A3055 proposals threaten water supplies and wildlife

Press Release: February 9th 2005

As the battle to save the Isle of Wight Undercliff's unique landscape and nature reserves from a damaging road scheme enters a crucial phase, it has emerged that an important groundwater source at St Lawrence is also threatened by the scheme.

The conflict of interests between Council contractors High-Point Rendel and stakeholders with an interest in water resources, including property owners, could result in legal challenges, according to analysis of the proposals by an independent expert.

In a submission* this week to the Government Office for the South East appealing for a Public Inquiry, a detailed critique of the scheme by Dr Paul K Hatchwell, an environmental resources, biodiversity and climate change specialist, has highlighted serious concerns over the impact of proposed compression pumping operations on the St Lawrence aquifer.

It points out that the pumping, intended to stabilise the cliffs by greatly lowering the water table, will seriously reduce the flow of the St Lawrence aquifer, and could affect its quality. Under the EU Water Framework Directive, which came into force in the UK at the end of last year, the Environment Agency must now register protected water resources and monitor them, in preparation for a publicly agreed management plan from 2008. The regulations also make it clear that developments need to take into account effects on protected natural areas where water is important.

The critique points out that it will be impossible to comply with monitoring requirements if the scheme affects the quality and quantity of water before monitoring has seriously begun, and that the project will deprive residents of their right to determine the future of their own water resources in a management plan.    

There is also concern that lowering the water table will damage wetland areas within the nature reserves, and affect both quality and quantity of water entering protected areas downslope, including a Special Area of Conservation.

Property owners are also starting to question whether lower water tables could cause shrinkage, settlement and other strains on slopes near the road scheme as far as St Lawrence. The critique points to Planning Policy Guidance (PPG14) which warns that: "The most common subsidence trigger involves water flow through and around cavities and the lowering of the water table to allow water to percolate downwards through a previously saturated feature."   

The submission says "it is well known that the preferred option among water engineers would be to institute measures such as improving collection of run-off and sewerage, yet these alternatives are ignored". 

In order to begin pumping, the developers will need to ensure they get a water abstraction licence, but with so many unresolved concerns among interested parties it is not clear whether this will be forthcoming.

The submission backs many of the concerns already expressed by objectors, now organised into an Undercliff Defence Committee, and highlights a series of unresolved environmental and legal issues. A key concern is that the Undercliff woodlands within the Compton Chine to Steephill Cove SSSI will be divorced from the Undercliff, and fragmented, reducing wildlife biodiversity, while tree-thinning and drainage will desiccate and change wider areas.   

It says these issues can only be adequately addressed by more open and detailed debate at a Public Inquiry, rather than by a Development Control Committee decision by the Isle of Wight Council on February 15th, where objectors will have only minutes to make their case, and little opportunity for discussion.  

The submission also points out that where key nature conservation sites are affected, in this case a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area of Conservation, and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, European and English law require that the Secretary of State and in some cases the European Commission intervene. 

It points out that there has been no serious discussion of alternatives, which must take place under European and English law where priority wildlife habitats and species are threatened by a damaging scheme. The submission also notes that the case for an overriding public interest, the only way such a scheme can be approved by the Secretary of State, is far from proven. Apart from failure to discuss alternatives, the supposed main beneficiary, Niton Parish Council, has objected, and is particularly concerned over large-scale tree felling.

It concludes that "the case for "imperative reasons of overriding public interest" or "reasons relating to human health, public safety or beneficial consequences of primary importance to overriding public interest" has not been made convincingly".

Both the submission and the Undercliff Defence Committee argue that a reinstatement of the existing road after landslips would be far less damaging and less costly than the scheme, initially estimated at GBP13m, which they say will be marginal, improving stability by a minimum of only 10% if all goes to plan. 

The submission concludes that the project is likely to provide poor value for money, seriously and needlessly damaging wildlife and the landscape of the Undercliff. It notes that the Environmental Statement, prepared by the same contractors as are anticipated to win the engineering contract, plays down the impact of the scheme on threatened species and habitats, and of works such as rock-bolting and wire-netting of the famous cliffs near Niton.

 *RE: Planning Application for Stabilisation and Realignment of  A3055 between St Lawrence and Niton, Isle of Wight (TCP/26467/A - P/01467/04 & TCP/26467/ - P/01465/04):

For further information contact: 

Dr Paul K Hatchwell (01983) 855458 (submission)

Barbara Wright (01983) 730455, John Nash (01983) 855458: Undercliff Defence Committee

  Home     Contact UDC: +44(0)1983 730455;  +44(0)1983 856688   Email: post@undercliff.org