Issue details

To seek approval to undertake a project to identify viable habitat creation options, to develop outline designs and produce a business case for delivering new habitat at Hook Lake, to help meet the Regional Habitat Compensation Programme (RHCP) targets in the Solent and South Downs (SSD) Area. The project will also provide opportunity to investigate additional broader outcomes important to Fareham Borough Council and the wider Fareham community, not just in relation to the environment, but also to enhance amenity, improve access and community health and wellbeing.

Hook Lake is located to the south of Warsash, on the eastern side of the River Hamble (Appendix A). The area is important environmentally, hosting national and international environmental designations including the Solent and Southampton Water Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site, the Lee-on-the-Solent to Itchen Estuary Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Hook-with-Warsash Local Nature Reserve (LNR).

The existing site, owned and managed by Hampshire County Council, comprises approximately 39 ha of coastal grazing marsh and 4 ha of reedbed habitat and the frontage is popular with locals and tourists due to its abundance of wildlife and network of footpaths passing through the reserve, including the Solent Way.

The aim of the study is to identify options to create compensatory intertidal habitat at Hook Lake, as recommended in the River Hamble to Portchester Strategy (RHPS) (2016) and the North Solent Shoreline Management Plan (2010).

This project will help to meet the targets of the Solent and South Downs (SSD) Regional Habitat Compensation Programme (RHCP) to deliver compensatory intertidal habitat which is a legal requirement of the North Solent Shoreline Management Plan (NSSMP) Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public Interest (IROPI) agreement and Statement of Case.

Funding is already secured for the study from Environment Agency Grant-in-Aid.