The Manhood Peninsula is a large peninsula of land to the south of Chichester. The name is thought to derive from the Anglo-Saxon maene-wudu meaning \u2018common wood\u2019 or 'common land'.\u00a0Situated on the south coast of England, south of Chichester, it is one of the last relatively undeveloped stretches of coastline between Newhaven and Southampton. Forming part of the coastal plain south of Chichester it is semi-rural, open and flat. The peninsula is bordered by the English Channel on its southern side; Chichester Harbour on the west; Pagham Harbour on the east and Chichester and the South Downs to the north. November 2013 saw the official opening of the Medmerry Managed Realignment Scheme, the largest open coast managed realignment scheme in the UK.<\/p>\n
The 300ha Medmerry scheme is Europe's largest open coast managed realignment project.\u00a0 It is located in the south of England on the Selsey Peninsula and along a wave-exposed stretch of coastline that originally had a mobile shingle bank (with internal revetments) as its primary sea defence.\u00a0 It also had a large area of low elevation land behind it.\u00a0 Therefore, past significant flood events had occurred at this site and there was a continuing high risk of serious coastal flooding at this location which needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n
The project involved the construction of 7km of new defences up to 2km inland.\u00a0 Once the new sea walls were constructed the inland area prepared for flooding through the creation of channels.\u00a0 The original sea wall was then breached (in September 2013) allowing the site to be flooded.\u00a0 The subsequent area of tidal inundation within the site was 183ha on the larger tides (with around 120ha of islands and surrounding grassland).<\/p>\n
The project reduced the risk of flooding for around 300 homes in Selsey, as well as a nearby water treatment works and the main road into Selsey.\u00a0 It also reduced the requirement for the Environment Agency to undertake regular, costly, maintenance and reshaping work on the shingle ridge after storm events.\u00a0 In addition, an important new intertidal wildlife habitat and recreational amenity was created.<\/p>\n
The improved flood protection (provided by both the new sea wall and the large expanse of new wetland in front of it) was particularly valuable when severe storms hit the UK in the 2013\/14 winter shortly after the site was created.\u00a0 These storms caused a major redistribution and flattening of the shingle bank and serious flooding events would have occurred without the scheme in place. The scheme was constructed by the Environment Agency<\/a> as part of a Solent wide regional strategy and is now managed by the RSPB<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are 16 villages and settlements on the Manhood, with populations varying from 165 in Apuldram to more than 10,000 in Selsey. The total population of the Manhood is about 25,000, similar in size to Chichester, its nearest city. Employment is mainly in tourism, agriculture and horticulture, boat building and the service sector (schools\/shops).<\/p>\n