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Policies - Shoreline Management PlansMarine Drive Sea DefencesMarine Drive was originally a beach causeway over which the highest tides could pass in order to fill the Marine Lake. The importance of the highway increased when the final links in the Coastal Road network were completed in 1975. Because the road remained at its original 1895 level it was regularly flooded and was closed to traffic on approximately 60 occasions every year. This caused costly delay and disruption to traffic and the Council incurred considerable expenditure in cleaning up after each flood event. The Council and commercial leisure operators also lost considerable income because of the road closures. The need to alleviate this flooding was recognised as the Council's top coastal defence priority. A three phase scheme was approved in principle by the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food in 1995 (now DEFRA) and the first phase, 1.2km long, from Esplanade to the Marine Lake Sluice was undertaken between February 1997 and March 1998. The total cost of the first phase was £4.5 million, of which £1.1 million was European Community Objective 1 funding. It included a pedestrian promenade on the seaward side of Marine Drive, approximately one metre higher than the carriageway, with a 0.7 metre concrete wave wall on its seaward side. Pedestrian ramps to the beach were incorporated at the Pier, Pleasureland, and Esplanade. Vehicle access was maintained at Esplanade, for beach parking at peak times, and at the Pier for emergency and service vehicles. The Objective 1 contribution funded a high standard of amenity and decoration, befitting the prominent, central, seafront leisure zone status of the floodwall and promenade. The two following phases were designed to achieve a consistent standard of flood defence on either side of the new Floodwall. Phase 2, from the Sluice to Fairway, involved reconstruction of the 1.3km existing sloping revetment, with a 0.5 metre wave wall at its crest. This cost approximately £3M. The original sea defence embankment was of an unusual construction in that the tipping of household refuse formed part of its core. Phase 3, from Weld Road to Esplanade, involved reconstruction of the 0.5km length of existing sloping revetment, with a 0.5 metre wave wall at its crest. This was completed in the spring of 2002 along with the creation of a compound for the shrimpers to use, originally the contractors compound during the construction of the flood wall. Sand dunes are spreading progressively north from the Weld Road end, these will be maintained and encouraged to create an overlap with the flood wall to ensure the continuity of the defences.
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