The Public Rights of Way Office at Devon County have informed us of the following emergency footpath closures. We hope these closures will be of short duration and will update readers here as soon as the paths are open again.
Stokenham Parish Hall was packed to capacity on Thursday to hear Caroline Voaden MP answer questions and hear at first hand the concerns of local residents, after successive storms wreaked havoc on the settlements of Torcross, Beesands and Hallsands, and forced the closure of the A379 Slapton Line.
Ms Voaden listened and responded for over an hour and a half, as residents told tales of sleepless nights spent terrified that their houses were about to be swept away, and heard at length the fears of villagers and local business-owners that the loss of the road would represent a catastrophe for the region. She promised that she would engage vigorously with central government ministers to seek the necessary funding for rebuilding, but conceded that she could give no guarantees that the money would be forthcoming.
Such was the demand for seats that more than 100 people were denied entry to the meeting, as local police officers in attendance determined that the parish hall’s maximum legal capacity of 200 had been reached. A spokesperson for the MP later said: ”Caroline and her team have expressed their apologies for anyone who was unable to get in to Thursday’s meeting – unfortunately more people attended than expected, and most venues in local villages are a similar size to Stokenham Parish Hall or have accessibility issues. Caroline will be holding further meetings in due course, so please do not fear that this will be the last opportunity to raise concerns.”
An additional meeting has been arranged at Slapton Village Hall on Saturday 7 February to accommodate those who were not able to attend the meeting in Stokenham (see the news item elsewhere on the website) meaning there will now be two meetings in Slapton that day, the first at 12 noon and the second at 14:00. Additional parking will be available at the Field Studies Centre, but we would advise people not to arrive for the second meeting before 13.30 to allow attendees at the previous meeting to depart.
Rock-moving work continued apace today (4 February) at Torcross and Beesands in an effort to reinforce coastal defences ahead of tonight’s expected bad weather. The combination of a high tide, low surface pressure, and an ENE wind gusting to 50mph is a particularly dangerous one for our battered coastal settlements and the already damaged A379 Slapton Line. Residents are urged to batten down the hatches and take extra care. The police and coastguard are on high alert.
High spring tides, a metre of storm surge, and 40-45mph winds from the south-east took a further toll on our coastal settlements on the night of 2-3 February. In Torcross, a 50m section of the A379 road opposite the Tank car park has been washed away. Long-reach excavators have spent the day filling the newly created void with rock to shore up the remaining section of ridge as a short-term measure while engineers survey the rest of the road for damage. Further north, a 200m-long section of one carriageway has largely been lost to the waves.
Further inclement weather and high tides are forecast for tonight, 3 February, and particularly tomorrow, 4 February. Police and coastguard will be visiting both Torcross and Beesands over the period to allay any concerns.
After intervention from parish council, SHDC waste teams will be visiting Torcross on 4 February to organise clearance of flood- and storm-damaged household goods and furniture. Residents can contact the teams out of hours on 01803 861539 or 01803 867034.
At Beesands the sea has encroached to within 10m of the roadway in two locations and almost all of the gabion basket sea defences have been displaced like rolled-up carpets. The long-reach excavator is booked in for Beesands on 4 February, with the aim of recovering as much of the rock armour as possible from the foreshore to create a barrier around what remains of the village green. This will provide short-term relief while a more permanent solution is investigated.
Caroline Voaden MP will address a public meeting on Thursday at 11am in Stokenham Parish Hall to hear residents’ concerns and allow them to share their views.
Agreement has been given to bring in 500t of Cornish Rock to try and build up some defence on the beach. There is a section between Torcross and the Memorial Carpark that has lost the protection of the footpath and has been slightly undermined, about a 200m length. We will try and protect this with the rock, however, it’s a temp fix, and if we reopen the road, this section will have to be placed under traffic lights.
There are a few other smaller sections like this, but not to the extent of the length.
The issue of the damaged sea defences is being looked at by the Structures Team, we are hoping that when the tide drops next week Landmarc can get their digger on to the beach and build a rock wall in front of the collapsed metalwork, to try and reduce the impact of the water on the area.
Following a meeting today with Structures, and the Materials Lab, it has been agreed that due to the road cracking in this location down the centre line, (due to the sub base being washed out), it is unsafe. We have therefore arranged with SHDCs agreement to remove a section of the bank bordering their carpark, to make a temporary entrance/exit into the area, initially for the rock trucks, to keep them off the weakened surface.
This will likely become a more permanent feature until any works to repair the sea defence is agreed. In the long term, we will liaise with SHDC as this will have to become a route for all A379 traffic to use. The alternative to this is to close the A379 from Torcross to the Slapton junction.
We have been made aware of issues on the Promenade and that will need further investigation.
In relation to a clear up, I contacted SHDC today and their team turned out to collect some of the debris that has been displaced. My colleague and I did tidy the paving slabs from the Promenade and carriageway on Monday, but more were displaced overnight into Tuesday. SHDC will clear the Promenade of the remaining slabs and roof tiles tomorrow. Depending on the direction of the wind, there is the risk of more tiles falling, so we have tried to barrier off the area to stop people wandering about.
Several properties now have scaffold on them, and additional windows etc have been boarded up.
We are expecting more rain over the next few days, with another weather warning tomorrow, and a high tide on Monday. The works we are doing are a temporary fix, to try and hold the road in place, and currently there is no defined date when the road might be reopened. It will remain closed for at least the next week.
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