Severe Damage to the Railway Path Nr Mill Copse

Many of you will know that the railway path near Mill Copse sustained some severe damage last December. The image to the left shows how that damage occurred as huge volumes of water flowed over into the pond from the river. This undoubtedly happened as a result of a high spring tide coinciding with low pressure.

Since then the Town Council, Yarmouth Harbour , Freshwater Council, West Wight ward councillors and others have been trying their best to push for repair and a long term solution. The last thing that we want is for local communities to lose this vital walking and cycling link for the West Wight.

Whilst the main response has been to provide red barriers, which have blown over countless times, till now there is no date for any remedial work to start. In August, after water was again flowing over the path and the barriers fell,

some posts were driven in to tie them more securely and so far they are largely staying vertical. Some have expressed concern about the path surviving this winter’s high tides and storms and believe that a temporary barrier of sandbags on the river side could hold back the worst of any flow. This might enable the path to survive until proper repair work can begin.

Some things have been happening during the past year. Funding has been found from the Green Link project, of which this pathway is a part, and there is now a project manager. But licenses still have to be sought from the Environment Agency (EA) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) as well as design work being completed for the required engineering solution.

This second image was taken on a calm weather day in late September when there was a high spring tide of 3.03 m and high barometric pressure of around 1015 Mbr. The water is just overtopping. There are many more high tides this winter in excess of 3 m and they only need to coincide with an area of low pressure to risk further damage.

Those who have been trying hard to move this forward will continue to do so and do their best to protect our railway path. The Town Council will also keep you up dated of any development on these news pages. If anyone would like to comment on this subject please email the Town Clerk in the first instance.