Deal seafront will be protected as part of a £10m project

by Mary Louis

Rock from Norway is due to be delivered to Deal today to start work on the Environment Agency's £10 million sea defence project.

The ambitious scheme will reduce the risk of tidal flooding to 1,418 of the town's homes and 148 businesses.

It will protect Sandwich Bay Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation, the railway line between Dover and Ramsgate, the Ramsar site and the Thanet coast.

The scheme will provide a major improvement to the standard of coastal flooding protection and reduce the risk of a breach.

Depending on the weather and tides, rock for the barrier was scheduled for delivery to the castle by barge from Norway today.

In addition, 120,000 cubic metres of shingle will be delivered via a pipeline from an offshore dredger to bolster the beach against the tides.

The shingle will act as a natural defence against tidal wave action and will be moved into place with bulldozers and dumper trucks from mid-September, again depending on the weather over a three-week period.

The idea is to prepare the beach well in advance of winter storms.

A 200-metre rock barrier will be created north of Sandown Castle and the final phase will involve a 410-metre long wave wall being constructed just south of Stanley Road and ending at King Street.

This wall is designed to reduce wave energy, direct waves back into the sea and reduce the amount of shingle thrown up onto the road.

Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke said: "It will make Deal safer for years to come, but also change the look of the seafront."

He urged people to visit an exhibition that opened at the Royal Hotel on Monday, showing how the scheme will look and changes to be made.