Dredging to maintain the harbours navigational channels will take place between 28 February and 21 April.
Harbours provide safe mooring and launching facilities for small boats and are important refuges along the Dorset coast for any vessels at sea that may be in difficulties.
Harbours can suffer from sediment deposits either from rivers or from the natural action of waves on beaches. Every year the accumulated sediment that has deposited over the last twelve months is removed from the navigational channels and used to build up the local beaches.
The area being dredged is a very busy area and doesn’t contain any habitats of note for local marine plants and animals. Dorset Council is monitoring nearby reefs as part of the dredging regime to make sure these actions do not damage locally more sensitive habitats.
During the work areas of the beach will be fenced off for safety due to the machinery being used. The colour of the dredged sand is often darker in colour due to the lack of exposure to oxygen on the seabed. Once exposed to the air it returns to its normal colour. But to make sure the beauty of our beaches isn’t affected this dredged sand is placed beneath a layer of the sand that is already there, which we have moved aside for this purpose.
Last year dredging happened later in the year when the Environment Agency were carrying out their routine sea water quality tests (between May and October). These tests showed that there was no Escherichia Coli (e-coli) or Intestinal Enterococci in the water because of the dredging and excavating activity.
The colour of the sea will change due to the disruption of the seabed with sand particles suspended in the water. But swimming is discouraged due to the potential for allergic reactions due to these particles.
The dredging equipment will arrive at West Bay on 28 February, offloaded and then towed to Lyme Regis where dredging will start a few days later to coincide with a Spring Tide. Dredging at Lyme Regis will be completed by 24 March. They will then move back to West Bay where dredging will re-start and be completed by 21 April. Timing is weather dependent and may change.
We have just been informed by the letting agent about this. We are renting a holiday cottage on the harbour at Lyme Regis on the 19th March, this is terrible news. If we had been given earlier notice we would have cancelled and made other plans, when was this made public? This should have been made aware to the public months ago.
Hi Chris – The timing of this annual works depends upon weather, contractor availability and For Lyme Regis the timing of a spring tide. This work is always done at sometime between March and May and to help residents, visitors and businesses we try to avoid school holidays for obvious reasons. There is still plenty to enjoy in Lyme regis so I hope you still enjoy your stay. Fiona
We are also concerned about noise levels. What time does the work start in the morning, when does it finish for the day? What are the noise levels and how acceptable?
Hi Chris – There will be no noise from the ongoing dredging work, which starts early and ends late. It is too far away and too quiet to present a problem to people on the shore or in the town.
For the beach work there will be very little noise at this stage, with only one item of plant active on the beach. Between the 20th and 24th March there will be more plant active on the beach but only during low tide. Low tide will be from about 9am to 3pm daily.
Thanks for your help. We will be arriving on 19th March, sounds like from what you’re saying the inconvenience will not be too great
Hi, I am due to stay at the local caravan park next week. Can you confirm we will still have access to West bay beach and it will not be completely closed off? Thanks
The dredging work only applies to specific sections of the beach – East Beach will still largely be accessible to visitors