Coastal defence wall damaged by storm

SEA defences installed 25-years ago to protect a now defunct experimental wind turbine station off the coast at Burry Port have been damaged in the recent storms.

As a result, 30-metres of a triple bank of stone-filled gabions are being removed and a footpath within Burry Port Woodlands is being sacrificed in a ‘managed retreat’ by being moved inland.

Two bite-sized chunks of the headland overlooking the sea have been taken in the storms.

Fencing and signs have been installed to warn regular users and dog walkers of the risks of walking too close to the edge where chunks of the land alongside the footpath have fallen 20 to 25-feet to the beach below.

The eroding bank consists of a back pulverised fuel ash waste product of the former Carmarthen Bay Power Station which occupied land nearby.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s coastal defence consultant Howard Blackwell said a short length of the stone-filled gabions that had been installed more than 25 years ago had been undermined by the recent storms and were leaning over the beach.

He said: “It is a necessary safety measure to dismantle this section and secure the remaining stone filled gabions. This can be achieved quickly. It can all be conducted within the current county coastal defence budget. There is no need to rebuild the wall.

“Because of continuing improvement and investment in its coastal defences, Carmarthenshire County Council has ensured it has escaped the drama experienced by others because of the storms this year.”

Millennium Coastal Park manager Rory Dickinson said: “We have put up temporary warning notices and fences and will realign the footpath slightly inland in a managed retreat above the Burry Port east beach.

“There is no need to replace the old coastal defences being removed because the experimental wind turbine structure they were built to protect disappeared before the park was created.”