The Agency has powers to manage, maintain and improve flood defences, which provide protection to people and property. The provision of defences must be carried out in a way that does not damage the unique environment of the Wash and ideally works with nature.

Sea defences along this length of the Lincolnshire coast are crucial and provide a front line of defence for an area of 80,000 hectares of low lying fenland including Boston, scattered villages and prime agricultural land. Much of this land and property is 3 metres or more below surge tide levels.

Over a span of several centuries, a chain of earth banks has been constructed around the shore of the Wash to protect settlements from flooding and to claim saltmarsh for agriculture. Several of the banks have been in place for many years and a study has been undertaken to review the standard of sea defence provided.

In searching for a solution that balances all interests, the Agency has developed a Wash Shoreline Management Plan (1996), which combines natural processes with the provision of effective defences for this vulnerable stretch of coastline.

A further study provided a Strategy for the Wash between Gibraltar Point and the Hobhole on the Witham Haven, a length of nearly 30 km. The Strategy assessed the standard of protection provided by the embankments together with the need for possible improvements. The options for improvements were assessed for technical, economic and environmental merit and an environmental assessment was completed to ensure any proposals were environmentally acceptable.

The £1.2 million Wash Banks flood defence scheme covers 8 km of the coast from Hobhole Sluice in the Witham Haven to Butterwick and the scheme has been managed by the Environment Agency in partnership with the RSPB, HM Prison North Sea Camp and English Nature. The scheme was funded by grant aid from Defra and the Lincolnshire Flood Defence Committee.

The northernmost section of sea defence had been under considerable attack, suffering serious erosion in recent winters and was not considered to be sustainable along its current alignment. To overcome the low standard of defence provided by these sea banks, the flood defence works involved a combination of strengthening and realigning the sea defences to provide a sustainable 1 in 200 year standard of defence.

The bank strengthening works took place in 2000, as did the construction of a new cross bank at Freiston Shore. Following a period of stabilisation for the new cross bank, summer 2002 witnessed the final phase of breaching of the outer sea bank. Three breaches (cuts through the outer sea bank, each approximately 50m wide) were made and a creek system was excavated enabling tides to enter 78 hectares of land. The area will now gradually revert to saltmarsh and inter-tidal mudflat, creating an essential sea defence as well as re-establishing a large area of valuable inter-tidal habitat in the Wash. This process is known as managed realignment and to date, the Wash Banks scheme is the largest example of such a project in the UK.

As the site is the first to be created on this scale, it is the subject of a large scale monitoring programme. This involves capturing what the site looks like, and how the new saltmarsh grows to support wildlife and provide a natural flood defence. Surveys of fish, birds, land levels, waves and tide levels are being carried out both inside and outside the site to show its development. The monitoring is part funded by a Defra and Environment Agency research project, so that the data produced can be used to help design other schemes in the future.

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