River restoration project to turn clock back 200 years to avoid ‘catastrophic’ flooding

The scheme was set back earlier this year when a bid for lottery funding was rebuffed.

Project leaders have now revealed how they want to progress should it raise the cash needed to complete the work, estimated to be between £8million and £9m.

Dr Sam Bridgewater, of LORP, said: “We want to restore the estuary to something like its condition just over 200 years ago before embankments were built to claim new land for agriculture.

“These defences are now failing and we want to act before a catastrophic, uncontrolled breach occurs.”

Clinton Devon Estates and the Environment Agency, which are leading the project, have been considering four options for the scheme. At a consultation event held in Budleigh Salterton last summer, members of the public backed ‘option three’, which involves keeping most of the existing embankments with minor breaches of the river banks.

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