meeting which included a visit to the Wallasea Island, then farmland. To protect the low lying Wallasea Island and its hinterland from flooding, large investments in flood protection measures were needed, which were unlikely to be made by the sole land owner of the island. Due to its strategic location and the possession of the island by only one farmer, the RSPB realized the potential of the island to recreate coastal habitat. In the following years the RSPB maintained contact with the landowner and after a negotiation process bought Wallasea Island in 2007, the start of the second episode. The RSPB started communicating about its ideas for the island, which was originally the establishment of a regulated tidal exchange scheme controlled by sluices. The ideas were picked up by people from Crossrail, a governmental organization establishing an underground railway in London: ‘It was actually very good timing
because although they started to develop Wallasea in terms of what they wanted to do with it, they needed someone like Crossrail to make it work’ [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014].
Crossrail was searching for suitable locations as it committed itself to the beneficial re-use of excavated material resulting from their tunnelling activities. A Crossrail representative decided to visit Wallasea and contacted the RSPB to explore opportunities for cooperation. When he was convinced that Wallasea was a promising site to deposit large amounts (i.e. 3-4 million tonnes) of material, in 2007-2008 he started to lobby internally to convince other people within Crossrail about the ideas: ‘Wallasea was a great opportunity for us. It was an opportunity that
we could (...) make it fit our programme (...). That very much fitted with our whole sustainability agenda’. [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014]. In 2009 Crossrail and the RSPB reached an
agreement about this innovative cooperation. The third episode started in 2011 with the implementation of the Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project. The involvement of Crossrail meant that the original idea of a regulated tidal exchange was abandoned. Instead, managed realignment was now possible because of the large amounts of excavated material available, which was seen as a more sustainable flood defence. The RSPB framed the Wallasea project as part of her national Futurescapes’ programme; an attempt to expand the area of wildlife-friendly landscapes in the UK through establishing partnerships. They involved regulators in the project to deal with various regulatory issues and raised awareness about the project through organizing public events on site together with Crossrail. Gaining experience and generating knowledge about the innovative approach was also an important goal of the RSPB and Crossrail, as well as for a consultancy firm that was closely involved from the start of the project (ABP MER):
‘Commercially you might get more work because you did the last one, and if you did it well you might get more work’. [ABP MER representative, May 30, 2014]. In 2015, the final material
from Crossrail was delivered to Wallasea Island. The whole project will not be finished until 2025, meaning that the RSPB has to continue looking for partnerships to complete the managed realignment scheme.
We identified three distinct episodes in the Wallasea project where opportunities were created as a result of the various strategies deployed by public and private entrepreneurs (Table 2.2).
40
2.4.1 Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project
The Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project (hereafter: Wallasea project) is a 783 ha coastal wetland restoration initiative taking place on Wallasea Island in the county of Essex in the southeast of the UK. It involves a ‘managed realignment’ of the island’s coastal defences, i.e. the construction of new sea walls setback from the old coastal defences and subsequent breaching of the old sea walls to allow controlled tidal flooding of the land between the two sea defences, thereby creating new shoreline habitat while also improving hinterland coastal flood protection (RSPB et al., 2012).
The area of species-rich mudflats and saltmarsh in the UK has decreased vastly in recent centuries due to rising sea levels and human encroachment. Therefore, one of the goals of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was to restore and recreate coastal habitat and they were actively searching for suitable locations to realize this goal. The first episode of the Wallasea project started in 1999, when representatives of the RSPB participated in a local flood committee meeting which included a visit to the Wallasea Island, then farmland. To protect the low lying Wallasea Island and its hinterland from flooding, large investments in flood protection measures were needed, which were unlikely to be made by the sole land owner of the island. Due to its strategic location and the possession of the island by only one farmer, the RSPB realized the potential of the island to recreate coastal habitat. In the following years the RSPB maintained contact with the landowner and after a negotiation process bought Wallasea Island in 2007, the start of the second episode. The RSPB started communicating about its ideas for the island, which was originally the establishment of a regulated tidal exchange scheme controlled by sluices. The ideas were picked up by people from Crossrail, a governmental organization establishing an underground railway in London: ‘It was actually very good timing
because although they started to develop Wallasea in terms of what they wanted to do with it, they needed someone like Crossrail to make it work’ [Crossrail representative, June 13, 2014].
Crossrail was searching for suitable locations as it committed itself to the beneficial re-use of excavated material resulting from their tunnelling activities. A Crossrail representative decided