Bid to make Petit Port access safe

The only designated access to the south coast bay has been closed since March, after a large landslip filled up the rock catch netting. Any further rockfalls would have seen stones and boulders fall onto the path.

Now Agriculture, Countryside and Land Management Services has submitted a planning application.

Within the document, acting senior environment services officer Emily Coule said as the area was in a site of special significance, the work had been very carefully considered.

The length of the netting will be just over 11 metres, and usually about two metres high. However it will be up to three metres at the deepest section of the gully. The netting will be installed in strips to conform well to the uneven cliff face.

‘Works will require vegetation removal (majority scrub) and may cause disturbance thorough noise and vibrations,’ Ms Coule said in the letter to planning.

‘Time of year is an important factor in how disturbance is caused. February to August is bird breeding season and a particularly sensitive period in natural cliff areas... Ideally we would complete works at the end of the summer, after bird breeding but ahead of the rainfall, which would make working on site dangerous.’

The steps are still closed at this stage.

The area has a long history of being unstable, with the steps being closed for long periods of time in recent years.

• The planning application can be viewed at https://www.gov.gg/liveplanningapplications