A row of beach huts along a popular promenade are set to be demolished, provided plans get the go-ahead.
A new scheme has been lodged for the 58 concrete beach chalets on Jubilee Parade in Lowestoft, which closed in the summer of 2016 due to safety issues.
With health and safety engineers raising fears over the structural integrity of the 1930s buildings almost four years ago, East Suffolk Council said last December that the beach huts would be replaced as part a £2.5million scheme.
Plans – which centre around the concrete beach chalets at Jubilee Parade on the south Lowestoft seafront being demolished – have now been submitted.
The application also states: “Work necessary to reinforce existing retaining wall and cliff face to prevent land slip and risk to the public.”
A planning statement submitted earlier this month by the agents Richard Vest Architectural Design Ltd on behalf of East Suffolk Council for “the demolition and ground stabilisation” of the beach huts on The Esplanade is currently “awaiting decision.”
It states: “The cliff wall at Jubilee Parade is believed to date from the Victorian era, when the original upper and lower promenades were created. As well as being the retaining wall for the cliff, it was also the rear wall to a row of 58 clinker block and concrete beach chalets.
“In approximately 2003, cracks were identified in the retaining wall in isolated locations and ground anchors were installed to mitigate the risk of collapse.
“In 2016 further cracking to the wall was identified resulting in the decommissioning of the concrete chalets and their replacement with wooden beach huts on the promenade.”
With plans approved in 2017 “to use ground anchors to stabilise the retaining wall” and demolish the concrete beach huts, work began last year. But this was soon halted, with surveys carried out to “assess the risk of wall or cliff collapse.”
Now, with new proposed works in place to “address these risks” it adds: “The council are working up a proposal to construct a steel deck above the existing chalets to support a row of wooden beach huts. The intention is to use the piles from the wall stabilisation design solution as the foundations for the steel deck, which will be the subject of a separate planning application.”
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