Plans for a project aiming to “protect and enhance” saltmarsh habitats along the river Wear have been submitted to city development chiefs.

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has received an application for two stretches of the riverside, including a site near the Claxheugh Rocks, South Hylton and Baron’s Quay in North Hylton.

Applicant Groundwork North East and Cumbria is looking for permission to install ‘brushwood fascines’, or bundles of cut branches, fixed with ‘chestnut stakes’ along parts of the riverbank.

The plans are part of a wider ecological project ‘Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef’ (ReMeMaRe) that aims to “reverse centuries of decline of our priority estuarine and coastal habitats”.

In Sunderland, the project aims to protect and enhance intertidal habitats, and to allow for the potential expansion of existing saltmarsh.

Planning documents state Groundwork North East and Cumbria has “delivered several intertidal habitat restoration and creation interventions” in recent years across the North East, from the “retro fitting of artificial rock pools”, to “saltmarsh protection and enhancement” schemes.

Plans for Sunderland aim to “encourage the natural estuarine process of deposition of sediment on the foreshore and give some protection from wave action”.

It is hoped that the plans would “potentially allow the existing saltmarsh community to expand through natural colonisation”.

Works across the two sites aim to provide “ecological enhancement through protection and restoration of intertidal habitat” along more than 700m of the foreshore.

The supporting document adds: “The Wear Estuary is a heavily modified water body classed as moderate.

“The latest analysis of monitoring data suggests that it will show a deterioration to poor in the next classification.

“Confirmed reasons for not achieving good include physical modification for flood and coastal protection use and navigation and ports.

“The proposal represents a ’light touch’ intervention that helps mitigate these modifications.

“Baron’s Quay and Timber Beach are among the most significant historic areas of saltmarsh that survive on the river Wear.

“By encouraging restoration of natural estuarine processes of sediment accretion this scheme will help protect and potentially enhance this saltmarsh habitat”.

Those behind the scheme said saltmarsh habitats in the UK and Ireland have seen “loss and damage over centuries”, including the loss of ecosystems and functions provided by the habitats.

It was noted that “active intervention is required to reverse the decline of saltmarsh habitats, and to successfully restore resilient and well-functioning saltmarsh”.

The benefits of the Sunderland scheme include the potential to “reduce flooding and coastal erosion [and] increase carbon sequestration, as well as a range of other ecosystem services”.

The supporting document adds: “This is a relatively small project with no major constraints to delivery identified.

“The design is at a detailed stage and has been developed by a suitably qualified and experienced team [and] possible contractors are available locally”.

A decision on the planning application is expected to be made once a period of council consultation has concluded.

 

Most read:

Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Get access to the latest offer for annual or monthly subscription. Click here for details.

 

 

Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website lists a decision deadline of November 18, 2024.

For more information on the planning application or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 24/01942/FU4 Caption:  Works proposed along Sunderland riverside to boost ‘saltmarsh’ habitats. Credit: Google Maps