Looe Flood Defence and Regeneration Scheme

Following the information sharing events that took place in November 2021, the project team have continued to progress the design of the scheme.

As part of that, we would welcome additional input from the local community, businesses and wider public into the design of Banjo Pier Extension and the Southern Breakwater. 

We would particularly like to hear your thoughts on:

• How we modify the existing Banjo Pier to link to the new structure
• Ideas you may have for how the new structures can reflect the character and heritage of Looe
• The local community’s priorities for the scheme

Looe is already the most frequently flooded coastal town in the UK. However, predicted sea level rise indicates that Looe will be flooded more frequently and to a greater depth in the future.

• Caused over £39m of damage over the last five years
• Extends over 12 hectares, affecting properties and businesses; along with important seafront community and transport infrastructure
• Predicted to increase in frequency and extent due to rising sea levels which will see 16 hectares regularly flooded

• Major impact on the local economy, with 65% of businesses experiencing flooding
• Additional cost to business, with each event costing on average £31,000
• Undermines business confidence, with many local businesses unable to get insurance and 22% considering their long term future in the town

Looe and South East Cornwall will suffer significant decline as flooding intensifies. To continue to do nothing, is not an option.

It is anticipated that the delivery of this much needed scheme will be a catalyst for regeneration; providing a sustainable and more prosperous future.

The wheel shows us how projects and decisions will impact the environment and people. If it shows us that a project will have a negative effect on the climate, citizens or wider environmental concerns like biodiversity and pollution, we can look at mitigations to restore balance. 

 UK NET ZERO DECISION MAKING WHEEL 

KEY

• Protect Looe from frequent and severe flooding and damage over the next 100 years, giving the community time to adapt to a changing climate.
• Enhance the overall environmental integrity of the designated sites and water bodies.
• Work to promote economic growth in East Cornwall by; protecting key transport links and protecting and enhancing the visitor and marine economy.

The scheme objectives have been aligned to existing plans and strategies, including the Looe Neighbourhood Development Plan’s Sustainable Development Objectives:

• Tackling the impacts and causes of the climate emergency
• Supporting economic development and employment
• Supporting sustainable tourism
• Conserving and enhancing the town centre, culture, heritage and design
• Enhancing connectivity
• Design and sustainability; including locally sourced materials

This enagagement stage focuses on:

• The Southern Breakwater
• Banjo Pier Extension
• Modifications to Banjo Pier

The scheme is designed to protect the town from flooding from the sea; when tides, waves, low atmospheric pressure and strong winds combine to raise sea levels above the normal tide level. As our climate changes, sea level rise is predicted to accelerate, which will increase how often and how severe flood events are in Looe. 

Relative Sea level rise (RCP 8.5)

Move the slider below to see how the depths and extent of flooding is predicted to increase over the next 50 years.

The construction of breakwaters reduce wave action and flooding from waves, sheltering Hannafore Road, the Harbour and barrier. ​To enable construction of the tidal barrier we do need to ensure that as a minimum the breakwaters are large enough to provide refuge for commercial vessels when the tidal barrier is closed and during construction.

Move the slider below to see the difference in flood risk with and without the scheme in the present day.

The existing Banjo Pier is currently too low to shelter vessels and the tidal barrier against wave action, or to provide safe pedestrian access to tripping boats at all states of the tide. To improve the situation, raising the top of the Banjo Pier will be required. It will also be necessary to add rock armour on the beach side to reduce wave action on the structure.

What are the additional benefits of the Southern Breakwater and Banjo Pier extension beyond their core purposes?

• Providing better access for the RNLI to land casualties at all states of the tide
• Greater separation between harbour traffic and beach users
• Providing a safer entrance to the Harbour over a greater tidal range, attracting more visiting boats
• Helping protect and enhance bathing water quality at East Looe Beach
• Sheltering East Looe Beach by reducing the potential for wave overtopping in the future and safeguarding the beach
• Shielding some areas of the seagrass beds from waves, increasing the density and quality of those habitats

Currently Banjo Pier is 140m long and dries out at low tide, Banjo Pier could provide:

• Access at all states of the tide at the end of the extended Pier, a quay for tripping boats of varying water depth
• 2m of water depth at all states of the tide along the Southern Breakwater, a quay for commercial and leisure vessels to shelter against when the tidal barrier is closed
• Access for the ferrying of passengers, to allow coastal ferries to operate from Looe, bringing in additional visitors throughout the year
• Refuge area with fixed moorings for vessels to use when the tidal barrier is closed

Due to space and environmental constraints, swinging moorings or anchoring are not proposed.

The scheme originally put forward by Looe Harbour Commissioners included a 165m extension to the Banjo Pier. This ensured that there was 2m of water at the end of the new structure at all states of the tide. Our more recent survey of seabed levels has shown that there would now be 1.3m of water at the end of this extension to Banjo Pier. Alternatively, Banjo Pier could be extended a further 55m to reach 2m water depth at low tide with proportionately increased extra construction costs. The southern breakwater would also need to have an increased length and size to wrap around the larger Pier.

Swipe the map below to see the alternative lengths of breakwaters.

Operators would be more constrained with the smaller breakwater composition and will need to vary their timetable to suit the tide. There would also be tidal constraints on local tripping boat operations, with less than 2m water depth for around 82 tides a year. Both layouts of breakwaters would provide adequate space for vessels to shelter when the tidal barrier is closed.

A larger scheme would give more flexibility for larger and deeper vessels both now and in the future, with very few tidal constraints for the tripping boats currently working out of Looe or the coastal ferries who might be expected to call in here.

• The inner face of the breakwaters is likely to be a vertical concrete face, to meet the design requirements to moor vessels​
• The outer faces will be sloped and made up of either large pieces of granite (rock armour) or concrete armour units

We’d like your ideas of how structures can reflect the character and heritage of the Town. For example, would you like the new structures to echo the shape of the existing Banjo Pier, or fendering like the harbour walls.

To access the extended Banjo Pier, we’ll need to modify the round end, link through the existing Pier (by raising the top of it), to allow access at all states of the tide. An image of what this could look like is shown below, but we would like your ideas on how this might be achieved in a way which is sympathetic to the existing listed structure.

The height of the Banjo Pier Extension and the Southern Breakwater will be determined by the need to provide adequate shelter for vessels and the tidal barrier. However varying the length of these structures will influence the visual impact of the scheme. The images below show a comparison between the shorter and longer breakwaters when viewed from the town (please note that the proposed Hannafore Walkway and barrier are not shown at this stage).

The designs are still at an early stage, so through this public engagement we would like your input on how you might like these new structures to look, for example to reflect the character and heritage of Looe.

The video below shows the comparison between the shorter and longer breakwaters when viewed from the town.

Longer structures will extend into deeper water, and as a result the footprint of the structures gets both longer and wider. Either scheme has potential to both directly and indirectly impact the marine environment during construction and once it has been built. Extensive marine surveys of habitats, fish, jellyfish and currents have been carried out to help assess these impacts and mitigate their effects.

There are opportunities to enhance the marine environment, with the additional shelter likely to help to increase the density and quality of the seagrass by protecting it from wave action. Opportunities are also being explored to incorporate additional habitats within the new structures, for example by trialling alternative types of concrete that encourage marine growth.

The greater the size of the breakwaters, the greater the potential for impacts.

What are the potential impacts of construction on the marine environment?

• Enveloping marine habitats such as Seagrass beds (direct impact)
• Disturbing sediment due to the longer construction period and larger extents
• Disturbing marine life from underwater noise during construction
• Greater changes in tides and currents
• Structures would shelter the beach more, and could result in a greater change in the shape of the beach

The map below shows the two alternative layouts overlaid on a map of the seagrass beds from our dive survey.

In order to limit the damaging effects of climate change, globally we need to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050, through a combination of reducing emissions, and removing C02 from the atmosphere. ​

The UK has a target to achieve net zero by 2050, and  Cornwall Council a target of 2030 .​

If you want to find out more about the climate crisis and possible solutions on a national and global scale Imperial College London and the Grantham Institute have developed a set of  Frequently Asked Questions  which bring together expert knowledge on climate science, economics and politics. ​

• Reduce future carbon emissions by preventing flood and storm damage to buildings, property and infrastructure, which would otherwise require materials and energy to repair or replace​
• Create new carbon emissions in the process of building the new structures, and in operating and maintaining them​
• The design team are actively exploring ways to reduce carbon in construction and operation of the scheme in line with PAS2080 (the global standard for managing infrastructure carbon). This includes:​ Build less - for example considering using existing buildings to store spares for the barrier instead of building a new one​ Build clever – for example looking at lower carbon alternatives to traditional Portland cement in concrete​ Build efficiently – for example using modern methods of construction to reduce waste​

Larger structures in deeper water will proportionately increase the carbon emissions resulting from construction of the scheme, as a greater volume of materials will be required and construction will take longer. 

The cost of building the scheme is currently estimated between £90M-100m. This will be subject to change as the investigations, studies and designs progress, and will be continually refined. Extending the breakwaters increases the depth, footprint and length of the structures, and will result in the cost of the scheme increasing, to achieve the original 2m depth.

As the scheme is a flood prevention scheme, Defra Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FDGiA) is the primary source of funding that we are calling upon but this will only meet up to 50% of the cost. The project team are exploring other sources of funding (known as partnership funding) to provide the remaining amount, for example the Levelling Up fund.

Increasing the size of the breakwater structures will:

• Provide a greater area for vessels to shelter with deeper water
• Provide unrestricted 24/7 marine access for local operators, tripping boats and visitors, with greater regeneration potential for the area
• Change visual impacts
• Proportionally increase the potential impacts on the marine environment but will likely provide greater opportunities for habitat creation and aquaculture
• Increase the carbon resulting from construction, potentially reducing some of the funding available
• Increase the construction costs, which will increase the challenge of obtaining sufficient funding although funding will be a challenge regardless

The project team would be grateful if you could complete a brief survey to provide feedback.

 Click here for survey.