TRAINS will be replaced by buses on the Lymington Pier to Brockenhurst railway line for up to eight weeks in the autumn while a £3.4 million flood defence project is undertaken.

The branch line will be closed to allow 860 metres of sheet metal piling to be driven into the marshy ground between the Lymington River reed beds and the track.

Vibrating pile driving equipment will be mounted on special trains so the work can be carried out from Ampress, south to the Bridge Road level crossing, without causing major disturbance to wildlife.

Mark Plowman of the Environment Agency (EA) said it was at the final stage of negotiation with Network Rail "but we are confident it will go ahead".

In Bridge Road the flood defences will be continued south to meet existing defences by raising the surface of the carriageway on a slope of 1:100.

There will also be a gate which will swing across the road in flood conditions to prevent water inundating 142 residential properties and the railway line.

The scheme will stop a recurrence of the floods of Christmas 1999 which affected numerous homes in and around Bridge Road and Waterloo Road.

That year the flood originated upstream of Bridge Road causeway and flowed along the railway to the level crossing.

Town councillor Jean Vernon-Jackson welcomed the project, due to start in September.

She was pleased that it had been recognised that flooding is caused by the river as well as by high tides.

"The houses in Bridge Road have had a grim time of it. I don't think enough notice has been taken of the river getting over-full and bursting its banks there," she said.

She also welcomed plans to restore a footpath on the river's west bank. It will be handed over to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Naturalists' Trust.

Numerous Lymington residents concerned about the risk of flooding attended an Environment Agency roadshow set up on Town Quay on Monday.

As well as looking at plans of the Lymington Flood Alleviation Scheme, they could also get ideas about how to keep water out of their homes.

They included boards that fit in front of doors and devices to fit over air bricks.