New bridge marks completion of Lower Otter Project

The 70-metre footbridge was the final construction stage of the major environmental scheme at Budleigh Salterton.

The project is creating 55 hectares of mud flat and saltmarsh by allowing the tide to flow freely in and out of a new inter-tidal area. 

It is reversing the work done 200 years ago when an embankment was created to hold back the sea, creating 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.

To prevent this, Clinton Devon Estates 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 habitats for invertebrates, fish, waders and wildfowl.

On Friday, November 25, the Elizabeth Bridge was officially opened, spanning the breach made in the 200-year-old embankment. The breach reconnects the sea and the river to its original floodplain.

Clinton Devon Estates said the Lower Otter Restoration Project (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.

Chief executive 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.”

Dr Sam Bridgewater, Clinton Devon Estates’ Director of Environment Strategy and Evidence, and the Estates’ lead on the project, said one of the biggest challenges was having to restructure the Estate landholdings to accommodate the project. For example, working with tenant farmers to adapt their business models to an uncomfortable climate change reality and finding a large, flat piece of ground to relocate the often-flood hit local cricket pitch.

He said: “LORP has been a great partnership project and with the Environment Agency we found a partner whose vision and ambition matched our own.”

The Environment Agency managed the development of the scheme, appointing engineering consultant Jacobs to lead the design of the project, contractor Kier to carry out the construction work and Hi-line to provide specialist ecological support.. 

Project managers say 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 it to develop 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 such as 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 including lesser yellowlegs, white egrets, avocets, glossy ibis, spoon bills and at least two ospreys, have been seen.

Ecologist Mark Wills, an ornithologist with Hi-Line, worked on the project for more than two years. He said: “We have had two different ospreys call in on migration. Normally they just stop over for a day or two – this time they remained on site for nearly two weeks, which is amazing. We’ve got a bigger body of water, and the ospreys seem to have felt better able to feed.”

Although construction is now complete, monitoring work will continue at the Lower Otter, which it’s hoped will become an extension of the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths National Nature Reserve (NNR).