Summer deadline for work on sea defences

The new defence project which will transform Scarborough’s South Bay has provoked a wave of controversy after its design was whittled down from six to two options.

Scarborough Borough Council’s cabinet will meet next Tuesday to decide on the format that the new defences should take. Cabinet members are also expected to accept £290,000 in funding to carry out groundworks to provide data before designs are submitted to the Government in February next year.

The council’s cabinet portfolio holder for coastal and flood defences, Councillor Andrew Backhouse, said: “Now is the time to make a decision. There has been a great deal of debate, but we need to decide so that the scheme can progress.

“We cannot be seen to be foundering on this as ultimately the Government could step in and make the decision for us.”

The council’s cabinet agreed in February to pursue plans for a £22m stepped concrete revetment with a wave wall instead of a £16.6m rock armour option, which was put forward by the authority’s civil servants.

However, the rock armour scheme now looks as though it will be approved – after the council’s environment and economy scrutiny committee recommended yesterday that the cabinet should opt for it as the preferred choice.

Coun Backhouse stressed the defence scheme involving the concrete steps had initially been chosen as it would have created a lesser impact on the seafront. But he admitted the concrete revetment project is now likely to be given the go-ahead.

The £290,000 in funding from the Environment Agency will be used for extensive groundwork studies to prepare detailed designs. Coun Backhouse confirmed every effort is being made to ensure the work, which will see bore holes drilled along the seafront, will be completed ahead of the tourism season.

The Yorkshire Post understands that contractors will be on site within the next six weeks if the council accepts the funding. The authority has already been given £560,000 from the Environment Agency to draw up designs.

The scheme is part of a coastal defence strategy adopted in 2007 amid growing concerns that existing structures could fail and are in need of major improvements. Coun Backhouse admitted lessons would be learned from the scandal surrounding a controversial scheme at Marine Drive, but he maintained that the authority now had a “proven track record” for introducing major defence projects. The council was criticised in December 2004 for breaking the law and its constitution for engaging High-Point Rendell for the Marine Drive scheme and then concocting a bogus best value report to make it look as if the contract was properly tendered.