Borth Sea Defences a Success
We went for a walk along the beach last night with the Scouts and I’d say that the new sea defences in Borth have almost certainly helped protect Borth from the recent storms.
Some of the large boulders within the defences have moved slightly. The pebble banks that were extended and built up as part of the defences have also been reshaped by the waves, but the damage to houses and other properties was minimal. Some were flooded and there was plenty of debris in the road behind them, but along the stretch of beach where the defences are situated there was certainly less damage.
Flooding and storm damage along this stretch was quite a common occurrence too, and that was during storms that were much less ferocious than the one we’ve just experienced, so I’m almost certain that without the new sea defences the damage would have been much worse.
This recent storm was the first real test of the sea defences in Borth and it looks as though they have proved their worth. They may require a little re-shaping and work to restore the banks following this storm, but surely that is better than rebuilding homes. They may not be the prettiest of things and they may not have worked as a surf reef, but they do seem to have fulfilled their primary purpose of acting as a sea defence in this instance.
It looks as though Ray Quant agrees with me too, and those of us who live further along the beach where there are no new sea defences even get a mention too – well. almost as they talk about the section of beach where there are old defences in place, we actually live even further along than that where there are no man-made sea defences at all.
I wonder if the recent storms and the apparent success of the sea defences will make people feel a little more positively to the new beach structures and if it will secure Phase 2 of the Borth Coastal Defence Scheme. Lets just hope for Borth that the extensive damage in Aberystwyth doesn’t re-direct coastal protection funds their instead of here.
