Hope on the Humber

It’s a while since I’ve taken you to the Humber estuary – you can catch up on the background to some of our work here.

To cut a long story short the conjunction of a major estuary, internationally important for the bird numbers it supports, and an array of development pressure has led to a lot of potential conflict.  Ensuring that the natural world is placed centrally in the decision-making process is a vital part of the work of my colleagues on the Humber.

It’s not straightforward.

Too often the hard work to protect some of our most important wildlife habitat is characterised as a win at all cost battle between development (and jobs) and the natural world – sometimes it is – most often it’s not, it’s about ensuring that the options picked are the right ones.  Trashing the natural environment because it is convenient or the cheapest option is not on. If damage is unavoidable, then how can you mitigate the impacts or compensate for the loss?  If damage is avoidable – avoid it.

A recent proposal for port-related facilities on the Humber South Banks by the port company Able UK is a case in point.  I could go on and on about the history of this case – it’s long and tortuous and we could have resolved issues far sooner – but I’m not going to do that.  The good news is that solutions have been found that can enable the development to proceed and fix the environmental issues that the project will cause.

There’s a way to go yet before we get to the dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s  – but there is renewed optimism. If the outcome is successful (and credit for getting this far goes to staff at Natural England, North Lincs District Council and Able UK) this will be a real breakthrough for this part of the Humber.  There needs to be a lot of detailed work between now and when this comes back to the planning committee in April but, at last, a good outcome is within site.

So is this just a one off or a real step in a process that builds confidence for other projects in the future?

We’ll know soon – a hop and skip along the coast from this development is the proposed site for a marine energy park.  The cast is more or less the same as the developer is again Able UK.  This is also a large development involving port facilities and the ability to manufacture kit for the off-shore wind energy industry. It is being scrutinised by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) and this is the first time we’ve engaged with their process.

It’s early days and we are working through the information that is being provided in order to understand the risks and impacts of the development of a 1.3km quay on the edge of one of the world’s most important coastal wetlands.  We’ve got a long (and often constructive) history of working with the ports industry – there’s been a change of approach on the South Banks of the Humber which is timely and welcome, let it just be the start.

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