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Contractors are due to begin work on a £1.2 million scheme
to repair vital sea defences at Holland-on-Sea later this
month.
The project was approved by the Environment Agency (EA) in the
summer after the Council successfully bid for a Government grant
for 2008/9.
The programme of work in the Hazlemere Road area will get
underway on November 24 and it is hoped to be completed by Easter
2009.
The Lower Promenade in that area will be closed for public
access while the scheme is undertaken. The promenade will reopen
for pedestrians over the Christmas break - provided the surface is
in a suitable condition and that it is safe to do so.
The initiative involves replacing the sea wall with a new
concrete stepped defence which will include a new beach access
ramp.
TDC officers have identified this particular stretch of the sea
wall at Holland-on-Sea to be the most vulnerable to attack from the
sea.
Last year the Council carried out emergency works costing
£400,000 after another part of the seawall at Holland-on-Sea
collapsed.
Harry Shearing, Portfolio Holder for Technical and Procurement
Services at TDC, emphasised that while the latest work was vitally
important to sea defences along that stretch of the coast, it was
certainly not the long term solution to the problems there and
along the entire District's coastline.
"Tendring - along with other coastal authorities - is facing a
massive threat to our sea defences which will not be going away,
and will only get worse over time," he said.
"What is required is a comprehensive major scheme such as the
£24 million project put to Defra in 2004."
Cllr Shearing assured residents that the Council would continue
to do all in its power to press the EA for the funding required to
properly protect the District's sea defences.
"We will carry on the fight for cash with our residents, the
Holland-on-Sea Residents' Association and with local members and we
are pushing for a meeting with the Government Minister," he
added.
"In the meantime I am delighted that this work at Hazlemere Road
is set to begin and help to prevent further collapse of the wall at
what is a very vulnerable location."
The scheme is being carried out by contractors J Breheny
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