Work on one of the most significant conservation projects in South West England is complete. The Lower Otter Restoration Project (LORP) at Budleigh Salterton, East Devon, created 55 hectares of mud flat and saltmarsh by allowing the tide to flow freely in and out of a new inter-tidal area.
Two centuries ago, an embankment was created to hold back the sea to create more farmland. In recent years, the embankment had started to fail, putting recreational facilities, footpaths, a municipal tip and other infrastructure at risk from serious flooding.
The project, which took almost 15 years from initial idea to completion, came about initially as the 22nd Baron Clinton, whose family own Clinton Devon Estates, contemplated the real risk that embankment failure and catastrophic flooding resulting from rising sea levels and heavier and more frequent storms could swamp land and impact on communities in the Lower Otter valley.
The Estates’ Chief Executive, John Varley OBE TD, worked with Haycock Associates to develop several options and the Estate consulted widely on the future for the Otter Valley. John said “We were basically replacing a traditional English pastoral landscape for a wetland. We needed to take people with us”.
Together, the Estate and the Environment Agency devised an ambitious plan to re-connect the River Otter and estuary to its former floodplain – providing space for floodwater and creating habitat for invertebrates, fish, waders and wildfowl.
For Clinton Devon Estates, LORP is central to its 2030 Strategy on land-use, with two of its ambitions being adaptation to a changing climate and the restoration of the ecological health of its land holdings. John Varley said: “Everything we do is with tomorrow in mind. There was a danger that without the Lower Otter Restoration Project there would have been no ‘tomorrow’ for parts of the Estate or for our tenants and neighbours.”
Significant positive changes have already been recorded, both for the benefit of local people, visitors, and wildlife. South Farm Road, which in the past has been impassable due to flooding, has been moved and raised by the project. Budleigh Salterton Cricket Club has now moved to a flood-free pitch, with improved facilities enabling them to grow youth, women’s and disability cricket with a stunning new pavilion. New signage, interpretation and parking is also in place to help visitors understand and enjoy the site and identify its wildlife.
Animal and plant species already resident in the area, including beavers, bats and rare birds like the Cetti’s warbler and little ringed plovers, continue to thrive in the valley. The evolution of habitat from agricultural land to wetland habitat has only just begun, but already rare bird species like lesser yellowlegs, white egrets, avocets, glossy ibis, spoon bills and at least two ospreys, have been seen.
That work and the future management of the site is the responsibility of the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust (EDPHCT) – a charity set up by Clinton Devon Estates in 2006 to manage the Heaths and Otter Estuary. To give the new Reserve area the support it deserves, the charity has appointed a new ranger, Rick Lockwood.
Rick said: “We will monitor how the habitat develops and the wildlife responds over the coming years. We really hope the local community develops a strong connection to the site and with the improved footpath networks we are now seeing a broader range people getting out into nature who may have found this more difficult in the past.”
Following on from the success of LORP, the Estate secured project development funding from Defra to deliver the Heaths to Sea Landscape Recovery initiative to explore further options for nature recovery in the valley. The project area is made up of land managed by the Estate and tenant farmers. The vision for this project is for this diverse landscape to be nature rich and ecologically healthy whilst also supporting food production, net zero, timber and access needs. All facets will be considered in the development of plans throughout the 2-year project development phase.