Rye Harbour - summary

At Rye Harbour there are major coast protection structures and shingle recycling plays an important role in this. The Environment Agency recycles shingle to add to sea defence and augment the use of groynes. Shingle is taken off the beach and recycled on the shore, six kilometres to the west. From here it is moved eastwards again along the shore to the entrance to the harbour.

The need to keep the channel open for shipping also interrupts the sediment flow along the coast, possibly creating greater problems and coast protection costs. The consequences of a failure of the 'terminal groyne' protecting the entrance to the harbour has been modeled by Halcrow consulting engineers.

Rye Harbour also has links with the Baie de Somme in France through an Intereg II project which was completed in 2001 - the Two Bays Project.

Comment: Site management and restoration activities were also reviewed in the context of preparing the more detailed Guidance for the Management of Coastal Vegetated Shingle, see Annex 04, Rye Harbour.