Pagham Harbour and Medmerry

Sunset at Pagham Harbour from North Wall — Image: RSPB - Adrian Thomas

Project objectives
Progress so far
Work planned or underway
Downloads
Who to contact
Partners

Pagham Harbour and Medmerry management plan consultation

From 1 April 2013, the RSPB will manage Pagham Harbour and Medmerry under five-year Management Plans. We publicly consulted on the draft plans between 13 October and 9 November 2012. Thank you to all those who responded. The original documents are still below for you to download if you would like to see them.

We are now analysing the results and feeding the comments into the draft Plans. We will produce a report before Christmas of the responses, which we will publish on these pages.

Managing Pagham Harbour

In February 2012, the RSPB took on the day-to-day management of Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve from West Sussex County Council.

Over the next 10 years, the RSPB will run this much-loved and internationally-important site under a Service Level Agreement with the Council.

West Sussex County Council had managed Pagham Harbour as a Local Nature Reserve since 1964.

However, given the unprecedented pressure on public finances, the Council felt that there were organisations better placed to manage the Local Nature Reserve to ensure its sustainable future.

After exploring all the possibilities, the Council asked the RSPB to enter a partnering Service Level Agreement (SLA), under which the Council will have an executive role and will guarantee an annual payment for 10 years to help support the service.

The transfer happened on 2 February 2012, and the reserve staff who were in post when negotiations started were transferred to the RSPB.

The SLA will be managed by an RSPB/WSCC Contract Management Committee and minutes from the Committee meetings will be made available here.

These project pages will also report on the Pagham Harbour Local Communities Forum meetings, as set up under the SLA.

Project objectives

The project aims to secure a sustainable future for Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve that:
protects and, where possible, enhances the environmental and historic interest in the site
maintains and improves public access and visitor facilities
and delivers a programme of quality environmental education.

Key dates so far

2 Feb 2012: The RSPB takes on the day-to-day management of core areas of Pagham Harbour LNR
10 May 2012: First Pagham Harbour Contract Management meeting
29 Jun 2012: First Pagham Harbour Local Communities Forum