Kate Winslet drops plans for 560ft sea wall at £3.25m West Sussex home

Kate Winslet has withdrawn an application to build a 560ft sea wall to protect her £3.25 million beachside mansion in West Sussex.

Government advisors Natural England and a local conservation body both said the wall would threaten habitats that rare species of birds, like little egrets, depend upon.

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A letter from the architect dealing with the development confirmed it will no longer be going ahead on Tuesday last week.

According to the Daily Mail, the letter read: "I would like to confirm that the application for the sea defences application be withdrawn."

Application for the boulder and gravel sea wall to protect the actress' West Wittering home from falling into the Solent was first lodged in January.

According to the Independent, a spokesperson for Natural England said: "Our objection centres on the fact that the application site falls within land which is protected as a special area of conservation, special protection area, Ramsar wetlands and site of special scientific interest.

"The proposal would result in direct loss of protected habitat and would be likely to have a significant, adverse effect on these designated sites."

The planning document stated: "The proposed privately funded sea defences will ensure that the existing vegetation and public footpath will be protected into the future.

"Furthermore it should be considered that the footpath is liable to become dangerous in areas without protection from further erosion of the existing banks."

But the Chichester Harbour Conservancy told the Chichester Observer it remained "unconvinced of the need for this sea defence and that its impacts on the landscape and nature conservation interested of the AONB would be acceptable.

"The application does not appear to have considered alternative options such as setting the footpath further back thereby avoiding the need for a hard defence on this stretch of currently undefended, natural shoreline."

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