At a public meeting on Tuesday night, residents learnt more about Ventnor’s coastal protection scheme (see below), as well as the proposed replacement railings for the Cascade (more on that to follow).
Isle of Wight council’s Strategic Manager for the Environment, Natasha Dix, gave an informative and clear presentation about the failure of the sea defences along the Eastern Esplanade, the emergency work that took place in November 2022, the urgent works which began in February 2023 and the medium-to-long term plan for coastal protection from Monks Bay in the East to Castle Cove in the West.
Ahead of schedule
As reported earlier this month, the urgent works to protect and reinstate the revetment from the Eastern Esplanade car park to Wheeler’s Bay are ahead of schedule.
Natasha explained that was by about ten days at the moment, with the completion date of February 2024 possibly being brought forward, weather and conditions depending.
Residents were thanked for their patience in relation to the closure, but also the noise created by the 12m king piles that are being driven in during low tide twice a day (often very early in the morning and late at night).
It may feel as though the revetment is going to be closed for a long time, but Natasha explained that the work being carried out has been praised nationally, as work of this size, scale, and cost has never been carried out so quickly before.
Investigative work
In addition to the closure of that part of the revetment, the section from Wheeler’s Bay heading east to Horseshoe Bay will also be under investigation for 18 weeks, starting in September.
Isle of Wight council has partnered with the Environment Agency, Volker Stevin (who will be carrying out the work) and JBA Consultants (who plan the work) to investigate the structural integrity of the existing coastal defences on that stretch, in order to understand the condition of the ground beneath and what work needs to happen to protect the defences. They’ll be drilling bore holes along the revetment, whilst avoiding the large sewer pipe that runs under the promenade.
Closed from Wheeler’s Bay to Bonchurch
Intrusive ground investigative work by Volker Stevin will begin around 1st October (although they will be on site earlier) and run until the end of the year.
Businesses who will be affected by the closure may be compensated – they’re encouraged to get in touch with the Environment Agency ( [email protected] ) to discuss this further.
Cyclists, dog walkers, runners and walkers will have to find alternative routes for the next few months as this important work takes place.
Volker Stevin will also be using around 50 per cent of the car park on Shore Road to store their equipment, materials, welfare etc, something the Ventnor Town Council who manage the car park, only discovered at the meeting.
Western Cliffs dewatering scheme
Over on the other side of town a dewatering scheme is being investigated to protect the entire town from future landslides. Natasha explained that a similar scheme has been working successfully for many years further along the coast near Castlehaven.
Over a period of 16 weeks there’ll be a temporary construction site and welfare compound above the Western Cliffs (near the large Ventnor chalk sign) and at the western end of La Falaise car park.
The contractors will be installing subsurface monitoring equipment and drilling an abstraction borehole before undertaking a pump test. From this they’ll be able to find out more about the groundwater behaviour, the water quality and extractable quantities and devise a scheme to protect Ventnor in the future.
For two weeks at the beginning and end of the 16 weeks, the footpath will be closed to the public, although there will be a diversion in place.
Find out more
If you would like to be added to the email newsletter to receive updates on the projects send an email to [email protected]
Another public meeting is hoped to be scheduled in a couple of months. We’d strongly encourage anyone interested in this work to attend, as the meetings are incredibly informative and offer an opportunity to ask questions at the end.
