Plans for the coastal defences at Kingsdown

As part of my volunteer work to help with the protection of the coastline, I have been talking to Dover District Council about the poor state of coastal defences at Kingsdown. The groynes are now past their usefulness, they no longer hold the beach and the seawall has collapsed twice in the last few years. This leads to emergency funds being provided by the Environment Agency to shore up our defences. Plans to strengthen the defences has been prohibitively expensive. But there may be hope for us yet.  

As myself and several residents recently met with the East Kent Engineering Partnership (EKEP).  Below is a summary of our meeting...

East Kent Engineering Partnership (EKEP) has been commissioned by Dover District Council (DDC) to develop plans for the coastal defences at Kingsdown. The EKEP was established in June 2007 bringing together the engineering teams of the five East Kent Coastal Authorities; Canterbury, Dover, Shepway, Swale and Thanet and are very experienced in coastal defence works.

The short-term

In the short term the EKEP will be securing the failed wall to the North of the Old Lifeboat House. This will be carried out by installing steel sheet piles at the bottom of the seawall, repairing the cracks and inserting metal tie bars which will be attached to buried concrete blocks. The worst of the nearby groynes will be patched up, by using the upper planks to fill in the holes at the base of the groynes. Shingle will then be recycled from Walmer to fill the worst depleted groyne bays.

 It is felt that this will be sufficient to help the wall withstand the winter storms. The work should take place fairly quickly, the contract is out to tender now and the works will hopefully be completed by the end of October, which is excellent news.

The longer-term

The longer-term plan is to replace the 14 existing groynes with 16 realigned ones, and to replenish the beach. Over 60 thousand cubic metres of beach material is required to replenish the beach which would cost nearly £2 million if all new beach was imported.

To make the new scheme economically viable the EKEP are looking at various beach recycling options for replenishing the new groyne bays over a period of years following installation of the new groynes.

The EKEP is working on a Project Appraisal Report (PAR) which will be submitted to the Environment Agency. It is hoped that funding approval will be achieved to allow work to start next financial year. To keep costs to a minimum, piles that are in a good condition will be recycled into the new groynes. 

The EKEP is cautiously optimistic that this scheme will hopefully achieve EA funding. The scheme that is being prepared by the EKEP is under the £8m estimate previously given by Halcrow, ensuring that it has a realistic chance of achieving funding.

Next steps

The EKEP will keep in touch with representatives for Kingsdown, and are happy to attend a public consultation meeting once funding has been granted, to present their plans.

We were extremely encouraged by the practical, thorough approach being taken by EKEP and look forward to working with them to see these plans through to completion.

On the trail of the long-tailed blue

Having read about the emergence of a rare blue butterfly on the White Cliffs of Dover, we stepped out equipped with a camera to try and spot this beauty. This is a lovely stretch of the coast. With all the sun that we've had, the path is mud-baked, and easy to stroll along. Kingsdown conservation village sits prettily at the foot of the cliffs on the Northerly side; St Margaret's Bay is nestled in the middle, whilst Dover Docks presides magnificently to the South. The land is now managed by the National Trust, having successfully raised £1m to buy a last remaining stretch. The organisation has plans to retain the rare chalkland where native plants thrive, through careful management and custodianship of this iconic site.

But, back to the long tailed blue. Although we spotted a mustardy vermillion green butterfly and the more common Chalkhill blue, there was no sign of this rare exotic species. Matthew Oates, Butterfly and Moth expert at the National Trust, had mentioned in an article in the Guardian, that it is laying eggs on the invasive everlasting sweetpea. Although this sprawls amongst the grass with abandon, it will take a better pair of eyes than mine to spot such early signs of the fact that this visitor is here to stay.

Still it was a lovely late morning walk for a Sunday.