Severn Beach rail line 'threatened' by sea level rise

The rail line runs out of Bristol through Avonmouth to Severn Beach

A council leader is calling on the government to help fund flood defences for a rail line at risk of flooding from rising sea levels.

In a letter to transport secretary Mark Harper, South Gloucestershire Council leader Claire Young said defences were needed along the Severn Beach line due to a risk of flooding.

The work is expected to cost £12million.

She said the investment would "protect communities, businesses and nature".

Cllr Young added: "The councils, working with the Environment Agency, have designed a project that will protect homes and businesses on Severnside, as well as help to create new natural habitats in an ecologically unique area."

"It is vital that this work is itself protected by the extension of the defences to protect the rail line and all that relies upon it against the threat of rising sea levels," she added.

'Exposed to flooding'

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the railway, designated as critical national infrastructure, is used to transport more than 1,000 tonnes of rubbish every day to the Suez-energy-from-waste incinerator in Avonmouth.

The rubbish is then burned and the heat is used to generate electricity.

Massive flood defence work is already underway in the area, known as the Avonmouth and Severnside Enterprise Area Flood Defence and Ecology Mitigation Project.

This includes building 1.5 kilometres of defences on the land side of the railway line.

However, the Department for Transport (DfT) decided to not fund the flood defence work on the sea side of the railway.

Cllr Young is urging them to reconsider their decision.

In her letter, she said: "The flood defence alignment is generally on the seaward side of the Severn Beach branch line.

"However, there is an approximate 1.5 kilometre exception to this where due to the environmental designations of the Severn Estuary, it was not possible to build a new flood defence on the seaward side of the railway, outside of the Network Rail corridor.

"The project secured planning permission for a continuous alignment of new flood defence in 2019 so a design for the landward side of the railway was approved, but this will leave the railway exposed to flooding and damage as flood risk increases with sea level rise."