East Suffolk Council
Promenade reopens at Southwold ahead of the Easter holidays
Repair work at Southwold promenade is now complete, and the promenade north of Southwold Pier has reopened in time for the Easter holidays.
East Suffolk Council’s repairs and maintenance contractor, the Water Management Alliance, has now completed repairs to the damaged section of promenade north of Southwold Pier following a partial collapse of the promenade in December.
Following a safety inspection, the promenade has reopened ahead of the Easter holidays and will remain open until planned repairs begin on the ‘toe’ of the sea wall later this month. This work, which will be carried out by Balfour Beatty, will begin on Tuesday 22 April and is intended to be complete before the start of the school summer holidays.
Erosion damage to the toe, which is usually underneath beach material, had previously been identified and repairs were scheduled for later this year. However recent erosion had exposed this area more quickly than expected, which resulted in the partial collapse of the promenade and the repair works have been brought forward as quickly as possible.
Cllr Mark Packard, East Suffolk’s cabinet member for Planning and Coastal Management said: “We would like to thank everyone for respecting the cordons which have been in place on the promenade for several months. The work to repair the voids underneath the promenade is now complete and we are pleased to be able to reopen the promenade ahead of the Easter break.”
Balfour Beatty will be installing new sheet piles in front of the existing piles to help prevent them being eroded by the sea when beach levels are low. Silent piling will be used to minimise noise disturbance from the works.
A temporary site compound will be installed in the Southwold Pier car park from Tuesday 22 April, however both Southwold Pier and Southwold Beach car parks will remain open although there will be a reduced number of spaces at Southwold Pier. There will be no access to the promenade or beach where the works are taking place.