Member Article

Funding approved for new Fylde Coast flood defences

New flood defences on the Fylde Coast have received the final seal of approval from the government.

Defra and the Environment Agency have formally approved £86million of funding and given the green light for work to start on a series of major new coastal defences at Anchorsholme and Rossall, one of the largest flood defence programmes in the UK.

Blackpool and Wyre Councils are working in partnership to improve and replace sea defences between Rossall Hospital and Rossall Point and from Kingsway to Little Bispham at Anchorsholme, protecting 12,000 properties from the risk of coastal flooding.

Councillor Roger Berry, Cabinet member with responsibility for sea defences at Wyre Council, said: “This news is the culmination of a tremendous amount of work by all involved and I’m delighted that we can now get started with making vital improvements to our seawall.

“Although Rossall and Anchorsholme are two different schemes in terms of the type of defences required, Wyre and Blackpool Councils along with the Environment Agency have formed a very fruitful collaboration to ensure the future protection of the Fylde Coast.

“We will soon be meeting with local residents to let them know details of what the work entails and answer any questions.”

Councillor Fred Jackson, Cabinet member for Urban Regeneration at Blackpool Council, said: “We are ecstatic the grant approval letters have arrived for the Anchorsholme Coast Protection Scheme and the work to improve our coastal defences can commence.

“The reconstruction of the seawall is of huge importance and will protect the community of Anchorsholme, their homes, local businesses and highways from flooding and coastal erosion, whilst improving access to the beach.

“The huge programme of work is expected to be complete in 2015.”

Councillor Derek Antrobus, Chair of the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, said: “We are committed to reducing the risk of flooding to as many homes and businesses in the North West as possible with the money available.

“The Rossall and Anchorsholme flood defence scheme is one of the biggest currently planned in the UK, which is fantastic for our region and a really positive step towards making communities living on our coastline as resilient to flooding as possible.”

A series of public engagement events detailing the programme of work will be held later this year before construction starts at both sites in the new year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .