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Tendring District Council (TDC) has made a successful bid
for almost £1million to help prevent the further collapse of sea
defences at Holland-on-Sea.
The Council has been told that it will get a £900,000 Central
Government grant for 2008/9 - provided detailed proposals for the
scheme are agreed by the Environment Agency.
If the approval comes through it is expected to start the work
in September 2008 and finish in about April 2009.
The money is coming from DEFRA and will be for work to be
carried over a 400 metre stretch of the defences between Hazelmere
Road and Kings Avenue.
Tendring District Council Officers have been investigating the
state of the seawall in the Holland-on-Sea area and have identified
this section as the most vulnerable.
The scheme will involve reconstruction of the wall itself by
rebuilding in front of it.
Harry Shearing, Portfolio Holder for Technical and Procurement
Services at TDC, said he was pleased the bid had been successful
but this was not the solution to the problems at Holland-on-Sea and
along the Tendring Coast.
"This is really what we call a 'Do Minimum' scheme and all it
will do is help prevent the further collapse of the sea wall along
this part of the coastline," he said.
"What we really need is the £24million scheme - originally
approved by the Government - which was due to get under way in 2004
but was then cancelled. That really would have protected our
defences from erosion from the sea.
"All we can do in the meantime is to keep patching the defences
up and hope they will hold out. However, it is little more than
emergency work and is not the long term answer to this issue."
Last year the Council carried out a £400,000 project of
emergency works after the collapse of part of the seawall at
Holland-on-Sea.
Cllr Shearing added that the Council will continue to press for
major funding for a substantial programme of works.
If the Environment Agency gives the green light to the detailed
proposals TDC will go out to tender for a contractor to carry out
the latest scheme. |