L’Ancresse rock armour is anchored into place by wall
ROCK armour work at L’Ancresse is finishing, but questions are being asked about what will happen next.
Agriculture, Countryside & Land Management Services has been organising the temporary solution at the northern beach, which has involved placing rock armour against the base of the wall.
‘Boulders in the region of three to four tonnes have been used and were passed over the wall in order to reduce impact on the environment at L’Ancresse,’ an ACLMS spokesman said.
‘Once on the beach a trench was dug in front of the existing toe and a layer of four-tonne rocks placed below the beach level, on top of a geotextile membrane, to establish a secure base for the structure. The rock armour was then placed so that it interlocked to create a stable structure against the tidal forces acting upon it.’
The work is set to be finished this week. While the work took place and the equipment was on site, some investigations were carried out in preparation for the next stage.
A Planning Services spokesman said they had received queries about these investigations.
‘It has been confirmed to us by engineers working on the beach that two holes were recently dug to assess the height of rock and the beach was then immediately reinstated,’ he said.
‘The rationale was that the work took advantage of the digger on site during the rock protection works and thus saved on the cost of bringing a machine down on a separate occasion.’
Concerns were raised on social media that the holes required planning permission.
‘While Planning Services would not normally comment on speculation, on this occasion we felt it important to clarify that this work did not amount to development under the planning law,’ he said.
Environment & Infrastructure is keen to remove part of the wall and let the area return to sand dunes, rather than repairing the wall.
Vale deputy Neil Inder, who is opposed to the removal plan, has submitted written questions to E&I earlier this week in a bid to find out how much the work has cost, whether an environmental impact assessment has been carried out and when a formal planning application for the work will be submitted.
E&I has 15 days to respond.
Temporary work is now winding down and has taken a week longer than planned due to the recent bad weather. However, the contractor was able to reallocate employees during this period so no additional cost was incurred by the States.
