The Defra fund of  £28m fund, providing up to £10m each year, has been allocated for projects to be delivered in 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15. 

The fund will support work that aims to:

restore more natural features in and around waters;

reduce the impact of man-made structures on wildlife in waters; or

reduce the impact of small, spread-out (diffuse) sources of pollution that arise from rural and urban land use.

Funding is available to charitable organisations to carry out projects in England that will restore rivers, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, coastal habitats and their surrounding landscapes to more natural conditions, to tackle pollution, restore wildlife habitats and enable fish to migrate.

Land & Water’s Managing Director, James Maclean said after the announcement  “This is great news for communities and the environment.  As a responsible contractor working on England’s waterways we see far too often the results of neglect and hope that charities will take up this opportunity to return things back to nature.”

Closing date for bids is 29th February.  Funding will be awarded by April 30th following assessment by a national panel led by the Environment Agency and representatives from Defra and Natural England.

Follow the link for information on how to apply:  environment-agency.gov.uk

For more information call Land & Water on 0844 875 1260 or email us at enquiries@land-water.co.uk

The MMO site provides full details on the process and licensing. The highlights are below:

“Dredging (including aggregate dredging)

Dredging was not a licensable activity before the start of the marine licensing system on 6 April 2011. Accordingly, there is a transitional period of one year from the start date during which a dredging operation will not require a marine licence, provided the dredging operation:

would not have fallen within section 34 of the Coast Protection Act 1949

would not have required a licence under Part 2 of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1984

is not excluded from this exemption by an order made by the Secretary of State.

At the end of the transitional period, a marine licence will be required for any dredging. The carrying out of any form of dredging, whether or not involving the removal of material, requires a marine licence.

Dredging is a broad term and includes the use of any device to move any material from one part of the sea or sea bed to another part. This includes dredging for any purpose, for example, creating new channels or berths, maintaining existing channels or aggregate dredging for commercial supply. This also includes all types of dredging, for example, suction dredging, water injection dredging or sea bed levelling.”

The Land & Water Group with its in-depth understanding and experience of dredging activities is able to offer its clients help and advice to navigate the regulations and obtain the right license quickly and efficiently. 

If you are planning navigational, maintenance or any other form of dredging please contact Land & Water for more information on how Land & Water can assist with licensing, planning and dredging operations: Please contact  Jayne Hornsby on 0844 875 1260.

A bespoke silt curtain was designed & manufactured 94m long by 8.4m deep, ballasted to enclose the purpose built Land & Water pontoon and thus prevent contamination leaking into the River Fowey during the dredging operation. The silt curtain weighing approx 2 tonnes was installed by a 15 men team, including 4 divers, in one day.

The marina site falls within the Fal-Helford area, a SSSI, however the site formerly occupied the Empire & Kings wharves, each more than 200m long, which were constructed in the 1930s. The wharves have now been removed and as they have not dredged since 1938 almost 10,000m3 of highly contaminated material containing heavy metals toxins such as TBT- which experts claim is the most toxic substance ever deliberately introduced into the marina environment- needs to be removed from site.

The silt being unsuitable for disposal at sea, due to the local oyster & mussel beds, is being transported in sealed lorries to the redundant China Clay workings at St Austell where, after being mixed with green waste and sewage, it will be used to landscape the former industrial site without the contamination proving to be an on-going issue. 

 See video of the dredging project.

Silt curtain arriving on site

Silt curtain assembely

Silt curtain assembely

Weighing almost 2 tonnes the silt curtain required plenty of labour and an experienced team of divers to fully install

Land & Water team work hard to make sure the silt curtain is positioned correctly.

The silt curtain is continually installed around the floating booms.

The silt curtain now fully operational and the long reach excavator is ready dredge

The silt curtain now fully operational and the long reach excavator is dredging

The silt curtain fully operational and the long reach excavator is dredging

During the summer months of 2011, over 32,000 tonnes of contaminated sediments was removed by Land & Water services from the harbour area of Falmouth marina, Cornwall

There were particular problems under the two cranes used to lift vessels into and out of the water. Operating their bespoke SiltTek water erosion system. Land & Water removed over 4,000m3 of soft silts from the areas restoring easy access to berths.

The system work by blasting water via the pipe system at approx. 7 Bar pressure directly into the silts forcing them up and into suspension. By working only on the falling tide (one hour before to one hour after) these suspended solids are taken away naturally on the tide and widely dispersed. The method proved highly effective around the post and anchor chain moorings where conventional backhoe dredging cannot be deployed.

Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study - Blyth Marina WE 2010

Land & Water elected to perform a combined dredging operation by using a cutter suction dredger alongside the highly manoeuvrable ‘Wight Silt’ dredger, with its versatile water erosion system, meaning the entire harbour could be reached. The operation removed 17,700m3 of silts in just nine weeks, 30% faster the earlier methods. After gaining the necessary FEPA license, land drainage consent, Harbour Master’s permissions and with close liaison with local ancient mussel bed fishermen work began in Conwy marinas and then moved to Deganwy.

The hydro dynamic system dislodged the silt layers putting them into suspension in the water column behind the boat, the suction system on the ‘versi’ dredger collected them and pumped them approx. 900m to the designated scour hole. Working on the falling tides allowed good dispersal of any uncollected sediments.

Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study - Conwy & Deganwy Dredging

The programme was extremely tight with several critical deadlines starting with Land and Water Services installing the sheet piles (below) in one day for the temporary Bailey Bridge abutments to be installed thus providing access for the old bridge demolition process.

Two cofferdams were installed using Land and Water Services Movax piling rig following footpath and services diversions. These cofferdams were excavated, steel support frames and braces installed, dewatered and blinded, then handed back to the formwork contractor. Once abutments were constructed these cofferdams were backfilled and the sheet piles extracted. Once the new bridge deck was cast, Land and Water Services excavated underneath to form new bank revetments.

Further cofferdams, as above, were installed for the new bridge requiring a reduced dig to level, once abutments were cast, five rows of gabion baskets were filled and fitted to the exposed abutment sides (inside the cofferdams), backfilled and then piles removed.

The lake banks were re-profiled to 1:3 slopes, covered in topsoil and Tansar 200 geotextile was pinned to the surface and hydra seeded. Despite the volume of works required, the extreme weather conditions in the area Land and Water along with other contractors made great efforts to finish within one day of the finishing date.

Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study - Eton Rowing Lake

The dredged material was used to cover debris along the adjacent foreshore where previously, demolition materials had been left on the beach.

Land & Water’s cutter suction Versi dredger was employed to breakup the compacted sand and then pump it over the marina wall along the foreshore to the disposal site. The dredger was fitted with a Tower Dig system enabling the operator to have screen view of the cutter heads depth and position. This was particularly important at Burry Port as the underlying silt could not be dredged or deposited on the adjacent foreshore.

Due to the continuing deposition of sand from the tides and the movement of sand within the marina, it was important to carry out continuous hydro graphic surveys as well as the pre and post dredge surveys.

Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study -  Bury Port Dredge 2010 

As part of ECI consultation previously provided, Land & Water together with their client, re-evaluated the works to include some distinctive ‘value engineering’ ideas. The inclusion of a wetland to increase biodiversity and wildlife habitat coupled with a significant reduction on the original schemes carbon footprint helped to define the final proposals. Instead of importing large volumes of material from off-site, the existing lake was drained down to allow for a haul road to be constructed within and along the east side of the lake. Material was then won from a borrow pit excavated at the south eastern end of the lake where material was won to increase the height of the existing dam.

This method negated the need for 6,000 lorry loads of imported material to be hauled to the site through busy suburban areas and past a school entrance. Using careful testing and thorough monitoring, Land & Water increased the height of the dam and constructed a new spillway, using materials, selectively won from the borrow pit with a limited amount of high specification clay (used under the spillway) imported by road.

The borrow pit was then transformed into a wetland with the introduction of reedbeds, improving not only the aesthetics of the area but creating a wildlife habitat and increasing biodiversity on the site and within the local community.

Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study - Tilgate Dam Construction

The silt layers ranged from 300mm/400mm to 1.2m in depth. A JS 240 long reach excavator and 6 piece Ravestein pontoon were used within the confines of the marina, loading 3 x split, bottom discharge hoppers. Due to restricted depth of the marina entrance cill and the confined nature of the marina, the hoppers were taken to a temporary mooring berth by a transfer tug and moored until all three were ready for disposal.

The mouth of the marina was extremely restricted and took some expert operation by the transfer tug operator. During the correct tidal window, the sea-going tug “Datchett” then towed all three split hoppers to the licensed dumping area at Treloar Hole which is some 5 nautical miles from the Marina. Work was carried out around existing pontoons and there was a weekly progress meeting held to enable all parties to be aware of any required boat movements prior to our dredging operations.

The client was happy with the overall operation and apart from a slightly slow start the complete operation took 11 weeks Including the mobilisation and demobilisation and also included 4 days of bad weather. During the bad weather we were unable to dredge because wave heights restricted the operation of the specialist craft. A total of approximately 11500m³of silt was removed. The team also worked during some of the Christmas break to make full use of the prevailing “spring” tides. Using Land & Waters’ road transportable plant 100% of the dredged material was able to be re-used beneficially for the recharging of mudflats within the Chichester Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest.

 Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study - Emsworth Yacht Harbour dredge

Work originally began on constructing the outer harbour late in 2009 to accommodate this new activity in the port. The harbour entrance channel was also deepened to extend the times that small-draft workboats for windfarm workers and crews could enter and leave the harbour, in particular for morning and early evening entrance on neap tides.

Unfortunately by late 2010 it was apparent that the new outer harbour had experienced substantial erosion and re-siltation so Land & Water Services were engaged by Wells Harbour Commissioners to remove this material and further increase the depth of the harbour, depositing the arising material to strengthen the surrounding berms.

Land & Water used an 8 piece Ravestein pontoon with a 15m long reach excavator to carry out the works which was supplemented by 2 further 22m land based long reach excavators and a D6 Dozer spreading the arising material. A total quantity of 25,000m3 of material was removed during this contract.

Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study Wells Harbour dredging 2011