Sunderland's doing it, Hartlepool's onto it, South Tyneside sorting it and Redcar is racing to catch up.This week with it being the school holidays and for a while bright and sunny, we codgers met in Astley Park for our regular chat as some of us have sitting duties to perform, either kids or pets or in two cases both..
The topic quickly got round to what's happening on the regional local government front as we had agreed previously not to debate the national picture as it seems to be getting brighter each day through the political shift at Westminster.
A few of us had noticed another spread in the Northern Echo about saving our quickly eroding regional coastline through the use of that long lost natural resource, the European Oyster which it's expected by environmentalists to become residentially homed in the Tees estuary and use its filtration system to clean up years and years of polluted waterway as well as protect the southern part of the regions beaches from further erosion.
A little while ago, Hartlepool announced their oyster nursery project to help build up oyster numbers along with their long term aim to aid the larger Teesside project populate their much needed now started plan to help to clean up and protect their very busy once heavily polluted estuary.
Moving northwards up the coast, in Sunderland they began a nursery a few years ago and have expanded the project to include specially designed oyster blocks near Whitburn to begin the formation of a much larger self sustaining reef to clean and protect a large section of coastline.
These projects may not be the final answer to much speeding erosion of land and rising sea waters may simply ignore them but evidence from other parts of the globe clearly show that the re-establishment of oyster beds can and does make a difference.
That said we codgers are more interested in what can be done to protect Northumberland’s dwindling shorelines with noticeable erosion taking place from Lynemouth bay to Blyth beach with particularly high levels of beach scouring taking place at both Cambois and Lynemouth bay with footpaths at both sites in danger of disappearing without some help.
Newbiggin by the Sea was protected with a well designed groin trapping sand from the longshore drift and rebuilding the beach over the last almost three decades but costs to save other sites using similar methodology may be prohibitive and protection using shellfish seems to be a secondary option and a small trial was announced with a test undertaken at Blyth marina to start a small test nursery.
One of the most exposed areas sits just outside of Newbiggin by the Sea’s groin, the long term erosion at the side of St. Bartholomew's Church at Newbiggin point the erosion has now allowed its churchyard to flood. It was reported on social media that Labour Councillor Liz Simpson was in contact with environmentalists who were hoping to reintroduce limpets and whelks back to the rocks at the point to help slow the erosion and Councillors since she was deposed from her County Council seat seem to have lost interest in the scheme failing locals who have registered their displeasure and the erosion problems that have beset their area.
Blyth has a site that is home to 13 oyster nurseries and the Port of Blyth authority have boasted about the number of young oysters that will drift out to populate areas surrounding the Port. Not much evidence has been shown in the locale to show the sites these creatures have chosen to make their home and concerned folk need Northumberland County Council must concentrate efforts and like other regional partners must show that erosion by the sea is a prime interest for a council with such a long coastal fishing and sailing history and is now promoting long distance walking and cycling routes along our shoreline and trying to establish better protection using shellfish to help rebuild south east Northumberland’s diminishing coastline.
The council and its planners may be using the long promised inclusion of two additional offshore windfarms to be sites near Lynemouth and North Tyneside before embarking on greater protection but as it seems other projects may have overtaken the small windfarms idea as huge areas of the north sea are being filled with hard working windfarms. If that is so the Council has no excuse to begin to save our shorelines and make a real attempt at showing local people that Tories can and do care about local people from the counties south-east and that only building two cinemas in a decade won't save our shorelines.
Notes:
Oysters return to Middlesbrough after 100 years thanks to 'hotel' | The Northern Echo https://share.google/
The Wild Oysters Project: Tyne & Wear - Groundwork https://share.google/
Marine Environment - Port of Blyth | Leading UK Offshore Energy Support Base https://share.google/
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