G3
RSPB Parliamentary Briefing
17 November 2003
Evidence session
on Ghost Ships
Briefing on possible
questions for the Environment Agency
RSPB concerns
The RSPB has been concerned about the impacts of
the construction and subsequent deconstruction of a dry dock at
Graythorp on Teesside since the late 1990s. Our main priority
has been to ensure the internationally important populations of
wildfowl and wading birds feeding on the mudflats at Seal Sands,
immediately opposite the proposed dock, are not subject to disturbance
or pollution events that could affect their survival.
The importance of Seal Sands to birds
If constructed, the dry dock would be partly within
and adjacent to an area of intertidal mudflat known as Seal Sands,
the largest such area within the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast
Special Protection Area (SPA). The SPA is internationally important
because it supports over 20,000 wildfowl and wading birds throughout
the year, some species of which are present in internationally
important numbers in their own right. The SPA is afforded strict
protection under the EU Directive on the Conservation of Wild
Birds.
Within the SPA, the Seal Sands mudflats are especially
important, being home to thousands of wildfowl and wading birds
through their autumn and spring migrations and over winter, including
redshank, knot and ringed plover. Therefore, the September to
May period is the most sensitive for the birds that rely on Seal
Sands (and not just the November to February period identified
by the Agency (see below)), for example ringed plovers peak in
April and May.
These birds rely on the mudflats to ensure they survive
the winter and are in a fit condition to make the long migration
to and from their Arctic breeding grounds. Any significant disturbance
from noise or human activity - which prevents birds feeding, especially
if repeated - can reduce their ability to take in enough food
to ensure they are in good condition to migrate and breed, and
could increase their mortality rate.
Able UK's proposal
The proposal by Able UK to dispose of the so-called
"Ghost Ships" at Graythorp Dock, Teesside, requires
planning and other consents to construct a rock-filled coffer
dam and dry dock, as well as a waste management licence to dispose
of the waste materials.
Information from Able UK about its 1997 coffer dam
proposal suggests it would take about 2 months to construct and
require a 150 metre bund comprising 'piling gates' within which
rock will be tipped. The rock fill would be tipped from road wagons,
placed by dozer and hydraulic excavator, and placements would
peak at 170 wagon movements per day (5,000 tonnes). Unless carefully
managed, such intensive construction could result in significant
disturbance to the wildfowl and wading birds of Seal Sands.
The Environment Agency's assessment of environmental effects
on birds
In deciding whether to grant the waste modification
licence in September this year, the Agency had a legal requirement
to consider the wider effects of the scheme on the SPA, including
construction/deconstruction of the coffer dam and the dry dock.
Such construction/deconstruction could occur more than once depending
on how many times new 'ghost ships' have to be brought in and
the dry dock "re-created".
This gave the Agency the opportunity to carry out
a full 'appropriate assessment' of the effects on the birds of
Seal Sands, but it did not do so. Instead, it decided that a condition,
placed on the contested 1997 planning consent, to reduce disturbance
to wintering birds during the November to February period
was enough to safeguard the interests of the SPA's birds. In reaching
this decision the Agency failed to address the fact that the sensitive
period for the SPA's birds extends from September to May.
By failing to address fully the potential effects
of the scheme on the birds using Seal Sands, the Environment Agency
denied itself the opportunity to require more stringent conditions
to protect from disturbance all of the internationally
important populations of wildfowl and wading birds using the Seal
Sands part of the SPA. This could breach British and European
wildlife legislation designed to protect the birds of the SPA.
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