WORK to install new groynes on Southbourne seafront is to be completed in time for the summer season.

The Bournemouth Borough Council work, which will six new groynes put in as part of an ongoing beach management scheme, is set to finish in May.

A total of twelve groynes are being replaced along the stretch of beach from west of St Catherine’s Path in Southbourne to the end of the promenade toward Hengistbury Head with work taking place over the winter months. Works to install the next six will begin in the autumn.

Work started on the scheme in December 2015 with a beach replenishment replacing 320,000 cubic metres of sand between Bournemouth Pier and Southbourne and the replacement of ten timber groynes.

With the completion of this third year of the project, a total of 24 new groynes will have been constructed under this long-term investment programme to provide coastal protection in this part of Poole Bay

Council engineering and major contracts manager Anthony Kirby said: “Thank you to residents and visitors to Southbourne beach for their patience and understanding while these essential works have taken place along the seafront. We are pleased to confirm that we are on track with this latest phase of works and we will be completed in time for the start of the summer season.”