Centre Port - changing the nature of the Wash?

There have been a number of proposed tidal barrages over the years for the UK. Back in 2008, there was a plan to build a barrage across the Wash, but the plans were abandoned - partly because of the impact on wildlife. Now the plans are back again....

The Rance Estuary in France is an example of how this might look - I visited that many years ago.

The Wash is more local, and the EDP had a recent story on a plan for a barrage.

This would stretch, apparently, from Hunstanton to Skegness, and would protect the Fens from flood risk as well as leading to the development of a new container port. It would cost £2 billion.

Turbines beneath the structure will harness tidal energy from The Wash’s 780km2 tidal area, which is said to be enough to power circa 600,000 homes and businesses in the region. The infrastructure will provide a flood defence for the whole of The Wash area, extending to Peterborough and Cambridge, protecting more than one million people.

Lincolnshire Live shared some other perspectives.

The Netherlands have constructed some similar projects on a huge scale, and reclaimed land.

The Wash is the UK’s most important estuary for wild birds, home to England’s largest common seal colony and an important fishery. This is amongst the areas where

The developers are called Port Evo. They are looking to raise £5 million for a feasibility study.

Something tells me that this is unlikely to be built, because of the wider consequences for hundreds of square miles of coastline and the sheer scale of the development given the issues getting much smaller developments through.

One of the most interesting benefits would be a journey of just 20 minutes across the Wash, instead of it taking several hours to make the journey over to Lincolnshire.

"Having grown up and lived around The Wash all my life I know just what a special place it is and the vital service it provides to communities. As a natural flood defence, a source of food, and a wild place to visit, it should be protected at all costs - not destroyed to generate obscenely expensive energy and increase the risk of flooding.”

Tammy Smalley, from Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

Comments

Making Space for Sand

Making Space for Sand is a project I was made aware of recently. The ‘Building Community Resilience on a Dynamic Coastline by Making Space for Sand’ project (also known as Making Space for Sand or MS4S) is one of 25 national projects funded by DEFRA as part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme (FCRIP). The programme will drive innovation in flood and coastal resilience and adaptation to a changing climate. The project website has an excellent section outlining the formation of Sand Dunes, particularly within the located context of Cornwall. Sand Dunes are an important part of the coastal defences in the locations where they are found. I am particularly familiar with the dunes on the North Norfolk Coast at places like Holkham. I've previously carried out fieldwork on those dunes with both GCSE and 'A' level students, and also Atkins has provided GIS support and created some visualisations of future landscapes.

Explore the world with the Go Jetters

Really useful post and resource for those teaching Primary Geography . A new set of characters called the Go Jetters who teach young people about key geographical ideas. Geography helps children to make sense of their world. Very young children are naturally curious, and they love to actively explore the world around them, noticing all kinds of detail. That’s why they need to develop geographical vocabulary like the names of places, people and things, and the words needed to describe and locate them. It helps to think of children as little geographers – they each have their own world of private geographies - the places they name for themselves with meanings that only they understand: the dens where they hide out with their friends, special meeting places in the school playground. Whether they’re playing in the back garden, or splashing through a muddy puddle on the way to school, children are intrepid explorers making new (to them) discoveries about the world every sing...

Landscape in a Box - more student examples

Thanks to Jack Marsh for sending me some examples of 'landscapes in a box '. Landscapes in a box is one of the ideas that seems to have gone down the best of the things that I've shared over the years. The basic idea is to create a landscape within a box, perhaps a burger box (but could also be a shoe box) This was featured in 'Teaching Geography' in 2009. Jack used the activity with his groups, and has sent me three excellent images of contrasting images from the students: an Antarctic scene, New York's Central Park, and Paris... Outstanding work !! If you've used Landscape in a Box, why not share your students' work too...

"Look at it this way"

Search This Blog