‘Investigation into Fermain repairs will cost £20,000’
IT IS going to cost up to £20,000 to see what work is needed to carry out repairs at Fermain.
Environment & Infrastructure president Lindsay de Sausmarez said that this was the first step in what is likely to be a costly process, although she declined to give an estimate at this stage.
‘We’re not expecting the final overall project cost to be cheap,’ she said.
‘It’s a complex technical issue. It’s not just a case of a broken wall, the main issue is the cliff.’
Local consulting engineers Dorey, Lyle and Ashman successfully bid to carry out the review, which coastal defence programme manager Peter Barnes said will provide recommendations on what to do next.
He expected that further site investigation works would be necessary.
‘Whatever the solution, we will need to do something to stabilise the cliff,’ he said.
This was not the first time that E&I had gone out to tender for work on the wall, but the first request for interest in 2019 did not attract any bids.
It sought companies to undertake both investigative work and provide a detailed design for the wall repair.
Mr Barnes said companies that might have bid said that taking on the contract as it stood would have meant significant risk to them, so it was decided to revise the works involved in the initial tender.
A further tender will be prepared for the next phase of the work based following the review.
As well as progressing the tender, making Fermain wall a priority had been a challenge, said Deputy de Sausmarez.
‘It took quite a lot of political will to move it up the agenda. When damage was first done it was very difficult for the first few years to justify prioritising it ahead of structures that protect key infrastructure.’
Like the anti-tank wall at L’Ancresse, the Fermain wall was a historical military defence rather than a sea wall.
This was why E&I was looking to bring in a new policy to categorise coastal features and coastal defences separately, and during Wednesday’s States meeting Deputy de Saumarez told members about the idea.
‘We’re hoping this new approach means they won’t have to compete directly against each other as they have done in the past.’
Among coastal features would be such things such as slipways, military structures, steps and paths.
It was only because the former environment Committee had brought L’Ancresse forward that it had become a priority for the last E&I and then the new one.
‘L’Ancresse in theory was never going to get to the front of the queue because it didn’t protect anything.’
Deputy de Saumarez said the new policy was tentatively being called the coastal strategy and E&I had worked closely with Policy & Resources on it.
‘I’m encouraged that P&R have shown real interest in these kind of coastal features so I’m hopeful that we can allocate them the kind or priority that I know many members of the public would like them to have.’
