The working sea defences.

Just Click a photo to open it.

The impression given by the Bid is that our sea defences are weak and require a lot of money spent on them. This is bad for the area because it will affect insurance premiums, property values and the official attitude towards maintaining the defences.

I am not an oceanographer nor am I a horticultural expert either but I know what I know and what I can see. So lets look at these defences.

What the new officials will not know: When I first came here there were two wide concrete promenades, one below the other, with their own steps down to the beach. Some 15 or more feet high. (I have asked for plans to draw up a more precise picture). Millions of tons of granite rocks were brought over the North Sea by massive barges in an operation that went on for many months. These were stacked up against the bottom promenade to create a natural key and then millions of tons of sand was brought on to the beaches, literally covering all these rocks and the lower promenade to a level a few inches from the top of the upper promenade. This had the effect of pushing the sea back from the defences and even if reaching that far would thus only be a few inches of water instead of the powerful 10-15ft of water that had been battering the defences at every high tide before the work. It was common to hear this like a continuous express train from a mile away but no more. Now on the beach we can see flora and fauna and new dunes forming too well away from the defences. Surely this cannot happen under salt water. Maybe it can and maybe I am wrong. But in my humble opinion, it is all evidence of the success of the work and thus to maintain this will not require more than regular sand replenishment and maintenance. I have attached pictures of the new plant life so see for yourself. Some, as far as 50m from the promenade, and they must be preserved because they are binding the sand and stopping it from being displaced.