Fermain repairs set to cost more than £600k estimate

The issue was back in the spotlight after Distance.gg, the long-distance running club, raised fears that the cliff path would end up being closed.

The wall was badly damaged in storms during 2014 and an estimate of £600,000 was made by Environment & Infrastructure last year to carry out repairs.

The club, which has 50 members, took to social media to question the progress of the work publicly.

Committee president Barry Brehaut said work should be under way in autumn next year.

‘We are looking to firmly establish the problem. The cliff face is pushing forward. Whatever we do we’re going to have to put some rock armour in place.

‘It’s a significant job and is currently being undertaken by the States engineers before we go out to tender.

‘The estimate for the work is likely to increase,’ he said.

Following storms in 1995, the States spent £240,000 rebuilding sections of the wall and reducing it in height, which was only partially successful.

A Board of Administration spokesman said at the time: ‘The whole south side of Fermain is moving.’

‘This section of wall is much harder to access,’ said Deputy Brehaut.

‘An assessment took place in the 1990s and this particular section of wall was not deemed necessary for reinforcement, but that was obviously wrong.

‘We want to get it right this time.’

Distance.gg spokesman Ross Le Brun said he feared another storm would see the cliff path closed to the public, which would come at an inconvenient time for the club.

‘I made an appeal for anyone with engineering experience to come forward because we haven’t heard anything, we want to know what can we do to stop this. My idea was to find people who want to give back to the community.

‘They’re talking about L’Ancresse wall but we’ve got a more immediate problem here. There’s only 16 metres from the edge to the pathway and the path is quite a bit further away, but it won’t take much more before they have to close the path.

‘I don’t think it’s a case of the cliff collapsing because why hasn’t the rest of the wall come down? You can see where the sea has eroded underneath.’

‘The club has just started the first international trail race in Guernsey and it’s something that’s going to grow. The course is 30 miles around the island from Pleinmont through this section of cliff paths,’ he said.