£1.5m plans to fix crumbling sea wall 'not enough'

VILLAGERS whose coastal homes are under threat from the waves say £1.5m of proposed improvements to the crumbling sea defences do not go far enough.

New Forest District Council has said it will underwrite the initial cost of the work on about 180 metres of the Westover sea wall in Milford, close to the White House, which experts have warned could be damaged by winter storms this year.

But residents “cannot see the logic” because the total area of the damaged wall stretches to around 270 metres.

Milford Parish Council chair Cllr Bob Bishop said: “The concern is the works will stop before a part of the wall which has been broken in several places and, if so, what impact that means for the homeowners there. I know it’s a major concern for some people.”

Homeowner Susan Beatty added: “We are very concerned about the impact of defending some and not all of this stretch of coastline.

“It is not clear if an impact assessment has been conducted or whether erosion might potentially be accelerated at the undefended stretch of cliff.

“We are also worried that the land behind these new sea defences will be eroded, making a longer-term defence plan more difficult. We desperately need a date for when the entire 270-metre stretch will be defended, and we don’t even see rough estimations in the council’s communications.”

As reported in the A&T, a report commissioned by NFDC from contractor Jacobs revealed the failure of a 270-metre section of the concrete protection, which lies to the west of the Grade II listed White House.

It warned that if nothing is done, around 50 properties – including the White House – were at “imminent risk”. It suggested stabilising the wall, compensating for the loss of beach material, and installing protective boulders.

Work must be done this winter, it added, to ensure the homes’ safety.

Initially NFDC had insisted that because it does not own the land affected it had no legal responsibility to do anything, but pledged to bring parties together to find a solution.

One resident – who wanted to remain anonymous – has claimed the owners of the 50 properties at risk were contacted by NFDC and asked to pay £23,650 each towards the work.

But now NFDC has said it is prepared to underwrite £1.5m worth of work this winter, because the Jacobs report said there was an “urgent” need.

The improvement will broadly comprise a, 8,500-tonne rock structure which will protect about 170-180 metres of the wall. It is expected this will be delivered by barge from France.

“Provisionally it is expected that site works will commence early September, but this will be subject to securing a suitable barge and rock supply as well as completing procurement requirements,” NFDC said.

To fund the project, NFDC has submitted two funding bids to the Southern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (SRFCC).

The first seeks an £800,000 contribution towards urgent interim work to protect the White House and reduce risk of further failure of the seawall. That would be supplemented by £150,000 from NFDC’s reserves.

The second bid seeks money for a £250,000 scheme to correct more of the wall, which would come over two years and include a further £50,000 contribution by NFDC.

A “key outcome” to that will be identifying funding streams and contributions by local partnership funding, the council said – who could be homeowners living close to the wall.

NFDC said outcome of the bids will not be known until at least October. It will also prepare a business case with the aim of securing Environment Agency grant aid of £800,000 towards urgent work.

The council stated: “NFDC recognises that through the Jacobs report there is an imminent risk to properties in the coming winter.

“Through the Coast Protection Act the council is able to use powers to put in place urgent works but cannot deliver a full scheme this year.

“This will take time to develop and will be done through bid two.”