Consultation on Draft Strategy

Consultation on Draft Strategy Summer 2026

We are pleased to invite you to take part in the consultation on the Draft Hurst Spit to Lymington FCERM Strategy. This consultation is your opportunity to review the proposed high level approach to managing flood and coastal erosion risk along this stretch of coastline and to share your views before the Strategy is finalised. The aim is to have the Strategy approved and adopted early 2027. The Draft Strategy also indicates the projects required in order to implement the proposals. Further consultation will take place on individual projects over the coming years as and when they are implemented.

What are we consulting on?

  • The Draft Strategy sets out a long-term plan to help protect communities, the natural environment, and key infrastructure, while responding to the challenges of climate change and rising sea levels. Your feedback is essential in ensuring the Strategy reflects local priorities, knowledge, and concerns. The Draft Strategy is published alongside statutory environmental assessments including the Habitat Regulation Assessment and the Water Environment Regulations Assessment.
  • The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) evaluates the potential environmental effects of the Strategy. Its primary purpose is to ensure that environmental protection and sustainability are embedded in high-level decision-making from the outset. The SEA considers a wide range of topics, including biodiversity, coastal processes, heritage, climate, carbon, geology and soils, landscape and visual effects, material assets, and population and human health. It identifies and reports on likely environmental effects, proposes appropriate mitigation measures, and outlines how these effects will be monitored over time.

How to Take Part

The consultation is open from midday Friday 19 June to 5:00pm Friday 25 September. During this period, you can:

Why Your Views Matter

All feedback received during this consultation will be carefully considered and used to help shape the final Strategy. We are committed to an open and transparent process, and your input will play a vital role in guiding future decision-making.

To complete the consultation on the DRAFT STRATEGY visit https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/solent-and-south-downs/hurst-spit-to-lymington-strategy-consultation

To complete the consultation on the STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT visit https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/solent-and-south-downs/hurst-spit-to-lymington-sea-consultation

Supporting information

Implementation Plan

This document is the current understanding how best to implement the Strategy, outlining how the Preferred Pathways will be executed to deliver a sustainable future for the Hurst Spit to Lymington area for the next 100 years. This was produced to support the Environment Agency and partners moving forward but making it available out of interest to the wider audience.

Preferred Pathway Modelling

The proposals from the Draft Strategy have been modelled for different points in time and for different scales of flood events. The outputs from this modelling will support understanding of the potential flood impacts from the Strategy and identify residual risks for future projects to manage in the implementation phase. This is very much a full technical report for a technical audience.

Water Environment Assessment Report

This Water Environment Regulations (WER) Assessment aims to determine the effects of the Strategy on ecological, hydromorphological and chemical qualities of water bodies, and whether any proposed effects may lead to a deterioration of their current status or prevent the water bodies from meeting the WER Objective in the future.

Habitat Regulations Assessment

This report shared the assessment undertaken to understand the potential impacts of the proposals on the designated sites within the Strategy area. This also explore the proposal of suitable compensatory measures where required.

3D visualisations

In order to bring some of the elements of the Strategy to life, 3D visualisation videos have been produced to show different scenarios. These all show a storm event with a 0.5% chance of occurring in any given year. This is known as Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP). For reference the Valentine's Day storm in 2014 was around a 2% AEP.

The scenarios shown are:

  • Present Day flood risk with existing defences
  • Do-Nothing in 2075 – This assumes that maintenance of the existing defences has stopped and the defences have failed
  • Strategy in 2046 – This assumes that most of the Strategy proposals are in place (Keyhaven (West & Central), Avon Water, Keyhaven East to Fishtail, Jetty-Butts & Oxey-Pennington and Normandy to Salterns)
  • Strategy in 2075 – This assume that all the Strategy proposals are in place

Please note that there are limitations to the 3D visualisations model. For example, Milford-on-Sea is outside the model area and is therefore not included in the model.

Consultation outcome:

Results from the consultation will be available on this page within 12 weeks of the consultation ending.

Consultation on Draft Strategy Summer 2026

We are pleased to invite you to take part in the consultation on the Draft Hurst Spit to Lymington FCERM Strategy. This consultation is your opportunity to review the proposed high level approach to managing flood and coastal erosion risk along this stretch of coastline and to share your views before the Strategy is finalised. The aim is to have the Strategy approved and adopted early 2027. The Draft Strategy also indicates the projects required in order to implement the proposals. Further consultation will take place on individual projects over the coming years as and when they are implemented.

What are we consulting on?

  • The Draft Strategy sets out a long-term plan to help protect communities, the natural environment, and key infrastructure, while responding to the challenges of climate change and rising sea levels. Your feedback is essential in ensuring the Strategy reflects local priorities, knowledge, and concerns. The Draft Strategy is published alongside statutory environmental assessments including the Habitat Regulation Assessment and the Water Environment Regulations Assessment.
  • The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) evaluates the potential environmental effects of the Strategy. Its primary purpose is to ensure that environmental protection and sustainability are embedded in high-level decision-making from the outset. The SEA considers a wide range of topics, including biodiversity, coastal processes, heritage, climate, carbon, geology and soils, landscape and visual effects, material assets, and population and human health. It identifies and reports on likely environmental effects, proposes appropriate mitigation measures, and outlines how these effects will be monitored over time.

How to Take Part

The consultation is open from midday Friday 19 June to 5:00pm Friday 25 September. During this period, you can:

Why Your Views Matter

All feedback received during this consultation will be carefully considered and used to help shape the final Strategy. We are committed to an open and transparent process, and your input will play a vital role in guiding future decision-making.

To complete the consultation on the DRAFT STRATEGY visit https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/solent-and-south-downs/hurst-spit-to-lymington-strategy-consultation

To complete the consultation on the STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT visit https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/solent-and-south-downs/hurst-spit-to-lymington-sea-consultation

Supporting information

Implementation Plan

This document is the current understanding how best to implement the Strategy, outlining how the Preferred Pathways will be executed to deliver a sustainable future for the Hurst Spit to Lymington area for the next 100 years. This was produced to support the Environment Agency and partners moving forward but making it available out of interest to the wider audience.

Preferred Pathway Modelling

The proposals from the Draft Strategy have been modelled for different points in time and for different scales of flood events. The outputs from this modelling will support understanding of the potential flood impacts from the Strategy and identify residual risks for future projects to manage in the implementation phase. This is very much a full technical report for a technical audience.

Water Environment Assessment Report

This Water Environment Regulations (WER) Assessment aims to determine the effects of the Strategy on ecological, hydromorphological and chemical qualities of water bodies, and whether any proposed effects may lead to a deterioration of their current status or prevent the water bodies from meeting the WER Objective in the future.

Habitat Regulations Assessment

This report shared the assessment undertaken to understand the potential impacts of the proposals on the designated sites within the Strategy area. This also explore the proposal of suitable compensatory measures where required.

3D visualisations

In order to bring some of the elements of the Strategy to life, 3D visualisation videos have been produced to show different scenarios. These all show a storm event with a 0.5% chance of occurring in any given year. This is known as Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP). For reference the Valentine's Day storm in 2014 was around a 2% AEP.

The scenarios shown are:

  • Present Day flood risk with existing defences
  • Do-Nothing in 2075 – This assumes that maintenance of the existing defences has stopped and the defences have failed
  • Strategy in 2046 – This assumes that most of the Strategy proposals are in place (Keyhaven (West & Central), Avon Water, Keyhaven East to Fishtail, Jetty-Butts & Oxey-Pennington and Normandy to Salterns)
  • Strategy in 2075 – This assume that all the Strategy proposals are in place

Please note that there are limitations to the 3D visualisations model. For example, Milford-on-Sea is outside the model area and is therefore not included in the model.

Consultation outcome:

Results from the consultation will be available on this page within 12 weeks of the consultation ending.

Page last updated: 10 Aug 2026, 04:00 PM