Work to repair the damaged sea defenses at Southsea seafront started this morning, according to the Portsmouth City Council.
Staff from Portsmouth City Council and the Eastern Solent Coastal Partnership have been working hard over the extended bank holiday weekend to secure machinery and materials to stabilize the hole in the sea defenses.
The hole appeared on Boxing Day when a section of the sea defenses collapsed following bad weather and high tides overnight.
Councillor Rob New, Portsmouth City Council’s Cabinet member for Environment and Community Safety , said: “ All our officers have worked extremely hard to get this work to commence at such short notice. Everyone should be aware this area of the esplanade is a very dangerous place at the moment as the defenses are structurally unsafe. We have put barriers in place to block access to the part of the esplanade affected but we are unable to prevent access via the beach due to the tides.”
A full planned program of work will begin tomorrow morning with 80 tonnes of rock being delivered to the site from 7am to form a temporary secondary defense.
From 9am two lorries will begin hauling 60 – 300kg of rock to the site which will be used to reduce the rate of erosion and cut back behind the defense line.
Over the next two weeks larger rock armor will be imported to secure the site further and prevent further beach erosion.
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