NAZE NOTES: Blogs - Walton and the Naze Environment

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	NAZE NOTES: Blogs - Walton and the Naze Environment



	BLOG 1 - Walton on the Naze – The Coming of Age of a Seaside Town [The picture above shows the Tower Groyne on the Naze peninsula being hit by several tons of water in a northeasterly gale. Unfortunately, because of its location - 100 metres too far south of the position of the Naze Tower, which is this sea defence structure's namesake - it has as much chance of protecting the vulnerable grade 2* listed historic monument as have the endeavours of any surviving descendants of King Canute...] Walton-on-the-Naze is a small seaside town located on the Essex East Coast of England, just to the north of the larger town of Clacton and south of the Harwich Harbour estuary. The name of the town comes from its original “Aelduluesnasa” (Aedwulfsness) meaning Edwulf’s Promontory. Edwulf was probably a local tribal chief in Ancient Britain. Over time the name became shortened to Altun’s Naze from which the modern name has come (adding a ‘w’ and putting an ‘o’ for the ‘u’). The Doomesday Book has Aelduluesnasa down for 40 smallholders, 86 villagers and six slaves… Seven hundred years later, as the Late Georgian seaside resort of Walton-on-the-Naze started to develop, the population was still less than 300 inhabitants. Up to then, Walton was an agricultural village with little maritime involvement. However - like much of the surrounding East Coast settlements – the constant fight against erosion has dominated Walton’s history. The growing town of the Middle Ages was situated in what is now the North Sea! Somewhere near the Cork Sands, five miles out to sea, lies the remains of the original medieval church. Legend has it that the bell still tolls in stormy weather… The first holiday visitor – attracted by the sandy beaches and therapeutic sea bathing potential - arrived at Walton somewhere around 1780. In those days the only way in was by horse drawn carriage on bumpy narrow roads. Then, fifty years later – as the age of steam took hold of the country - a small pier was built that could take the steam ships from London and Ipswich. The population doubled during the next twenty years. The 1830’s also saw the start of sailing and rowing regattas and the expansion of seaside hotels with memorable names like ‘Bathouse’, ‘Portobello’ and ‘Clifton’. Largely due to the fact that the pier was too short to take the steamers at low tide, Walton’s fortunes remained in the doldrums until the arrival in 1855 of a civil engineer called Peter Bruff. There were, of course others of the period who brought enterprise and vision to the town. There was John Penrice who built the Marine Hotel and the first Pier, and John Warner who owned the town's once prosperous foundry and built the East Terrace; but it was Peter Bruff who really turned the tide of fortune for Walton. Bruff transformed the town by first building a new pier (the basis of today’s 2,600ft. construction) that allowed the steam passenger trade to flourish and the town to expand and prosper. Then he brought the railway to Walton-on-the-Naze in 1867. The town’s future as a flourishing Victorian and Edwardian seaside resort was now secured, complete with Camera Obscura, bathing machines, and a 700-seat King’s Theatre. By 1901 Walton’s population was over two thousand strong. Between the Wars ‘Hut Town’ developed as the craze for beach huts reached its zenith. In 1921 a boating lake was developed from the old tide millpond in the Naze Backwaters. By 1934 Walton-on-the-Naze could boast two cinemas and a golf course! The Second World War took its toll on the holiday trade at Walton. The magnificent South Terrace – built by Bruff eighty years earlier – was completely destroyed by bombs and any post war revival of the twenties and thirties was short-lived. By the late 1960’s both cinemas had closed, as had the theatre and many of the ‘grand’ hotels. Half the once magnificent golf course had disappeared under the waves as Naze cliff erosion was allowed to continue, unchallenged. Now, the trend for caravan parks had appeared and names like the ‘Martello’ and the ‘Naze Marine’ are, today, flourishing holiday developments. Walton-on-the-Naze now has an indoor swimming pool, indoor bowling green and a ten-pin bowling alley on the pier. Many of the famous old Walton-on-the-Naze sites have been redeveloped as residential flats – many for holiday let. Gone is the old Walton railway station, the Marine Hotel and the Pier Hotel. They are now all flats either built or on the surveyor’s drawing board. However, as Walton-on-the-Naze faces the challenge of changing tastes in the holiday market, the town still has its fine sandy beaches, sticks of rock and amusement arcades. As the recently rebuilt high street reopened in 2005 to a new pedestrian friendliness the day trippers and caravanners were still to be seen in their droves, peering into the windows of the plethora of ‘bargain’ shops and flocking to some of the best beaches that England can provide. The traditional seaside holiday is not dead yet - certainly not in Walton-on-the-Naze! [You can find out more about the WONDERS OF WALTON by clicking on the first 'further information' link at the bottom of this page]



	BLOG 2 - The Naze: Charitable Involvement To the north of the seaside town of Walton on the Naze stand the crumbling red crag cliffs that define the vulnerable edge of the Naze Peninsular. Great chunks of this fragile coastline periodically fall into the sea. They have no protection from the North Sea and the waves are relentless. Just another hopeless story about the vanishing East Coast shoreline? Not if the NPS has anything to do about it! They are the NAZE PROTECTION SOCIETY - a fund raising and campaigning group, lobbying at all levels of power for a realistic solution to the local problems of large-scale coastal erosion at Walton-on-the-Naze. Various local voluntary pressure groups attempting to save the Naze from erosion have existed since the seventies. Their hard-fought-for successes have been notable - but limited. For instance, a petition of over 10,000 signatures and a representation to the Prime Minister of the day, Margaret Thatcher, resulted in government approval for coastal defence work. However, English Nature, the government's watchdog on national nature matters, prevented that and successive 'man-made' schemes from ever getting past the planning stage. In the late 90's an agreement was finally reached with them for a scheme to protect Walton's Naze comprising three hard-point rock groynes. Although further research proved that the plans were flawed, the precious funding earmarked for some kind of coastal defences for the Naze 'failed to materialise' after changes in elected local government representation resulted in a political decision not to support the conservation plans of their predecessors. Most of the money was subsequently used to build Clacton's little used multi-storey car park, now regarded locally as a monstrous 'white elephant' - a sheer waste of public money! A dichotomy has always existed regarding the future of the Naze at Walton. The cliff face strata and the fossils therein are an international geological reference. The Walton Backwaters - that the Naze promontory protects - is a designated national conservation site. The Naze itself is a beauty spot supporting important plants and migrating birds. Conflicting interests from English Nature (cliff preservation) and Tendring District Council (cliff protection) have resulted in stalemate. Walton's Naze Protection Society, working as an environmental pressure group, finds itself in the role of mediator, attempting to bring compromise to the decision making process and to coax the powers-that-be into cohesive action for the long-term wellfare of the local environment and for the benefit of the local community at Walton-on-the-Naze. Whilst continuing in its self-appointed task to persuade authorities to reach an agreement on a universally acceptable coastal heritage preservation scheme, The Naze Protection Society is actively fund raising and intends applying for grants and/or heritage lottery funds to progress the urgent situation. The Society produces a periodic newsletter, NAZE NEWS, that updates progress made, and runs a SAVE THE NAZE charity shop in Walton-on-the Naze Town High Street that is currently the main source of income. The shop stocks - among other things - the best-selling and highly informative, "THE EROSION OF THE NAZE" - a six-page fact pack descibing the fifty-million-year geological evolution of the Naze illustrated with three full-colour historical maps. The pack - highly sought after by geography students - retails for £2.00, which barely covers the cost of production. Alternatively, the pack can be obtained by post from the Naze Protection Society Chairman, David Gager, at his address below. Another recent fund raising innovation introduced by the charity trust shop is the SOUVENIR SHARKS TEETH FOSSIL PACK. These retail for a very reasonable 50p and each contain several fossil teeth found locally on the beaches at Walton-on-the-Naze. At the financial year-end of April 2007, the charity's total net funds raised stood at £175,000. Gross income for the financial year (2006/7) was over £32,000. 87p in every pound goes towards the fight to save Walton's Naze from destruction. The 13% of gross income that constitutes expenses is mostly incurred through running costs of the charity shop. Donations are always welcome and will receive a personal acknowledgement. For those who feel moved enough to make a cash contribution to the Trust Fund, cheques should be made out to 'The Naze Protection Society'. They can be sent to the Charity Chairman: MR DAVID GAGER HAVEN HOUSE OLD HALL LANE WALTON ON THE NAZE ESSEX CO14 8LF Telephone 01255 676868 ...or to the Charitable Trust Shop: SAVE THE NAZE Naze Protection Society Fundraising Shop 18 High Street Walton-on-the-Naze Essex CO14 8BH Donations in kind of good quality unwanted clothing, books or bric-a-brac are always enthusiastically received by the industrious band of volunteers who keep the trust shop open all seven mornings a week - and also on the afternoons of Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In 2002 an anonymous poem - apparently written by a renowned local poet - appeared in NAZE NEWS. Perhaps these words help us all to understand something of the nature of the environmental challenges that lie ahead: A vista of blue, shimmering sea, Kites fly, larks tremble on high. The cliffs, red-gold Sandwiched with blue clay Are crowned with a summer hat Of grass and flowers. But surely the path is narrower Than yesterday? The relentless, rolling surge of the sea Devours beneath, unseen. Slowly the earth slides, A gentle avalanche. Like a child's half-eaten biscuit Bite-sized chucks fall, crumbling, Jam-topped with pink willow herb. Above, the short dry grass Moves in the breeze, not scenting danger. The lark sings on, a chorister at this marriage Of land and sea. [The Naze Protection Society Newsletter: NAZE NEWS can be accessed via the second 'further information' link at the bottom of this page] THE WALL OF BUREAUCRACY The Naze is a contiguous part of Walton-on-the-Naze, a seaside town on the East Coast of England lying some 70 miles north-east of Greater London. It is an area of natural beauty in the form of a 'nose' surrounded by water on three sides, protecting Hamford Water to the west which is a UK and European (EC Directive 79/409) conservation site. To the east is the North Sea - and to the north, Harwich harbour and the entrances to the rivers Stour and Orwell. The cliffs facing the North Sea are around 70 feet at their highest reducing down to sea level at the northern end. The cliffs themselves are a UK designated site of special scientific interest exposing a geological history going back over 50 million years. They are eroding at a rate of approximately two metres a year and The Naze Protection Society, a registered charitable trust, is attempting - by lobbying for coastal protection - to at least get this rate reduced. Between 1977 and 1985 - some years before the Naze Protection Society was itself established as a charitable trust in 1997 - their predecessors had put forward three proposals for a combination of revetments and groynes to protect about 1200 yards of Naze shoreline. The first contained a 19-groyne plan which was granted planning application but turned down a year later when the Secretary of State proclaimed that ‘resources must be directed to urban areas’. In 1980 a much-modified version was again turned down. The final ‘pared down’ scheme proposed in 1985 would have cost £700k had it been acted upon - and would have probably saved nearly an acre of land that has been subsequently lost. It consisted of 9 groynes, revetment wall, and beach replenishment. Alas, in 1986 the then Nature Conservancy - intransigent as ever - objected, despite the fact that the scheme was favourably received at the time by the Department of the Environment. In fact, Margaret Thatcher (PM at the time) even signed a letter agreeing that the work should be done! After a catastrophic cliff fall in January, 2001 - when nearly half an acre fell into the sea virually overnight - English Nature were moved to make the following comment: "Major landslip occurred over the past few days - will no doubt lead to renewed calls for 'proper' cliff protection, which we will continue to oppose." [http://www.english-nature.org.uk/special/sssi/unit_details.cfm?situnt_id=1005119] Walton's Naze Cliffs are clearly naked and dangerously vulnerable to the relentless onslaught of the sea. Without a protective beach, nothing can stop the scouring action of the sea, which, although small in relation to the rotational slumping that causes the cliff erosion, is the fundamental reason why that slumping happens in the first place. The beach takes the energy out of the wave action and slows down the formation of the erosive wave-cut platform with its destructive and irreversible undercutting. The Victorians knew this and built a strong set of thirty wooden groynes or breakwaters ending northwards at the Tamarisk Wall. The wall was built at the northern end because they realised that for a distance of two km. from the Tower the long shore drift moves uniquely in a northerly direction. Unchecked, sand would simply drift into the sea north of the Naze, called Pennyhole Bay. The Victorian groynes not only slowed down erosion but even allowed material to build up – thus gaining land. With the decay of these Victorian sea defences since the Second World War, the sand has resumed its inexorable northward drift allowing acres of unprotected coastline to be lost to the effects of erosion. Post-war problems were further exacerbated in the 1953 flooding, which finally breached the Tamarisk Wall after it had stood valiantly against all comers for over three quarters of a century. To add insult to injury, in 1959 the then Essex Rivers Catchment Board dismantled what remained of the Tamarisk Wall and shipped it all down to Jaywick for hard points! It is generally accepted by experts that this single action was the trigger that has resulted in most of the sand being subsequently removed from the base of the Naze cliffs and in massive reductions to sand spits to seaward, including those of Pye Sand - directly north of the Naze. As to shoreline land loss, it is also generally accepted that between 1950 and 1959 over 100 metres width of sand dunes were lost from the northern part of the Naze Promontory. The northern tip of the Naze promontory ends in a slender finger of soft sand ironically called Stone Point. It is a low-lying point, hardly visible from out to sea, although for navigation it marks the eastern side of the Walton Channel and the southern side of the entrance to Hamford Water. Therein lies Stone Point’s significance, for its size is almost in contradiction to its geographical importance: without this vulnerable land mass the Walton Backwaters would become a sea and the safety of the town of Walton would be at risk from flooding. Over the past century or so the outline of the coast north of Walton has receded remorselessly under the onslaught of the sea - a period of loss of coastline which coincides almost exactly with the decay of the Victorian beach groyns that once buttressed the whole of the Naze peninsula. In 1999 huge quantities of sand and gravel from dredging operations in the Harwich Harbour ship channel were deposited on the beach around the Stone Point area in an effort to build up the effects of land attrition. Today that has all but eroded away by the sea, leaving the point once again in a highly vulnerable condition. The northerly tidal currents which dominate this particular part of the coastline have simply carried sand back into Pennyhole Bay - which spans the coastline between the Walton Backwaters and Harwich - and from there slowly back into the very channel from which it was so recently dredged, thus turning it into a huge undersea sand sump! Unless decisive action is taken very soon to give the existing beach at Stone Point some substance and stability, it will cause catastrophic problems for the Walton Backwaters and, indeed, the very town of Walton-on-the-Naze itself! Spring 2005 - SECOND LOTTERY BID TO SAVE THE NAZE CLIFFS Walton's Naze Protection Society officials will soon be submitting the charity’s latest appeal - for £800,000 of lottery money - in a vital bid to prevent Naze cliff protection plans from floundering. Four years ago the first appeal by the charity was turned down because a research project - commissioned by the council - was still being completed on an earlier coastal defence design that eventually proved to be ineffectual. This time, the plans are for a much stronger and more sustainable sea defence system. Tendring councillors are to use the money to be raised by the charity appeal, together with the charity’s existing resources – some £120,000 at present – to fund the construction of a massive revetment wave barrier. The council has agreed to maintain complete management control of this cliff protection project during its construction and for years into the future - thus securing the stability of the vulnerable cliff face and preventing the sea defences themselves from being eroded. The project will include the building of a four metre wide path along the top of the 200 metre shoreline revetment in front of the cliff face, behind which lie the council car park, Links Cafe, Naze Tower, the expensive residential properties in Old Hall Lane and farm buildings including some grade 2 listed barns. While it is to be hoped that all these man-made structures will be made safe from further cliff collapse - thus protecting their monetary and market value - the revetment path itself will function as a public viewing platform for the internationally unique two million year-old red crag formations that are present in the Naze Cliffs. The charity has agreed to the funding package with the council for the sake of the long-term environmental security of the crumbling cliffs. Agreement has come about after years of fruitless negotiations with English Nature - the all-powerful body for environmental matters - during which officials remained intransigent on methods put forward for protecting Walton's fossil-rich Naze cliffs. Now, at last, with this particular scheme, they have finally allowed overdue coastal defence work to go ahead! The council and the NPS charity are now working together in a new found spirit of cooperation that has been somewhat lacking up to now. In recent years Tendring District Council has been known to confuse and bewilder by changing its financial decisions at the last minute. For instance, in the late ‘90’s labour councillors ‘re-directed’ a large part of a half million pound fund - previously earmarked for Naze cliff protection work - to the construction of a multi-storey car park in Clacton. Then, just two years ago, cliff rescue plans that had been featured on the front page of Walton's local papers were scuppered when the council announced that there was no longer any money available for this new work. During the past few months intensive talks have been going on between charity chairman, David Gager and the council official responsible for coastal work, John Ryan, in an effort to ensure an understanding of the urgency of implementation for this joint venture that finally offers the chance of lasting protection for Walton's Naze cliffs. (May 2005) MEANWHILE.... ...a few miles down the coast, at Holland-on-Sea, the big lorries are trundling down to the sea front with 3,500 tonnes of Leicestershire granite strapped to their low loaders, in a desperate bid to stop part of the seawall there from collapsing due to the cumulative effects of wave erosion. The rocks will be placed directly in front of the weakened section to prevent further collapse of the sea defences. This 'patch-up' job, as it is referred to by council officials, will be costing a cool quarter million! It is only a patch-up because it is part of a far bigger scheme to strengthen a long stretch of the Clacton coastline that will cost an even cooler £24 million! The money to fund all this is coming from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Tendring Council engineers have designed the project under licence from the Government. Mike Page, public relations manager for Tendring Council, is apologising profusely for the five-week inconvenience that the work will cause to locals, day-trippers and beach hut owners alike. Meanwhile, David Gager and his dedicated band of Naze Protection Society members at Walton-on-the-Naze must be wondering - after eight years of hard campaigning - what they have to do to raise the (mere) three quarters of a million pounds that they will need to complete their own local Naze Protection Project! A small sum by comparison to the Clacton Scheme it may be, but the government seems to be turning a deaf ear to their pleas for some sort of action to begin in order that the crumbling cliffs that border the Naze Peninsula may be saved from further and inevitable destruction. The reason for this attitude must surely lie in cold hard economics. After all, Holland-on-Sea is comparatively densly populated. Walton's Naze, on the other hand, has a large and varied population of migratory birds, rare plants and fossil beds to rival anywhere in the world. However, it lacks one vital ingredient - people. There are only a few - albeit expensive - dwellings on the Naze Peninsula 'worth protecting' (in civil service economist parlance). The word 'expendable' comes to mind... It is quite clear that the indefatigable band of Naze Protectionists will have to look elsewhere for their money. We can wish them luck in their Heritage Lottery Bid - for that is what things seem to have now come down to. They have entered the realms of crossed fingers, public petitions and corporate presentations; and then there is daunting task of obtaining the unanimous consent of all interested parties. It is not easy to clear the bureaucratic pathway to the door of government approval for schemes that spell nothing less than the survival for many East Coast communities. Dunwich, for instance, is at the 'consultation stage' with its Dunwich Parish Meeting group's innovative trial scheme to slow down the disappearance of their particular piece of coastline. Their chairman, Michael Clark, wrote recently that: "consultations were needed with the Environment Agency, English Nature, the RSPB, the Marine Consents & Environment Unit - requiring separate consultations with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the Sea Fisheries Inspectorate, the Marine Coastguard Agency, Associated British Ports, the Royal Yachting Association and Trinity House Lighthouse Service - for a 'FEPA' license, the Crown estate for a Crown Estate license, and with Suffolk Coastal for planning permission..." Consultations on that sort of scale are enough to put off all but the most tenacious of coastal protection environmental pressure groups who often have to function in sparsley populated - by humans, anyway - areas of the coast. I suppose that we cannot blame the government for putting the wellfare of people before that of avocets, seals and brent geese; economics before ecology. However, there could well be a serious flaw in this reasoning. The Naze is a natural defence barrier against storm/tidal flooding of the Walton Backwaters and, more significantly, the town of Walton itself. Ignore this fact and we turn our backs on a potential peril. Scientific predictions point to more 1953 style flooding disasters to come in future decades as sea levels rise and weather misbehaves itself. If the Naze recedes and the waters rise, what will be the fate of the town? Managed retreat may now be the fashionable order of the day, but some sparsely populated areas that have now been destined for sacrifice to Mother Nature's excesses may well become the vital pieces in the future coastal defence jigsaw that are currently being ignored in favour of present demographic wealth. A wrong decision today could well be costly in years to come. Leaving areas like The Naze to the forces of the elements may yet prove to become one of these 'costly mistakes' - a euphemistic way for our decendants to say: 'unmitigated disaster'. Walton's Naze Protection Society may have a fight on its hands - but they, like many other tireless and like-minded groups along the East Coast have few alternative courses of action. For, after all, nobody wants another Walton church to share the fate of its predecessor out on the Cork Sands. The 'storm legend' of one phantom droning bell is enough folk lore for any coastal community... The corridors of power in Whitehall may well harbour the best brains in the land. The problem is the accuracy and farsightedness of the data with which they have to work. The lives of whole communities are at stake, here. The climate may be changing - but let it not breed a climate of fear among coastal dwellers. More than at any time in Walton's long history of conflict with the power of the sea, we have both the technology and resources to combat that change and to quell those fears. If the money's there, then let's use it while there's still time! This year the British Government will spend £30 billion on defending the country against the threat - real or imagined - of aggression. It seems ironic that while this thirty thousand million pounds will protect the lives and well being of its inhabitants, the shrinking coastline of our islands remains under constant and sustained attack from the destructive power of the sea. Just £3m - or one hundreth of one per cent of the defence budget of this country - would be enough to reinstate the entire network of beach groynes that the Victorian engineers devised to not only successfully protect Walton's Naze peninsula from sea erosion, but to actually generate a net gain in land at the Naze during their valuable existence! The soft sands of Stone Point continue to wash away remorselessly. The defences are weakening; the defence budget is non-existent. The government does nothing - that is their current stance in this particular matter - but it is quite possible that they may have got it wrong this time. For the people of Walton-on-the-Naze - certainly the next generation - they may have got it very wrong indeed. Autumn 2005 - HEADWAY After eight years of tireless campaigning, the Naze Protection Society has finally brought together all parties involved in saving the Naze to agree to a set timetable of action in order to move forward the Revetment Project. They met together for the first time as a Project Partnership Group on 23rd. September 2005, at which it was decided to produce a preliminary proposal document that will pave the way for a funding bid to raise the £800,000 needed for the construction work. Present at the meeting were Bob Howell for Tendring District Council (construction), Chris Gibson for English Nature (conservation), Neil Harvey for Essex Wildlife Trust (local negotiations), Tim Ellingham for Royal Haskoning (engineering consultants) and five members of the Naze Protection Society committee. Tim Ellingham (Royal Haskoning) has agreed to produce the preliminary document by the end of October 2005. This consultative work - the basis for any future coastal protection initiative - will have to be paid for. So, after eight years of raising its precious funds, the Naze Protection Society Charity Trust will now have to consider the ways in which it will spend them... January 2006 - SUCCESS! The Naze Protection Society has received a grant for £5,000 from the "Awards For All" lottery fund. This is the maximum sum available from this particular source - and is certainly a step in the right direction. Congratulations, NPS, - and good luck for the future! April 2006 - CLIFF HERITAGE PROJECT DISPLAY The Naze Protection Society has launched its Cliff Heritage Project as a fundraising initiative for donations from the private - as well as the public - sector. It is calling its fundraising initiative ‘CRAG WALK – a stroll through prehistory’ and aims to concentrate its resources on providing a visitor-friendly walkway along the base of the world famous red crag cliffs that border the Naze Public Open Space on its North Sea side. For the first time the two-million-year-old fossil beds will become accessible for viewing at all stages of the tide. Pending approval, CRAG WALK will be built in cooperation with Tendring District Council, which has drawn up plans for a protective rock revetment to prevent further collapse of the crumbling cliff face. Information about CRAG WALK will be on display at Walton Public Library throughout the months of April, May and June. The library has kindly loaned the charity a display board for this purpose. The proposed 200 metre walkway will have comprehensive weatherproof information boards that will graphically describe prehistoric environments and their climatic conditions, recount the massive effects of the ice age on the present day local landscape, and illustrate the unique range of fossils that can be found in the red crag strata. The charity plans to provide facilities for disabled access via the Sunny Point coach drop-off area. The go-ahead for the innovative CRAG WALK Cliff Heritage Project depends - as ever - upon the agreement of Tendring District Council Cabinet. Naze Protection Society Charity Chairman, David Gager, said, ‘We are looking forward to receiving the green light from Tendring District Council, who will provide the technical know-how that will bring our heritage project to fruition.’ The Naze Protection Society became a charity nine years ago but was only recently able to reach planning agreement with the Council and with the government’s nature agency, English Nature, after a long and hard-fought campaign. Donations towards CRAG WALK can be sent - or handed in - to the charity’s shop at 18 Walton High Street – cheques should be made payable to ‘The Naze Protection Society’. Autumn 2006 - SPONSOR A ROCK Appeal is Launched Congratulations to the Naze Protection Society for their prize-winning 'Sponsor a Rock' float at the Walton Carnival in August! [NAZE NEWS No 17 from the website - see link 2 below] The charity had chosen the event to launch this fundraising initiative that they say, "aims to get people actively involved in the quest for Naze cliff heritage preservation at the site of its recently conceived CRAG WALK observation platform". The platform will take the form of a 150-metre walkway that will skirt the base of the fragile and unprotected Naze cliffs in the vicinity of Walton's world famous local navigational sea-mark, the iconic Naze Tower. The project is a partnership with Tendring District Council who will provide the technical expertise for the construction while the Naze Protection Society will source the funding. Hence the timely lauch of the appeal. The charity wants to encourage members of the public to sponsor the rocks that will form the basis of the raised platform. These rocks are estimated to cost around £300 each. The public are being asked to pledge £25 towards this cost. In return, donors will receive a personalised certificate that commemorates their generosity to a project that the charity says is now considered by all environmental bodies to be 'long overdue'. The idea is that the certificates will make thoughtful and evocative gifts - for birthdays and anniversaries - to friend and relatives with a concern for the local environment and an inherent love of the Naze and the Backwaters, or to commemorate 'in memoriam' the love of the area by those who have since passed away. SPONSOR A ROCK certainly seems a great idea for getting people involved in supporting preservation work for their local coastal heritage! Good luck in your fundraising, Naze Protection Society! [You can sponsor a rock for CRAG WALK by sending your money to the Naze Protection Society’s registered address at: Haven House, Old Hall Lane, Walton-on-the-Naze, CO14 8LF - or just call into the charity gift shop at 18 High Street, Walton-on-the-Naze. Cheques should be made payable to ‘The Naze Protection Society’.] 25th October 2006 - 'CRAG WALK' - OFFICIAL RECOGNITION An important milestone has been reached. On this historic day the Tendring District Council Cabinet finally agreed to officially recognise the CRAG WALK Heritage Project as an idea of merit. TDC will from now on provide the Naze Protection Society with the technical assistance required to develop the project into a fully funded and approved scheme. Things are looking up... Spring 2007 - CHARITY TO ORGANISE CAR BOOT SALES Local environmental charity, the Naze Protection Society, has launched an important new fundraising initiative for its CRAG WALK Naze Cliff Heritage Project. It is to run regular car boot sales on the premises of - and in arrangement with - the Martello Caravan Park. The inaugural event will commence on Good Friday, 6th April at 9.00am and remain open until 1.00 pm. Parking and admission will be free. Table spaces will cost £7.50 and sellers are welcome from 7.00am. Telephone enquiries should be made on 07833 161656. The charity is requesting ‘no caterers’ - full refreshments are being provided by the park organisers. It was just last October when Tendring District Council Cabinet agreed to support the charity’s coastal conservation plans by providing technical assistance to develop the CRAG WALK project proposals into a fully funded and approved scheme. This support is now regarded by the charity as an important breakthrough in its bid to save a valuable section of the crumbling Red Crag cliffs - adjacent to the historic Naze Tower grade 2* listed building - from destruction through sea erosion. When completed, CRAG WALK will provide a walkway that will span a 150-metre section along the base of the Naze cliffs, extending from Tower Groyne northwards. Of the £800,000 needed to fund the project, the charity says that nearly £200,000 - a quarter of the funds needed - has so far been raised. The Naze Red Crag contains unique fossils that show evidence of the cooling of the Earth’s surface prior to the last Ice Age. The proposed walkway will provide safe, tidal-free access to our coastal heritage hitherto unavailable up to now. A set of graphic weatherproof information boards are set to complement the eco-experience. Under current DEFRA rules, CRAG WALK does not qualify for government grant aid and will have to be funded entirely from charitable grants and donations. Major sponsors to date include DIAGEO, the drinks conglomerate, AWARDS FOR ALL from the National Lottery and YORKSHIRE BUILDING SOCIETY. The Naze Protection Society expects that the revenue generated by the car boot sales will add valuable funds towards the achievement of its target. We wish them GOOD LUCK with this latest fundraising venture! August 2007 - PARTNERSHIP LINKS STRENGTHENED At its tenth-year Annual General Meeting, the charity announced that a working partnership had been forged with Essex Wildlife Trust, whose local negotiating skills will help progress the Naze Regeneration objective. This is now being actively supported by links with the following parties: Tendring District Council, English Heritage, Natural England, East of England Development Agency, The Naze Tower and the Living Naze Project. Strength in numbers - as the saying goes!



	BLOG 3 - The Naze: Solving Problems - or Creating Them? The On-going Saga... THE DRAINAGE MYSTERY... Those who have lived in Walton-on-the-Naze since WW2 have memories of a very different Naze than the sea ravaged coastline that exists today. Childhood memories of cycle rides along the solid expanse of the Tamarisk Wall - and of collecting stray golf balls deposited there from miss-hits on the now extinct golf links - are barely imaginable experiences to the present day observer. Then there were the old newt ponds - quite close to the Tower apparently - that could offer some clue as to the drainage problems that abound along the Naze cliffs. Sometimes springs gush up to several feet into the air from half way down the cliff face - and waterlogged soil, above the impervious London Clay, will requently ooze down to the beach in a semi-solid mud slide. There are some theories that underground streams percolate winter rains to the cliffs from as far afield as Eastcliff or the Naze Marine Caravan Park. Certainly, considerable amounts of water from somewhere are carrying away large quantities of the fabric of the cliffs on a distressingly regular basis. Perhaps some form of substantial inland drainage may yet be necessary to solve the problem... 2005: TIME TO BUILD AN ARK? The word 'flood' has always caused a stir in the minds of local lowland dwellers - whether it be a Biblical hysteria, a measured rational response or just a determined attempt to bury vacuous heads into the soft Walton sands. The problem WILL worsen - most experts agree on that - so, as the sea level rises and the flood defences crumble, putting lives and property at risk, the powers-that-be who represent the hard-working taxpayers of 'lowland Walton' had better get their act together - and fast! It seems to be a little known fact that the Great Flood of 1953 did not actually occur on the highest spring tide of the month. Had it done so, the tragic death toll might have been even higher. To put the vulnerability of the east coast into some sort of perspective, a northerly force nine wind (slightly less than full storm conditions) can raise East Anglian tide levels by about seven feet - just under the height of the average domestic living room... At the time of the 1953 devastation, scientists calculated that the odds of such an event ever happening again were 1000 to 1. However, that was over 50 years ago, the sea level has risen since and global warming is steadily melting the polar icecaps. By the year 2030 the odds of a catastrophe occurring are expected to have shortened to more like 100 to 1. Not such a long shot when it is realised that there are over fifty spring high tides every year! The sense of urgency for addressing the specific problem for Walton, associated with a denuded Naze foreshore and a vanishing Stone Point, was highlighted recently on the Nazeman website, an educational site (full name: Nazeman Education Trust) that is competently run by experienced local naturalist and environmentalist, Mike Todd. Mike, who has lived in Walton's Naze vicinity for most of his life, updates his website's informative 'Nazeman News' on a monthly basis. In the June 2005 update (with reference to the specific problems of flooding in Walton) he wrote: "We tend to forget how low laying parts of Walton are: for instance The Bathhouse Meadow by the Swimming Pool is at sea level, as are parts of Saville Street, and Mill Lane; other areas that could possibly flood being Standley Road, Alfred Terrace and the area adjacent to the Mill Lane car park through to the Kirby Road." Food for thought - and a frightening prospect it presents for the townsfolk of Walton-on-the-Naze for the time when the wind and waves finally conspire against them. [www.nazeman.fsnet.co.uk - site includes: nazeman education trust aims; wildlife pages; geology notes; fossil identification; monthly bird report; monthly erosion report] AN ANGEL FOR THE SOUTH With the breaking news, in November 2005, of plans for a symbolic tubular steel 'church' to be sited off the Walton-on-the-Naze coastline as a permanent memorial to the lost towns [http://losttown.net/] of the east coast of England, Waltonians should be justly proud of having their hometown selected for such an ambitious and evocative scheme; but are they? Recent reports indicate an undercurrent of resentment against such visual extravagance. True, Walton was the second choice after Dunwich. However, rather than dwelling on being a compromise destination for this massive iconic vision that will sparkle in the sunlight while the waves swirl around its robust footings, surely local residents should be proud that Walton's heritage should be remembered in this way? This will be a fitting tribute to the loss of the eighteenth century church of All Saints that was sent crashing into the sea one dark and stormy night. A tribute to the lost medieval town of Walton. A tribute to survival. A tribute that will rival Gateshead. REVETMENTS OR RED HERRINGS? Pouring tons of concrete on to vulnerable beach areas is currently in widespead use as a 'modern method' of preventing cliff erosion on the east coast - but does it really solve this problem? One of the March '05 issues of the Sunday Times Magazine carried a lengthy lead article topically entitled: 'The Day After Tomorrow', that dealt - among other things - with the problems of East Coast sea defences. It quoted a specific concrete revetment that had been built between Eccles and Winterton on the east Anglian coast. It stated: "To fortify village frontages [with revetments] would be to create barren, beachless headlands as the softer coast eroded around them, and the headlands themselves would prevent the transport of sediment so that the plight of beaches would get even worse. Past lunacies are exemplified by the stretch between Eccles and Winterton, where a concrete revetment became so dangerously undermined by the churning of the tides that 150,000 cubic metres of sand now has to be piped every year from the sea bed, at a cost of £2m." So, what of Walton on the Naze, its crumbling cliffs and the rapidly eroding Naze peninsula? What are the chances here that a new concrete revetment will make things worse and not better? A reader of this website, Keith Marshall, has fairly decisive views on the matter. He writes: "Provisional plans for the tower cliffs? That's a bit too local!! But it highlights the problem with Walton - an inability to see the whole picture, backed up by an absence of initiative and strong local apathy. A grudgingly funded plan for one small part of the Naze will only buy a few more years. There is an alternative: a combination of comprehensive, and economically beneficial, solutions which could set Walton as a focal point on the East Coast - for holidays, birdwatching, sailing, and other leisure activities at the same time as preserving - or even increasing - the salt-marshes, backwaters, and Naze promontory. However, a reading of Tendring's outline strategy seems to rule out any such effective measures, without which Walton can continue its relentless decline. I wish it could be different." Different? Now there's a thought! Perhaps there may be many of us who share Keith's sentiment... In the past few years there have been several innovative - but seemingly fruitless efforts - to solve the erosion problems of the Naze cliffs. In September 2002 the East Anglian Daily News ran a story about a retired engineer, Herbert Keele, from Hadleigh, who had devised a cliff protection scheme that would harness wave power to produce electricity as a way of paying for the installation costs. He called his scheme the "Keele Wave Guiding System". By using a series of curved paddles, anchored in line to the sea bed at right angles to the shoreline, the system would allow wave flow to pass through the gaps between the paddles - whose curved shape would deflect the flow of energy to run parallel to the beach - thus controlling and redirecting the wave energy to minimise erosion. His idea was to fit generators to the paddles to convert energy into electricity. Although the scheme has been analysed by the Environment Agency, to date, nothing has materialised. About a year later, the same newspaper ran another 'Save the Naze' story, this time originating from the USA. Jerry Berne, director of Sustainable Shorelines, based in North Carolina, has suggested a coast protection solution that is based on the principle that coastal erosion is not a natural phenomenon, but is caused by manmade intervention such as the aritifial deepening of shipping channels and harbours altering natural beach formation. His solution is the use of "undercurrent stabiliser technology" that neutralises the impact of dredged channels on beaches by putting specially manufactured textile sausage-shaped stabilisers underwater. Apparently, this technology has been used successfuly in Florida and the Great Lakes. Mr. Berne has been in contact with the Department of the Environment, and with English Heritage, but, to date, there has been no positive reaction. Later that same year, the Gazette published a 'postbag' letter from a Mr. Garrad of Frinton, who advocates a surface water drainage system combined with a two metre high concrete or interlocking steel piling wall built at the base of the cliffs. He suggests that funding for this enterprise could be raised from selling off the southernmost part of the Naze Public Open Space as building land... Then, of course, there is the scheme that recently came to light from a local businessman who wanted to girdle the base of the Naze cliffs with a 'protective' line of thousands of old tyres that he presumably had just knocking around. Although tyre barriers have proved effective on sheltered river estuaries, they would have little effect against the full might of the North Sea during a strong easterly gale. At the 2005 AGM of the Naze Protection Society, Chairman, David Gager, expressed the continuing desire of the organisation to work in close cooperation with 'other parties' interested in promoting the Naze. One of the other parties that he mentioned was the embryonic Living Naze project, that appears to be evolving into a sort of 'maritime Eden Project of the east coast' [http://www.livingnaze.com]. The project is being ably promoted by local landowner and Naze Protection Society committee member, David Eagle, who will no doubt need the security of Tendring District Council's Naze cliff revetment construction to be firmly in place before embarking on the multi-million pound initiative, billed as a 'not-for-profit' regeneration scheme. Would that be 'different' enough for people like Keith Marshall, one wonders? Certainly, the Living Naze is a highly ambitious undertaking for a town like Walton. It has drawn out the inevitable NIMBY brigade in the form of AAND (Action Against Naze Development) who have effectively shot themselves in the foot by proclaiming in a pamphlet, distributed in the Autumn of 2005, a wildly inaccurate 600 visitors per hour when the true figure is nearer 500 visitors per day. Quite a difference! Living Naze calculate that this will mean an extra 15 vehicles per hour along the approach roads - hardly a devastating invasion that is going to upset the enviable charm of a small east coast seaside resort. By quoting such inaccurate information in their disjointed campaign, AAND have simply lost all credibility! They quote planned restaurant facilities as 250 seats, whereas in fact they are for 100; they quote the audio visual facility as a 200 seater, whereas in fact it is, again, just for 100; they quote plans for an amphitheatre, maze and playground, which were permanently withdrawn in 2004; their alledged so-called 'linked development' of the Walton Hall and Devereux Farms is about the innocuous, but essential, management of rapidly deteriorating sea wall flood barriers. As for the alledged use of private verges as substitute footpaths - this is pure and absolute rubbish! On the thorny subject of parking, AAND have made wild and unsubstantiated allegations about local road conjestion and car park extensions that are simply not true. Needless to say, as the hollowness of their campaign gradually unfolds, the weather-beaten AAND placards stuck into the lawns of residential front gardens near to the proposed site are diminishing by the day. Ironically, the near hysterical rantings of the 'no to Naze development' campaign have done the Living Naze project a favour; for in being so vociferous, they have encouraged David Eagle and his partners to tone down the aims and aspirations of the original 'fantastic' concept into something that actually becomes an achievable reality... However expansive the Living Naze project appears to be, it is but a mere detail in the general pursuance of environmental protection for the entire locality. The Naze peninsula is a natural defence barrier that protects the Walton Backwaters and associated settlements from tidal surges and the terrible consequences of flooding. The problem we need to address concerns the low lying land at its northern tip that is eroding fast because a local northerly 'longshore drift' is carrying away what is left of the protective beach. This surely means that we must strengthen sea defences for the prevention of this at all costs! Piecemeal construction of new short lengths of hugely expensive concrete revetments to protect specific coastal areas (like the one proposed by Tendring District Council for funding by the Naze Protection Society) might actually cause greater problems of erosion further along the unprotected coast. Instead of this 'tunnel vision', perhaps we should focus on the 'bigger picture' - and that means concentrating our efforts on the site of the long line of old Victorian beach groynes and on the Tamarisk Wall in particular. Surely, this is where our priorities should lie - in the revival of these once effective but now decaying structures - for years our first line of defence against the onslaught of the mighty sea that have now sadly been left to rot away through bureaucratic inaction!