A bid that could see one of the largest floodgates in the UK installed in a coastal town has taken a significant step forward.
As part of a £67m project that will protect thousands of homes in Lowestoft from flooding, a 40-metre mitre floodgate is earmarked to be built in Lowestoft's outer harbour as the final phase of the town’s permanent flood defences.
With construction works to reduce the risk of flooding to more than 1,500 homes and 825 businesses in Lowestoft starting in May 2021, Lowestoft Flood Protection - known previously as the Lowestoft Flood Risk Management Project - has been gathering pace.
A public consultation ran earlier this year, and according to Lowestoft Flood Protection: "the 40m tidal barrier will be the second largest of its kind in the UK".
And now details of a 'proposed Lowestoft Tidal Barrier order' have been unveiled.
To gain permission to install the barrier and access land for its construction and future maintenance, East Suffolk Council needs to submit a Transport and Works Act Order to Defra.
A planning notice - detailing the notice of application for an order - states: "East Suffolk Council is applying to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under section six of the Transport and Works Act 1992 for the Lowestoft Tidal Barrier Order to be made.
"The proposed Order, if made, would authorise the council to construct, operate and maintain a new tidal barrier comprising principally of twin mitre gates across the inner harbour entrance channel to Lake Lothing on the seaward side of the A12/A47 Bascule Bridge in Lowestoft, together with new demountable tidal defences connecting into the new tidal barrier, new operational buildings and to execute any ancillary works."
Copies of the application documents for the Lowestoft Tidal Barrier TWAO application will be available to see on the council website from October 12 to November 23, with this latter date the time for representations or any objections surrounding the proposals to be sent to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
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