Four more new beaches along Clacton seafront will be reopened to the public next week.
The stretch from Vista Road to Connaught Gardens East will be available to the public for the very first time as part of the second phase of a £36million Coastal Protection Scheme.
It follows the opening of three beaches from Clacton Pier to Vista Road last month and seven beaches earlier this year from Holland Haven to Fernwood Avenue as part of phase one of the project.
The total length of the upgrade will be 5kms of coastline and the work – which will be completed within months – is being carried out by VBA Joint Venture Limited.
The project is being financed by Tendring District Council (TDC), Essex County Council (ECC) and the Environment Agency.
The 15 rock-based fish tail groynes included in the second phase, which started early in March, are now finished and the recharging and profiling of the remaining beaches is making good progress.
Nick Turner, TDC’s Cabinet Member for Coast Protection , said that almost two thirds of the beaches are now open for use.
“ We will have 23 new beaches in all and 14 are now able to be used by residents and visitors to Clacton, ” he said.
“ They have been opened up earlier than we originally anticipated and they are proving very popular indeed. These are beaches which would previously have been tidal but are now able to be enjoyed at all states of the tide.
“We now have 3kms – or just less than 2 miles – of foreshore, or as I like to say ‘New England. ’”
The overall project is on target and will be completed in the autumn.
The new coastal defenses will protect more than 3,000 residential and commercial properties for the next 100 years and will act as a catalyst for the renaissance of the seafront.
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