Work has started on an important coast protection scheme for Scratby, which aims to give the community more time to adapt to coastal change.
The scheme is to lay a 877-metre long revetment of about 1,300 gabions – stone-filled and crushed concrete-filled cages – from the existing rock berm at Little Scratby Crescent, northwards across Scratby Beach to reach Newport.
The three metre-high gabions are being positioned at the toe of the soft, sandy cliffs, protecting the low dunes, which are their natural buffer from lapping waves. If left unprotected, these dunes take some years to recover once hit in a storm, meaning they are less effective at reducing erosion to the cliffs if there is another storm soon after.
The added protection aims to delay the rate of erosion, giving the community time to adjust to coastal change, using the findings of the Government-funded Pathfinder Project, which identified the properties and areas at risk, and potential options, such as displacement land further back from the cliff which householders and businesses could relocate to.
The scheme is designed to help protect 35 homes which are nearest to the cliff edge, over a 25-year period, and there are another 100 homes further back which are at risk over a 100-year period.
The project will take 25 weeks to complete, with pauses for the Christmas fortnight and at Easter. Workmen will lay three tiers of gabions, containing 1,760 cubic metres of crushed concrete in the bottom tier and 2,200 cubic metres of reject stone in the top two tiers.
The £600,000 scheme, developed with the community and Scratby and California Environment Group (SCEG), is scheduled to be in place before the 2016 summer holiday season.
It is funded with £330,000 from the Environment Agency, £91,000 from the Regional Flood and Coast Committee, and in the region of £170,000 from Great Yarmouth Borough Council, including £101,000 from the Pathfinder Project, plus £2,000 from the SCEG.
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