Project overview

 Working collectively has enabled there to be a proactive approach to reducing the issues at both Swanage and Studland Bay. Organisations, representative partners and businesses included in this partnership approach are:

• Dorset Council
• National Trust
• Maritime & Coastguard Agency
• Marine Police
• Swanage Town Council
• Dorset Coast Forum
• Studland Parish Council
• RNLI
• Representatives from Jet Ski community
• Sea swimming representative
• Personal Watercraft Partnership
• Poole Harbour Commissioners

Please note the issue is not just around personal watercraft/jet skis but can be other maritime users as well. Also, it is often jet skis and other motorised watercraft coming from elsewhere that cause the issues.

The Bylaw – Seaside Pleasure Boats

The 1989 Seaside Pleasure Boat Byelaw (reviewed in 2013) is currently in operation. Originally a Purbeck District Council Bylaw, it is now the responsibility of Dorset Council. It is Dorset Council’s responsibility to issue a contract to deploy, lift and repair the 5 knot max speed marker buoys in these areas.

The Swanage Pier Byelaws 2012

The Swanage Pier Byelaws 2012 is still in place and refers to the Management of Vessels while entering, leaving or within the Harbour. The key section associated with this work includes:

The Master of every Vessel within the Harbour shall navigate that Vessel:

1.a) with care and caution and at a speed so as not to endanger the lives of, or cause injury to, persons, or endanger the safety of, or cause damage to, any other Vessel or any mooring or any other property of any kind whatsoever, whether real or personal.

Improvements now implemented by the partnership

• Standardised incident recording form and creation of a central database that is held by the Marine Police for all partners to directly report incidents.
• Regular patrols during the season – a contract with two waterfront residing businesses at both Studland and Swanage. They will be providing regular water safety patrols from Easter until mid-September, with increased patrols during school holidays. They will provide education and awareness to jet ski and small motorised boats or other sea users on safety.
• Signage at both Studland and Swanage with clear maps and information.
• Water safety leaflets for users of jet skis and small motorised boats – with clear key messages.
• A dedicated information webpage for jet skiers and motorised boat users wishing to visit the area.
• A communications plan to ensure that key messages are correctly distributed and are clear for all partners.
• Extra 5 knot max speed marker buoys – an increased number of buoys at both locations to ensure they are closer together making them easier and clearer to see.
• Two Marine Police Officers newly trained on jet ski riding to ensure they can communicate effectively with jet skiers in the area.

Project Overview

In Poole Harbour, the project partners are working together to explore how The Moors at Arne can be converted to inter-tidal habitat to compensate for the ‘coastal squeeze’ losses.

The scheme will involve the construction of new tidal embankments further inland than the existing harbour edge embankments. Once the new embankments are in place, the land in between will be opened to the action of the tides by the creation of three controlled breaches in the existing embankments.

The sediment brought in by the high tides will settle out as the tide turns, and gradually the low lying land will accrete and new mudflats and salt marsh will be created. The tidal water coming through each of the three breaches will have different dynamics and salinity characteristics, and this will lead to a variation of topography and a mosaic of habitats across the site.

The project design also includes shallow saline (salt water) lagoons on the western side to provide feeding grounds and roosting sites for a variety of bird species. These lagoons are important for the long term sustainability of the Special Protection Area (SPA) protected habitat.

In the southerly part of The Moors, there is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) with internationally rare flora in a unique habitat mix. This area of the site will be protected with an embankment designed to facilitate the best mixture of sustainability and transition in a changing long term climate.

Much of the site is also protected as a wetland of international importance (RAMSAR site) and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The impact of the project on freshwater features under these protections will be mitigated by the design of new freshwater features in the area to the south of the new embankments. There will also be some compensation off site at land owned by the Environment Agency at East Stoke.

The project is being carefully designed so that there will be no adverse impact on flood risk to any of the neighbouring properties. The flood risk assessment is comprehensive and includes consideration of tidal flood risk, river and stream flood risk, groundwater flood risk and surface water flood risk.

The project is also considering the geomorphological aspects of changes in the River Frome / Poole Harbour (river /tide) interactions. Computer modelling is being used alongside bathymetric surveying, pre- and post-scheme, to predict and then monitor changes in river siltation.

The Moors is owned by the RSPB and is currently managed as a wildlife reserve which is not open for public access. The project will open up portions of the site with safe walking routes, and some disabled access, using the RSPB’s experience of owning other similar sites throughout the country.

The project is mindful of the impact that construction traffic can have on local communities, and so is actively seeking to reduce the amount of earthworks material to be brought in to the site. This is being done by careful analysis of the material available on the site, together with practical considerations of the embankment design and maintenance.

Watch this video to find out about Moors at Arne Project