Burnham mystery

[DavidofMersea]

We went to Burnham to day. We walked along the sea wall, past the RCYC, and past the last of the moorings, and on the south bank, I saw a new blue structure. It looked like a dock, with conveyor belts going over the marshes and far away. Anybody know what it is?

 

[Lucky Duck]

I suspect it is the facility to unload spoil from the Crossrail tunneling works onto Wallsea Island as part of the habitat creation scheme. The buoyage was changed last August due to the increase in shipping this would bring.

 

[baldyash]

Correct!

 

[Tomahawk]

What a total waste...

Many of the sea walls around the Dengie and Blackwater are getting old and with the threat of sea level rise, no longer afford a 200 year protection..

People are at risk of flooding. The material from Cross Rail could have helped to strenghten the sea defences...

But the RSPB bagged it to make a play ground for up market trainspotters..

 

[DanTribe]

Starting this summer there will be 5 ships a day [or per tide?] for 7 or 8 years, bringing in 10 million tonnes of spoil.
We are assured that it's not going to affect the river flows or interfere with yachting. Tell that to the marines.
At a public meeting I asked;
a] How much land-fill tax they would be paying?
b] when could we start harvesting the wildfowl?
Didn't get an answer

 

[Tomahawk]

Starting this summer there will be 5 ships a day [or per tide?] for 7 or 8 years, bringing in 10 million tonnes of spoil.
We are assured that it's not going to affect the river flows or interfere with yachting. Tell that to the marines.
At a public meeting I asked;
a] How much land-fill tax they would be paying?
b] when could we start harvesting the wildfowl?
Didn't get an answer

Talking of harvest..

It is interesting to note is that setaside payments have recently been withdrawn. It seems the Government recognises we have a food production issue begining to develop.

At the same time the Government begins to think about food supplies, Wallasea Island has now been permanantly taken out of food production .. It used to be some of the best and highest yealding agricultural land in the South East. The former owner of the island needed to sell some land and the RSPB could outbid all the commercial farmers who would have continued to produce food.

So we have failed to defend people from the risk of flooding and we have taken good food producing land out of production at a time of worseing food security.. The RSPB seem to imply that as long as you can look at a bird, you do not need for anything more..

 

[DavidofMersea]

It was SWMBO that first told me that the spoil was coming from the crossrail construction. I asked the first question because I thought she had got it wrong. I don't understand why the spoil is being transported this way. It comes out of the dig and is loaded into lorries, lorries to ships, ships to the conveyor belt and then presumably spread about. I would have thought it made more economical sense for a lorry to take the spoil from the dig to where it finally goes - or is there something I don't understand?

 

[DanTribe]

It was SWMBO that first told me that the spoil was coming from the crossrail construction. I asked the first question because I thought she had got it wrong. I don't understand why the spoil is being transported this way. It comes out of the dig and is loaded into lorries, lorries to ships, ships to the conveyor belt and then presumably spread about. I would have thought it made more economical sense for a lorry to take the spoil from the dig to where it finally goes - or is there something I don't understand?

There's lots of it, 10 million tonnes. lots of trucks.
That many lorries in central London would be " bad thing"
The roads out to Essex are poor, to Creeksea / Wallasea Bay very poor, from Wallasea to the deposit area, non existent.

 

[Habebty]

It was SWMBO that first told me that the spoil was coming from the crossrail construction. I asked the first question because I thought she had got it wrong. I don't understand why the spoil is being transported this way. It comes out of the dig and is loaded into lorries, lorries to ships, ships to the conveyor belt and then presumably spread about. I would have thought it made more economical sense for a lorry to take the spoil from the dig to where it finally goes - or is there something I don't understand?

Have a look at the Crossrail website, it goes by train to Kent, then barge to the crouch. They have just opened a large ish new spoil rail terminal in Kent especially for the spoil.
Rail straight to Burnham would be difficult due to lack of land for new rail unloading facilities.