Secretary of state visits Chichester Harbour as trailblazing saltmarsh restoration trial gets underway

She was accompanied by staff from Chichester Harbour Conservancy, the Environment Agency and the Solent Seascapes project, from whom she learned more about the technicalities of the trial, and the challenges being tackled by experts in the area.

Reporting back after the visit, she said she was impressed by the trial and optimistic about its impact: “The Saltmarsh Restoration Trial in Chichester Harbour is an innovative and exciting approach to nature recovery. Saltmarsh is declining at an alarming rate; it has been inspiring to see this groundbreaking initiative to restore a habitat which is so important in storing carbon and mitigating climate change.”

The trial is a direct result of the 2021 Natural England Condition Review, which found that the saltmarsh in Chichester Harbour has declined by 58 per cent since 1946. The decline is a consequence of a range of reasons, including ‘coastal squeeze’, where hard structures and sea defences prevent the natural movement of sediment in the harbour and erode the saltmarsh. Climate change, and rising sea levels, are also contributing factors.

The trial uses sediment dredged from within the harbour to raise an area of shoreline enough to allow saltmarsh species to colonise. With work starting in February, the secretary of state could see the first shoots of glasswort – a pioneer saltmarsh plant species – colonising the upper reaches of the site. Now that the first stages of the trial are complete, the site will be carefully monitored in order to gauge the success of the technique so that the understanding can be applied to this and other sites in future.

"Chichester Harbour is one of the most important sites for wildlife in the UK and our saltmarsh is amongst our most precious of habitats. We were pleased to welcome the Secretary of State to visit our saltmarsh restoration trial site and encouraged by the importance she places on protecting and restoring this habitat,” Matt Briers, CEO of Chichester Harbour Conservancy said.