News

Wealden District Council (WDC) is consulting on the next stage of the Wealden Local Plan. The Environment Agency will provide a formal statutory response through our official processes.

We recognise that members of the local community may have questions about WDC’s consideration of designating a Coastal Change Management Area (CCMA) at Pevensey Bay. To support clear understanding, the Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne Coastal Management team has prepared the document below, setting out our position.

Read our Position Statement

You can find more information about the consultation and share your views with WDC before 20 March 2026 at: https://letstalk.wealden.gov.uk/wealden-draft-local-plan-regulation-18-consultation-2

Our team have worked their blades off this week, and it shows!

Check out the before, during and after photos - the beach is looking great, and these works help protect the community ahead of this week’s spring tide.

Huge thanks to everyone involved - fantastic effort all round!

Hello Everyone

Following Paul’s recent update, I will now be leading on keeping you informed about beach management activities. Please feel free to say hello if you see me on the beach or contact me at pevenseybeachmanager@environment-agency.gov.uk

To update you: after Wednesday’s bad weather and the recent spring tide, we’ve seen notable erosion along the western end of the beach front. With spring tides continuing and more south‑westerly weather expected, our team will be working in the early hours of this weekend at Sovereign Harbour. Their focus will be reinstating the beach crest from Old Martello Road, past the Martello Tower, and towards the Revetment.

To make the best of the tides and daylight, the team will be on site very early on both Saturday and Sunday, we apologise for any potential noise during these essential repair works.

We anticipate the following working times:

• Saturday 21 February: 5am-10am
• Sunday 22 February: 5.30am-10.30am

Throughout next week the team will return to normal working hours between 7.30am-5pm. With plant and machinery operating in several areas of the beach please remain vigilant when walking nearby.

We wish you a good weekend.

Kind Regards

Amber

Good morning Everyone,

A check in to reassure you that we are closely watching the weather as the tides peak through Friday and the weekend.

Current forecasts are showing a maximum of 2m waves and no more than force 6 strong breeze winds. We anticipate mild erosion and you’ll have seen the machines busy preparing for that.

We also have our eyes on the big tides following again week commencing 2^nd March and will repair any erosion between these tides.

More generally, we anticipate our operations to continue for at least the next 8 weeks. Can we ask that during that time you please refrain from deploying anything onto the beach crest that may reduce out ability to pass by.

We do appreciate that many of you own the land up to the mean high tide and we use our powers to access your land to reduce flood risk to the whole community.

The beach crest is already narrow in places and we welcome as much access as possible to safely haul shingle along the beach.

I also need to let you know that I have been offered another role in the Environment Agency. I will now be managing the Operations Department for East and West Sussex. This work does still include Pevensey Bay, but I will be passing over the day-to-day operations.

Working alongside Amber will be James Webb. James has 20 years’ experience in the flood risk asset management team, which includes the successful delivery of beach management in Shoreham, Lancing and Seaford.

Amber will be your main point of contact.

I wanted to thank you for all for your feedback, patience and warmth through the Autumn and Summer as we’ve adjusted into this new way of working on the beach.

There is something about Pevensey Bay that it will not be far from my thoughts, plus I will still be in Pevensey multiple days each week.

You are of course still in safe hands. Many thanks to you all.

All the best

Paul Levitt

Good afternoon everyone,

We hope last night wasn’t a sleepless one for you.

Our records show that this event was similar in wave height and energy to Storm Ciaran in November 2023, although last night’s conditions included stronger south-westerly winds.

Overnight, much of the beach crest through to Cooden was lost. Working with the tide, our teams have been rebuilding the most critical sections this morning. We will return to continue this work tomorrow (Saturday morning).

Shingle was washed onto the road at Herbrand Walk, which is currently closed. Shingle was also washed onto the road at Normans Bay, and two beach huts were moved by the waves.

The beach crest remains narrow in several locations, with access restricted east from Normans Bay along the top of the beach.

We will continue rebuilding the beach over the coming days and weeks to restore access where possible.

Please bear with us while this work takes place. We will do our best to limit disruption and to keep you and your homes safe.

👉 To stay informed and prepared, we strongly encourage residents to:

• Sign up for Environment Agency flood warnings:
  https://www.gov.uk/get-flood-warnings

• Subscribe to Beach Manager email updates via our short-term works page:
  https://www.pevenseyandeastbournecoast.co.uk/short-term-phase-2025-2027

Signing up means you’ll receive timely updates during severe weather and coastal events.

Apologies, earlier I got my swells and surges mixed up and hope this did not cause too much alarm.

We do not have a 2m surge forecast. The latest surge forecast peaks around midnight at 1.4m, dropping to 0.7m at high tide 02.50.

The wave height forecast has reduced since previous email to 3.2m at high tide.

This of course may change again but I won’t send any more confusing emails.

We still expect erosion along the beach and rest assured we will be out assessing and repairing in the early hours.

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I’m sure you’ve all been watching the weather, and for those signed up to receive them have now received a flood warning – the text of which I have included below.

I’ve delayed sending an update as the forecast has been changing all week, and there is still some uncertainty about the path this area of low pressure, that brings the wind, will take.

Latest forecasts are possible force 9 winds, 5m waves and 2m surge in the early hours of Friday. The wind direction shifting from South westerly, West south westerly, Westerly.

Fortunately, this weather soon passes, and we’ll have North westerly wind again. The forecast may change of course. ( If the low pressure passes further South from us the impacts will be less).

We’ll assess the expected erosion along the beach as soon as the tide starts to drop. Machines will be deployed as soon as we can work with the tide at 06.30.

We’ll have 5 no. Bulldozers, 6 no. 30t Dumpers and 2 no. excavators out on the beach.

We’ll make a further assessment tomorrow, Friday, whether we need to deploy machines through the weekend. With the tides and wind dropping we may not have too.

Stay Safe.

A flood alert has been issued by the Environment Agency.

Flood alert in force: Coastal areas of Pevensey seafront

Flooding is possible for: Coastal areas of Pevensey seafront between Sovereign Harbour and Cooden Beach including Norman Road Pevensey, The Promenade Pevensey, The Parade Pevensey, Beachlands, Normans Bay and the Cooden Beach Hotel

High tides on Friday may lead to flooding.

Flooding is possible for 2 hours either side of Friday’s early morning tide at 02:30 on 09/01/2026.

Storm Goretti increases tide table values by 0.91 m. The total forecast tide is 7.57 metres Chart Datum (3.92 mAOD) at Eastbourne. Severe Gale Force 9 Westerly wind. A small number of beach top properties from Sovereign Harbour to Cooden Beach, including (but not exclusively) the Parade and Promenade, Pevensey Bay, Beachlands, Normans Bay and Herbrand Walk could be flooded. Coastal roads may be affected by water, shingle and other debris. Friday’s tide at 14:45 09/01/2026 is forecast to be 106 cm lower (2.86 mAOD). Provided the beach is still in good condition, flood risk should reduce.

We are checking flood defences at low tide we will check and maintain the condition of Pevensey beach.

Don’t put yourself or others at risk Danger – stormy seas. Avoid Pevensey beach and Herbrand Walk at high tide.

This message will be updated by 6:00PM on 08 January 2026 or as the situation changes.

Be prepared

You should:

Stay up to date

To get the latest flood information, you can:

A quick overview of our plans over the holiday period.

After tomorrow, we currently plan to have machines on the beach Monday 22^nd, Tuesday 23^rd. Then Monday 29^th & Tuesday 30^th.

22^nd & 23^rd will be early starts to maximise working around the low tide and be clear for your afternoon walks.

We will be on standby for all other days until the new year. With current forecasts of high pressure and winds switching to North Easterly, we hope not to have to mobilise but will be ready if the weather changes.

You’ll have seen the progress we have made rebuilding the crest since the spring tides almost 2 weeks ago. There is still more to do and fortunately due to the Southerly winds that brought the damage there is still lots of shingle at the toe of the beach, and at Cooden.

We will be monitoring the beach and weather throughout the holiday period, with a keen awareness of the rising spring tides through the weekend immediately after the New Year before back to normal Monday 5^th Jan.

Please bear in mind if you send any enquiries or information to the beach manager email address over the next 2 weeks, there is likely to be more of a delay in responding.

I’d also like to say a big thank you for sharing the beach with us. We listen to all your feedback and act upon it when able to do so. The warmth that you have shown the team out on the beach does makes a difference. It gives us even more pride in the work we do on this beautiful beach.

Discover the latest progress on the Scheme, upcoming works, and key updates.

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