Repairs to sea wall in Margate after section falls on beach below

Part of the sea wall has broken away Photo Isabelle De Ridder

Maintenance contractor Ovendens is on site at a promenade in Margate after a section of the seawall smashed on to the beach below.

The section on the Promenade behind Turner Contemporary broke away at the end of last week.

Photo Isabelle De Ridder

The wall has suffered widening cracks and recent stormy weather exacerbated the damage.

A Thanet council spokesperson said: “During the recent storms, a section of the upper part of the sea wall broke away and dropped onto the beach.

Photo Isabelle De Ridder

“Thanet District Council produced a design to replace the missing section and Ovendens, its maintenance contractor, is currently onsite carrying out the repairs.”

35 Comments

    • Fortunately, much of coastal Thanet (Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Westbrook, Westgate, Birchington, Dumpton, Cliffsend, Pegwell…) is built on cliff tops. Margate is probably the most vulnerable town.

    • I’ve lived in thanet for the last 70+ years and the tide comes up to the same place on Margate beach as it did 70 years ago. The damage is done by storms which occur occasionally, in my lifetime none as bad as the 1953 storm which affected a lot more than thanet.

    • Oh. ye of little Culture But yes the town would have been better served with a new pier But. who listened ! NOT Thanet district council for sure

      • Arts Council England and SEEDA would not use their money for a pier. It is ring fenced for Arts. The choice was gallery or no gallery for Margate.

    • “Rising sea levels” refers to the mean sea level.
      In the UK, there are two issues:
      During the last Ice Age, vast masses of ice pushing down on Scotland caused the south of England to rise up by tens of metres (a bit like if you put a brick on the end of a floating plank .. the other end pokes up a bit). Now the ice has gone, the south of the country is slowly sinking back into the sea (several mm a year). It’s called “isostacy”.

      The other effect is due to global warming.This is causing the huge ice caps on Greenland and Antarctica to melt, causing world wide sea levels to rise. If there was catastrophic failure of the ice caps, the oceans could rise by 10s of metres.

  1. Not a good sign that the firm to do repair work could still be under investigation by Health & Safety Inspectors. Previous work undertaken on Walpole Bay tidal pool required company to open sluice gate without checking for swimmers in pool.
    A woman was seriously injured after being pulled out from the tidal pool through a sluice gate and into the sea.

    The woman was taken to hospital following the incident which happened at the Walpole Bay tidal pool near Margate this morning (September 28).

      • That’ll be the one and apparently the whole thing was seen by a TDC councillor who did’nt intervene.But unfortunately in this day and age stupidity abounds and contractors are meant to appreciate the fact.

  2. Slight change of theme! Why does the Promenade end at the West Bay in Westgate, then start again after Epple Bay in Birchington. It seems a bit “silly” to leave such a short gap that is there now.
    Walkers and cyclists ‘could’ go from Palm bay to Reculver, without dismounting, or climbing Epple Bay stairs.

  3. if you read the news online – a ” lady ” named janet district council said that thanet is due to become the gay centre of kent ? how does that stand with the arts and culture mob.

  4. Part of the wall/capping at Broadstairs pier car park was brought down due to the pounding waves last week as well. The winds are much more stronger in the last few years and are in turn whipping the sea up so waves are higher stronger with the wind and are crashing down with more velocity, these old capping/copping stones can only take so much force before damage is inevitable, a lot of thanet as Peter said and was reported by the Isle of Thanet News has high cliffs around it I hate to say this but these to can succumb to the pounding we have and will be getting as our weather forecasters are saying we will be getting more of as weather patterns are changing mainly due to climate change.

    • Fortunately, chalk is relatively stable. In the late 70s I lived in Warden on Sheppey, where they have a huge problem with mud slides on the clay cliffs (I can still recall the post office and stores being quickly abandoned due to erosion, and they’ve lost at least 2 churches over the centuries!).

      • Peter agreed chalk is relatively stable which is why you just need to be extra careful when walking around our cliffs as I understand it we have not had a big fall of chalk for a few years (not 100 %sure though), I think we may get a bit of a crowd of visitors this weekend as temperature could reach the mid 20s centigrade or 70s Fahrenheit not bad for Easter,if it is hopefully our traders will have a good start to season, and visitors to the beaches be they local or distant respect our beaches and other visitors.

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