Although business owners along the bay have broadly welcomed the Transport Department’s plans to increase the height of the wall between the Gunsite Café and Le Perquage car park to the east, they have said that more needs to be done.
Home and business owners have incurred thousands of pounds’ worth of damage in recent years when combinations of high tides and strong winds have sent water cascading over the sea wall. In January last year some properties were flooded by almost a foot of water.
TTS have now announced that they intend to lodge a planning application to re-shape and raise the sea wall between the café and the car park. The work has a budget of £500,000.
Anna Trigg, owner of the wedding dress shop at Beaumont of the same name, said she was relieved that action was being taken but feels the main issue is drainage.
‘I am relieved they are doing something but I don’t know whether the 12 inches or whatever they are adding will make much of a difference. I really don’t know if it will help,’ she said.
‘It is more the drainage that is the problem. Sand and stones block the drains, which are designed for rainwater, not the sea, and it doesn’t go away.’
Following a meeting with TTS staff last year the businesswoman said she felt residents and companies were being ‘left on their own’ to tackle the problem. She added that she believed more needed to be done to improve the drainage but acknowledged that work could not simply be done ‘overnight’.
Her views were echoed by Kevin Clyde-Smith, the manager of 17 properties in the Beaumont area, four of which have been so badly affected by flooding that residents have had to be rehoused on two occasions. He said: ‘The area has a two-fold problem – both the sea and the drainage, because of the marsh. The whole area does not have sufficient drainage.
‘Raising the wall is a good idea but if sea levels rise it may not be enough’
‘At least they are doing something. Anything is gratefully received and at least it is more concrete than sandbags. However, it is long overdue.’
Similarly Alick Robertson, general manager at Dunell’s Premier Wines, said he was pleased measures were being taken to address the issues.
TTS were unavailable for comment.
