A damaged sea defence on the east Norfolk coast is set to be examined by a team of engineers, in the hope of finding a solution to repair it.
A 100m stretch of gabions - rock filled cages - at Scratby was damaged overnight on March 31/April 1 when high tides and gales lashed the coast, toppling a newly installed lifeguard station at nearby Hemsby.
Part of the beach is currently closed off to the public and danger signs have been put up.
The gabions were discussed at a meeting of Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s (GYBC) environment committee on Wednesday, September 21.
The issue was due to be discussed by the committee on Tuesday, September 13, but had been postponed following the death of the Queen.
At the meeting, an officer explained that the beach had become narrower and lower since the gabions were first installed in 2015, leaving the defence more exposed.
She said that they had been monitoring the gabions since the storm, and that they had not become further dislodged since that time.
Similar damage in 2018, caused by the ‘Beast from the East’ storm, had resulted in the council having to pay £420,000 for repairs.
Conservative councillor Penny Carpenter asked for the officer’s assurance that the council had been speaking with local residents to make them aware of the issue and that the gabions, despite the damage they had suffered, were still doing their job.
The officer replied that the gabions were still serving their purpose of preventing erosion to Scratby’s cliff-face and they had provided the local parish council with all of the information, to be circulated to the community.
The committee agreed that as well as appointing a team of engineers to survey the damage and find out which solution would be most suitable to fix it, a further public safety risk assessment will also be carried out.
The repairs will not come cheaply, as the council estimates that an option of “do minimum/make area safe” will cost some £550,000.
More expensive solutions run upwards of £1m, with the priciest suggestion - to install offshore rock armour - costing almost £1.8m.
A council report on the issue states that funds additional to GYBC’s existing budget “would need to be identified” in order to afford any of the potential solutions.
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