Monday 06 January 2014
Environment Department response to media enquiry from Guernsey Press.
Can we please have a round up of which coastal defences have been damaged over the past week and the extent of the damage caused. What are the department's plans for repairing these areas and how will they be prioritised?
A lot of concerns have been raised about the condition of Perelle, with residents highlighting cracks in the road with water bubbling through. Someone has suggested that a factor in the damage could be that pebbles dug out for installing a new main drain were never compacted down properly when replaced. Could this have been a factor? What is the damage at Perelle? How will this be addressed and prioritised?
Environment was successful in having its plan for coastal defences accepted by the States accepted in June.
This focuses work around St Sampson's Harbour and Belle Greve.
Can the department justify prioritising these two areas over others, given the damage at Perelle, Portelet and l'Ancresse?
This would be for tomorrow's paper
Supplementary to my earlier enquiry, what was the work conducted to the Biloterie drains, when did it take place and who was it conducted by?
In its response can the department include early predictions on how much repairs will cost?
Environment Department Response:
The Environment Department can confirm that damage has been sustained at masonry walls or slipways at Fermain, Portelet, Cobo, and Saints. Rock armour movement has been noted at Portelet, La Mielette, and Pulias Bay. Checks around the island's coastal walls, rock armour, slipways and piers are continuing and works will be prioritised accordingly.
Repairs were undertaken on Saturday and Sunday to repair the L'Eree shingle bank immediately after the morning high tides. Some further re-profiling will be done on the shingle bank within the next few weeks. A repair to a small hole on the seaward side of Perelle wall was undertaken on Saturday afternoon. The Environment Department would like to thank all the contractors who attended at short notice to deal with these repairs promptly.
The profile of sand dunes at Grande Rocque and Port Soif has also been affected by the high tides and winds. The fence at Grande Rocque dunes was washed away and will be replaced this spring. The dunes at both bays will re-accrete naturally over the coming months and are not a cause for concern in their current condition.
States Property Services Engineers and Environment Department staff inspected walls at Perelle and at east L'Ancresse on Saturday and Sunday, no damage has been reported at either site as a result of the storm over the weekend. (A section of the patio at L'Ancresse east kiosk was damaged last week - not the coastal wall.)
Contact Information:
Environmental Services Unit
Environment Department
Tel: 717200
