Work to improve flood protection will begin on Weymouth beach next week. (15/10)
Dorset Council will start work to lower the level of the beach near the sea wall on Tuesday. This will help protect sea front properties from coastal flooding. The work, which is expected to take up to three days, will also help reduce wind erosion.
Engineers have decided to lower the height of the beach so there is less chance of waves coming over the wall. The work is being done in co-ordination with Weymouth Town Council.
An excavator and a mini-digger will be used to reduce the level of the sand by around 700mm, mainly along the southern end of the seafront. The excavators will move beach material back from the sea wall and then a bulldozer will level it across the beach.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council Portfolio Holder for Environment, Highways and Travel, said: “This work is important to help protect Weymouth seafront from coastal flooding and wind erosion. Lowering the beach will reduce the risk of waves coming over the wall. The work is expected to take up to three days and we apologise for any inconvenience.”
Cllr Jon Orrell, who represents the seafront area of Melcombe Regis on Dorset Council, said: “This work is welcome in the short term, recognising that in medium term we will need to do substantially more to protect the town from climate breakdown.”
Dorset Council has a Beach Management Plan relating to sea defences and also works closely with Weymouth Town Council and its Beach Management Team. Similar beach levelling work has been done previously.
I have only just seen this news (only just arrived in Inbox), so my comment is probably too late.
My suggestion is to FIRST move stony beach material northwards (roughly from Jubilee Clock to Pier Bandstand), and then move excess sand from the southern portion to refill the area where stony material has been removed, thus extending the lovely stone-free part of the beach nothwards.
This makes the sandy beach able to be less crowded (or to accomodate more) in the most popular stone-free areas.
Thanks for your comments. Engineers are carrying out the Beach Management Plan, which sets out how to manage the beach to improve flood protection asset. Engineers aren’t lowering beach levels below the Mean High Water Mark (MHWM), therefore aren’t altering the dynamics in a way that allows waves to break against the sea wall. What we are doing is creating a flat, wide beach crest (above MHWM). If the beach was left alone there was a far greater chance of storm waves running straight up the beach and over the sea wall. This work has been done before and may have to be done again, but it is small scale compared to our other projects it so can be repeated. Hope that gives more of an insight and thanks for taking an interest in the technical side. Best wishes, Kate
Spreading the material across the adjacent beach means that wave action in the near future will probably bring it back near to the wall.
Wouldn’t it be better to remove the material altogether, the Weymouth beach sand must be a valuable commodity and easy to sell on, the income would probably pay for whole operation.
I won’t divulge my age, but as a youngster playing football on the sands at the southern end of the beach in the 1960’s I can recall a wall of at least 5m above the sand in this area. Works over many years to develop the pier area behind the Pavilion have obviously created a situation where the sand is moved naturally by wave action to the south but then is trapped and can’t move on any further.