Wyre lodges £40m sea defence plans
The scheme aims to protect up to 11,000 homes and businesses in and around Cleveleys in Lancashire from flooding by reducing coastal erosion.
The first phase of the £40m Wyre Beach Management Scheme, due to complete by Christmas, involves placing layers of rock armour underneath the beach at the base of an 883-metre stretch of sea wall between Café Cove at Cleveleys, and the southern end of Rossall School grounds.
Work on this part of the project, which is aimed at protecting existing defences from failing should beach levels drop during a storm, is planned to start in May.
The second phase of work will start once the first phase has finished and is expected to take three years to complete.
Phase two involves constructing rock armour groynes – rigid structures designed to limit the movement of sediment – to help stabilise the beach and reduce wave height, thus minimising the risk of flooding.
The groynes will span the coastline from Kingsway to Fleetwood and be subject to a separate planning application to be submitted later this year.
Under the plans, part of Jubilee Gardens would be used as a site compound and for storage, while traffic lights would be placed on North Promenade between Jubilee Gardens and Carr Gate for site vehicles to cross the highway.
Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering is the contractor for the project.
