Shooters' anger over Wash tidal barrier plans
During winter the Wash is host to more than 350,000 wading birds and 16 species of wildfowl.
Wednesday, 07 May 2008
Plans to build a tidal barrier across the Wash have been met with trepidation by wildfowlers and conservationists.
The Wash Tidal Barrier Corporation wants to errect the £2billion flood defence, which would have significant ramifications for numerous wildfowling clubs between Skegness in Lincolnshire and Hunstanton, in Norfolk.
“The fowling community is up in arms about this,” Nigel Chapman, of Gedney Drove End Wildfowlers, told Shooting Times.
He fears the plans could be forced through: “The company will blind some MP with science and before we know it the barrier will be up. We don’t want a barrier. Last year, we had some 80,000 pinkfeet here, but their home will be destroyed when this barrier is built. It will ruin the marsh and turn it into a freshwater lake.”
The company claims the 11-mile long barrier would protect up to half a million people and 300,000 hectares of land from flooding as well as having the added benefit of generating green electricity.
Conservationists have pointed out the impact on wildlife has not been properly considered.
During winter the Wash is host to more than 350,000 wading birds and 16 species of wildfowl.
The RSPB’s Richard Powell, said: “We’re talking about a site that supports a phenomenal amount of wildlife. It is the most important estuary for birds in the UK and to consider damaging it in this way beggars belief. It just goes to show the lack of understanding about our wild places and the scale of some people’s ambitions to trash our environment.”
More details can be seen on the website, visit www.washbarrier.org
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