Environment
Core Policy
Commit to the
sustainable
management and
conservation of the
harbour, estuary, and
local environment.
As a Statutory Harbour Authority and Trust Port, Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) is
required to have due regard to the environment in every aspect of the business and its
activities. CHC’s jurisdiction extends from the Prince Consort north cardinal buoy in the
Outer Harbour and down the Medina Estuary as far as the Folly. The Commission also has
a number of responsibilities under specific legislation that relate to the marine and coastal
environment within its jurisdiction.
Sediment Management & Dredging
CHC is committed to the sustainable management and conservation of the harbour, estuary,
and local environment and continues to work with harbour users and statutory authorities to
ensure that the balance between the use of the estuary and its environment is maintained.
The plan to develop and agree a ‘Sustainable Maintenance Dredging Management Plan’
for the Medina Estuary was first proposed in CHC’s Strategic Framework of 2011 and
has been reiterated in CHC’s current Strategic Plan 2016-21. The Commission’s aim is
to develop a sustainable and cost-efficient Maintenance Dredging Management Plan in
partnership with stakeholders, which is underpinned by long-term monitoring and promotes
alternative dredging methods where appropriate. Under the proposed Plan, maintenance
dredging activities would be coordinated to maintain, as far as is possible, a sustainable
balance between navigational requirements, harbour improvements, and natural features
of the estuary. The Plan could bring considerable benefits to stakeholders, including cost
efficiencies through the roll-out of partnership surveying and a CHC-facilitated consenting
process, as well as benefits to the environment with a review of dredging methods utilised.
Over the past year, the Commission has collected detailed information about sediment in
the estuary and has commissioned an estuarine sedimentation consultant, Dr Rob Nunny, to
provide a conceptual understanding of the harbour. The work included the analysis of a
year’s worth of robust data collection, including multi-beam surveys of the whole harbour,
which give a 3D image of the estuarine basin. It also identified sediment sources and energy
processes and mapped local variability in areas of erosion and accumulation.
The information gathered for the study can be found on the Commission’s website:
cowesharbourcommission.co.uk/estuary_sedimentation_management
All Cowes Harbour dredging stakeholders have been invited to be involved in the
development of the ‘Sustainable Maintenance Dredging Management Plan’. CHC held a
dredging stakeholders’ forum at the Harbour Office on 5th May 2017, which included a
presentation of the data from Dr Rob Nunny’s report. Further information will be reported at
the 2017 Annual Public Meeting on 25th May.
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/cowesharbourcommission
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