Annual beach work begins along the Canterbury District coastline

It must be getting closer to summer as annual beach work and maintenance along the Canterbury district’s coastline is well underway.

The annual beach work involves transporting beach material, which throughout the winter has shifted due to long-shore drift, back to its original position.

The city council’s engineering team is responsible for coordinating the work which covers the area from the Clock Tower in Herne Bay to Whitstable Harbour.

Head of Engineering, Liam Wooltorton, said: “Beach recycling is a very cost effective way of replacing shingle that has moved over the winter and will leave the beaches in good shape for the summer. The beach is the first line of defence and protects our seawalls.”

Alongside beach recycling is the dredging work within the Herne Bay breakwater, which removes silt that has accumulated within the harbour, ensuring a safe navigable channel from the launch ramp to the harbour mouth.

Liam said: “The dredger uses a specialist technique called ‘water injection dredging’ where large volumes of water are pumped into the seabed at low pressure to fluidise the silt into suspension. This is then naturally carried away from the harbour, by remaining within the water column and exiting using the tidal energy of the ebb cycle.”

All work should be completed in early April.

To keep up to date with all our articles, news and publications why not follow us on our social media channels?