
Overview
East Lindsey Council have refused the Environment Agency permission to create new intertidal habitat at Donna Nook.
In 2010, East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) refused the Environment Agency (EA) permission to create more than a square kilometre of new intertidal habitat on the south outer Humber Estuary at Donna Nook, Lincolnshire.
Unconvinced by the council's reasons given for its refusal, EA lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate. In the mean time, ELDC invited EA to re-submit their original application, which ELDC approved in June 2011.
This new habitat, which is essential for conserving the Humber's nationally and internationally important wildlife, would be created by a process called managed realignment. This involves moving the line of the flood defences inland and breaching the old defences, allowing the sea to flow in and naturally create more habitat.
Through this process of managed realignment, a square kilometre of agricultural land would be transformed into a mosaic of saltmarsh, mudflats, creeks and little islands.
Construction works began on site in May 2012 and are expected to be completed in October 2012 in readiness for a sea wall breach in Summer 2013. We are continuing to work with the EA to minimise the short-term ecological impacts of the scheme and to ensure that the long-term benefits are realised.