Shifting sands to safeguard Bournemouth's beach quality

10:00am Saturday 2nd March 2013 in News

Shifting sands to safeguard Bournemouth's beach quality Shifting sands to safeguard Bournemouth's beach quality

WORK is underway to safeguard Bournemouth’s famous beaches with thousands of tonnes of sand being shifted along the seafront.

The improvements have started at Gordons Corner, Southbourne, where 10,000 cubic metres of sand is being moved back westwards down the beach towards Boscombe Pier.

Wind and wave action over time has made the redistribution work necessary and Bournemouth council contractors hope the scheme will be completed by the end of next week.

Seafront operations manager And-rew Brown said: “The work is progressing well; it involves five large slow moving vehicles tracking up and down the beach moving the sand, with banksmen, so residents and visitors using the prom won’t be affected.”

Comments(9)

IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE says...
11:18am Sat 2 Mar 13

King Canute comes to mind!

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wonderway says...
1:16pm Sat 2 Mar 13

all they are going to do is build up the sand bar 200 yards off the beach at southbourne when the tides and stroms wash it back again. what a waste of money

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Bob49 says...
1:35pm Sat 2 Mar 13

What a massive admittance of failure. For months the sorry state of the beach opposite the reef has been blindingly obvious - yet NOT elsewhere.

Never before in decades have I known there to have been the one bit of the beach needing replenishment like this.

The Daily Echo needs to ask how much this is costing, and from what budget the money is coming from. At to what end ? At best it will draw a few more back from the Southbourne.directio
n, but with the fear many have of the disintegrating reef and the lack of parking that figure will be low.

As stated previously this sorry mess has failed to deliver and has cost (and will continue to cost) taxpayers millions and millions.

Enough should be enough. time to drag out what remans of the reef and let nature take it's course - there's plenty of good beach along the whole of Bournemouth seafront, that spending a huge sum on a 200 yard stretch cannot be justified. More so when the council is closing Day Centres and slashing services elsewhere.

.

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Baywolf says...
1:44pm Sat 2 Mar 13

This council will spend anything to justify the huge sums spent on a money pit that's Boscombe Seafront and to claim it a success. Only when they realise it has failed and will not attract the investment that was hoped for, the purchasing of overpriced Surf Pods or beach hut to you and I, or the extortionate flats in the new developments have failed to find buyers, will the huge sums of money currently being thrown at it go to something more meaningful for the town and not the pockets of some.

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Hessenford says...
4:32pm Sat 2 Mar 13

Absolute waste of taxpayers good money, I remember years ago when the tide came in it went right up to the promenade, nice for an evenings walk listening and seeing the waves break but the council ruined it by building up the beach so now the sea is yards away, stop playing about with nature and spend our money wisely on things that matter.

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portia6 says...
7:31pm Sat 2 Mar 13

Exactly right let nature takes its
course get priorities right!

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junem says...
8:25am Sun 3 Mar 13

Hope they aren't moving all the stones from there onto Bournemouth beach. They ruined Southbourne and Boscombe a few years ago doing a similar job. lets ruin the whole beach!!!

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Glashen says...
11:22am Sun 3 Mar 13

Some pretty ill informed comments above, Bournemouth and Poole Beaches are artificial and have been since the 1970s. The construction of the promenade in the first part of the 20th century prevented replenishment of the beach from the cliffs, the sea lapping up to the promenade was not a good thing, the next thing to happen would be the collapse of the promenade, then the cliffs themselves and eventually properties on the cliffs. as happened in the 1960s at Southbourne.
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There have since the 1970s been regular beach replenishment operations the last being in 2010
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This is the second recent redistribution with the first being last year from Bournemouth Pier to Alum Chine nothing to do with the Surf Reef but rather the natural long shore drift of the replenished sand eastwards. In the past there has been a build up of sand at the Long Groyne on Hengistbury Head which is then lost to Christchurch Bay where it builds up and changes the entrance to Christchurch Harbour. If the most cost effective solution is the moving of sand westward to combat eastward drift and that makes sense this is actually a cost saving exercise that should also improve the beach.

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Bob49 says...
1:30pm Sun 3 Mar 13

Nice try Glashen, but even your lapdog efforts won't fool anyone.

The concern here is why this replenishment is ONLY happening on this small stretch of 200 yards - DEAD OPPOSITE the surf reef and the new block of flats.

The thought has to be that one is the cause of the disasterous loss of beach and the other the cause of this huge expenditure.

So let us be told how much it is costing and why is it that only that bit of beach is needing to be replenished.

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