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© Lower Otter Restoration Project
Queen’s Green Canopy
The Environment Agency, on behalf of the Lower Otter Restoration Project, has been granted a virtual plaque after planting 225 trees to form part of the Queen’s Green Canopy which marked the 2022 Platinum Jubilee.
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2 January 2024: After a fascinating journey over the past few years, we are pleased to be able to say that the construction phase of the pioneering Lower Otter Restoration Project is now complete.
As a result, this website will no longer be updated, but it is our intention that it should remain available online as a publicly available source of information until the end of 2024.
To comply with data protection legislation, the project mailing list is being deleted as no fresh updates will be issued by this route.
The Lower Otter is now being managed by the Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust and you can sign up for their newsletters here.
You can still email the project team and your message will be passed to the most relevant team member for a response.
On behalf of the whole team we would like to thank all those partners and members of the public who have supported us in this challenging and important project which has led to the creation of 55ha of fantastic intertidal habitat, benefiting wildlife and the community.
Residents celebrate opening of the 'Elizabeth Bridge'
24 November 2023: The brand new 70m "Elizabeth Bridge" has been officially opened by Hon. Charles Fane Trefusis and Mark Rice, Environment Agency Area Director, marking a significant milestone for the project.
Click here to read more.
Latest updates
Q&A
Answers to the most frequently asked questions about the project are available here.
Environment
Environmental Statement
To see the Lower Otter Restoration Project Environmental Statement, click here.
What should be done about the effects of climate change?
There were three main options for the future of the Lower Otter Estuary.
1. No active intervention: The River Otter's embankments were built over 200 years ago when the river was straightened. Today those embankments are nearing the end of their useful life and there is a significant risk they will catastrophically fail in a major flood or extreme tidal event. We can't predict when this will happen. However, failure will likely impact adversely on local homes and businesses, expose an unprotected old municipal tip to erosion and threaten public infrastructure such as roads, public footpaths and recreational facilities.
2. Holding the line: This would have involved building new defences or improving existing ones to hold back the sea and cope with the predicted increase in flooding events from the river. Holding the line is generally favoured when it is essential to protect at-
3. Managed realignment: This involves an acceptance that we can't stop climate change, but seeks to work with nature and pre-
This third option was pursued by the landowner Clinton Devon Estates and the Environment Agency in the Lower Otter Estuary because it is generally less costly than building new defences, and will provide more certainty for local people than simply waiting for the embankments to fail. At the same time it will safeguard and improve public access and create new and greater areas of habitats for wildlife, including rare intertidal habitat that has been lost to coastal squeeze in other areas.
What does managed realignment look like?
The managed realignment involved controlled breaches of the existing embankments, which were built 200 years ago and which were now no longer effective. The breaches have been spanned by new bridges to allow continued public access. Find out more about the Project Aims.
Project options
