District Dispatch - 8 April 2025

The money has been awarded by the Environment Agency after the council's coastal engineering service, known as Coastal Partners, carried out early feasibility work.

The current defences are now nearing the end of their life and although a lot of work has been carried out over the years to help prolong them, a long-term solution is now a priority. Following the feasibility work, a detailed business case was submitted to the Environment Agency which secured funding for the current phase of research and design. 

The money is vital in order to help us investigate options to reduce the risk of coastal flooding and erosion along the frontage. Due to climate change, we are seeing more extreme weather events, which could impact on the town's sea defences and increase the risk of flooding, which is why it is so important that we plan and prepare. Although it is not one of the council's statutory duties, managing future coastal flooding and erosion is a key priority for us and we have permissive powers to undertake such works.

The coastal defences for Selsey involve a number of elements, including seawalls, rock revetments, groynes and beach. Over the last decade, the council has undertaken a very successful programme of beach management through shingle replenishment and groyne enhancement, and Environment Agency funding is currently in place to continue these works until March 2026. This has helped protect the aging seawalls from major storms and protected local properties.

The funding means we can press ahead and come up with options and designs that will enable us to bid for further funding to move forward with a scheme. However, there will be a significant funding gap for the next stage, and we are looking at every option to close this, including contacting the Environment Agency to highlight funding issues. We'll also be working with other partners and the community on funding options for a long-term solution because as things stand, additional funding is necessary to unlock the government grant. Huge amounts of work will need to take place to design and fund the scheme. If successful and all goes to plan, we anticipate that construction work would start approximately six years from now.

Coastal Partners is managing the project, and a principal engineering consultant has been appointed to lead the options appraisal and outline design work. During this stage of establishing what is practicable for the new defences, it is important that we understand and take into the consideration the views of our communities. This a key element of the project.

Our experts are holding a series of public events to explain more about the work that we are delivering, and to provide an opportunity to talk to you about your thoughts. They will be holding the events in The Selsey Centre, Manor Road, Chichester, PO20 0SE on Thursday 24 April from 10am until 2pm; Friday 25 April from 2pm until 7pm; and Saturday 26 April from 10am until 2pm. Please drop in at any time to find out more about the project and the history of coastal defences in Selsey.

To keep in touch with the latest news, please sign up to our monthly email newsletter. You can also sign up to the dedicated project newsletter on the coastal partners website (opens new window).

Best wishes

Cllr Jonathan Brown

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environmental Strategy at Chichester District Council