Cuckmere Haven River Clean-Ups Funded

A grant worth nearly £100,000 has been secured to help the Environment Agency keep the mouth of the River Cuckmere clear, and save the village of Alfriston from flooding.

Much community concern grew this summer, and in previous years, as the mouth of the river at Cuckmere Haven became clogged with silt and stones.

Reports were frequently made of stagnant water, freshwater fish appearing ill, and the River Cuckmere failing to flow at all into the English Channel.

At one point, volunteers spent time on the coastline, moving shingle and other material themselves to allow the river to run into the sea once more.

Now, the government's Environment Agency has announced it secured £100,000 of Flood Defence Grant-In-Aid, with the aim of funding river-mouth clearances in future.

It added in a statement yesterday (September 22) that the first of the clearance works was already complete.

However, the purpose of clearing Cuckmere Haven will be to help prevent flooding in Alfriston, the village 3.5 miles north of the river mouth.

When water levels are high, following rains or snow melts, the settlement of about 830 people frequently suffers large amounts of ground water on its surrounding fields.

Some of the flood area is shown in the map (right, by contributors to OpenStreetMap.org).

Waters sometime cover roads, and the flooding creates transport difficulties because of the small number of local highways suitable for large vehicles.

But a continuing concern of people living locally is the lack of flow in seasons when the River Cuckmere's waters are naturally low, but there is no flood risk to Alfriston.

The Environment Agency added that it did not, at present propose to clear the river during these times.

But officials said they were "exploring a partnership" with the Water Level Management Board, to allow them to contribute to the project so that more frequent clearances could happen.