Collapse blamed on lack of funds

31 January 2007

Sea defences on the Essex coast collapsed due to a lack of funding for maintenance work, according to the local council.

Residents of Holland-on-Sea woke up last week to find a large section of the 60m wall protecting their coastline had collapsed following severe weather. The stretch of defences has been plagued by problems, and numerous small works have been carried out in an effort to stabilise them.

However, the council believes the Government ignored its calls, and only ‘patched up’ the defences, while ‘rejecting’ pleas for a bigger scheme.

Harry Shearing, councillor for technical services at Tendring District Council, said the failure of defences could have been prevented if a £24M government project had not been delayed. He said: ‘We have been warning this could be the eventual outcome at Holland-on-Sea for some time. ‘We have been patching up four areas since 2000, but it was very much a sticking-plaster job, and not the comprehensive scheme which was planned. ‘Had that initiative taken place as first proposed, then the work at Holland-on-Sea would have been completed by now, and we would not be facing this problem. ‘I take no delight in the fact that our predictions have come true – quite the opposite – but maybe now the Government will have to take notice of what we have been saying all along.’

The collapse was just yards along the front from where the council is spending £250,000 reinforcing 200m of seawall. A spokesman for DEFRA said: ‘The Government is committed to flood and coastal erosion risk management across the country. ‘It has invested some £4.5bn since 1996/97, and is considering future funding levels. ‘However, there is not a limitless pot and schemes have to be prioritised. ‘The scheme at Holland-on-Sea did not score highly enough against other schemes to enable the department to grant aid it at the time.’ However, in light of the collapse, he said the department would ‘review’ the situation and consider any application for funding put forward by the council in ‘respect of emergency works’.

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