With groyne works having been completed ahead of schedule, the beach from the Poole/Bournemouth boundary to Middle Chine is now open to the public in time for the Easter holidays.

This is despite the fact that during the works contractors discovered an unexploded bomb which was made safe by the bomb squad.

Five old groynes have been removed and replaced by four more evenly spaced new ones. Each new groyne is made up of approximately 29 piles, each 10 metres in length being driven into the first solid layer below the sand. Approximately 225 planks of timber are then attached to these.  Each groyne is between five to seven and a half metres deep and roughly 75 metres long. The top five rows of planks are generally the only visible planks.  These have been constructed using new sustainably certified tropical timbers, while the bottom 12-14 rows, buried beneath the sand, use suitable recycled timbers from previously deconstructed groynes.

Cllr Mark Anderson portfolio holder for Environment said, “A high and wide beach, along with the groynes present a frontline defence against coastal erosion. Without this vital work, beach material would be lost from our beaches much quicker by the natural processes which the groynes slow down.  The newly installed groynes will provide a coastal protection role for up to 30 years.”

During the works a lost wedding ring was retrieved which was reunited with the owner following a successful social media campaign; which saw local residents sharing the council’s post on facebook over 1,000 times. The ring’s owner had lost it five years earlier and was delighted to be reunited with it.

The next phase of timber groyne renewals is planned to start in October 2021 from east of Middle Chine to West Cliff zig-zag. Three old groynes will be replaced with four more evenly spaced ones.