Landslip-hit cliffs to get £1.4m safety improvement
BBCMore than 15 miles of cliff will have safety and maintenance improved after £1.4m funding was approved by a council.
Across the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council area there is 15.5 (25km) miles of coastline.
Fourteen-point-one miles of these are owned and managed by the council with the other 1.4 miles privately owned, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The spending was approved at a meeting of full council on Tuesday but some councillors questioned whether plans for £41m funding during the next 20 years was enough to maintain the cliffs.
Most of the coast is protected from erosion by groynes, seawalls and beach nourishment, but the council said these measures do not protect the cliffs from groundwater instability which causes slips and landslides.
The council said the money would help bolster the stability of cliffs following landslips at West Cliff and East Cliff earlier this year.
Councillor Andy Hadley, cabinet member for climate response, environment and energy, said: "We need to continue to do maintenance and part of the works that we've found is there are things that haven't been maintained as well as we would like over the last maybe 20-30 years."
He told councillors that over the next two years the £1.4million funding, that will come from the council's reserves, will help to prevent further cliff slips and maintain the current coastline including 700 sand drains.
The proposal shows that there is ongoing work to develop a cliff management strategy that has identified the cost for maintaining and managing the coastline in BCP over the next 20 years is estimated to be in excess of £41million.
Some councillors agreed the funding was needed but raised concerns about the lack of detail in the current report about what the one-off payment of £1.4million will achieve given the extent of the maintenance needed.
Councillor Judes Butt said: "We need to do it properly because £41million to me, to be absolutely honest, over 20 years seems well short. I'm just concerned how do we in BCP work out these estimates."
Councillor John Beesley said: "'I'm broadly supportive of the paper... and I'm very keen to find out what the longer term strategy is particularly around the funding."
Following the landslips in March an extended wire fence and warning signs were put in place along with a temporary pathway at West Cliff and the promenade was narrowed at East Cliff.
