Council backs €48m plan to raise and strengthen the Old Quay sea wall

Wrenhaven City Council has approved a €48m scheme to raise and reinforce the sea wall along Old Quay, the city's historic harbour front, after storms last winter sent waves over the top on eleven separate occasions. The vote at full council passed by 41 to 6, with two abstentions.

The existing wall, most of it built of granite blocks more than a century ago, will be raised by between 60 and 90 centimetres depending on the section. Engineers will also add a curved concrete parapet designed to throw breaking waves back towards the bay, and rebuild the foundations where scouring has left gaps beneath the stone.

Promenade to stay open

Work will be carried out in three phases, starting at the eastern end near the fish market and moving west towards the ferry pier. Only one stretch of about 200 metres will be fenced off at a time, so the promenade remains open throughout. Councillor Bridget Ollerton, who leads on the environment, said the phasing was a direct response to traders who feared losing footfall.

The water has already told us where the weak points are, and we have spent two winters pumping out the same basements.

Those words came from Graham Pettifer, chair of the Old Quay Residents' Association, who addressed the meeting before the vote. Around 140 properties behind the wall were flooded at least once last winter, and the harbour road was closed for a total of nine days. Insurers have begun raising premiums for homes in the lowest-lying streets, he added.

• Cost: €48m, with €31m from a national coastal resilience fund

• Length of wall to be raised: 1.6 km

• Expected completion: within three years

Business owners along the quay gave the plan a cautious welcome. Tessa Barrow, who runs a seafood restaurant opposite the fish market, said she had lost a week of trade every time the road shut and would rather put up with scaffolding than sandbags. The Chamber of Commerce asked the council to publish a timetable for each phase so that businesses can plan deliveries and staffing around the works.

Opponents argued that the money would be better spent on moving vulnerable services away from the waterfront altogether. The council's own modelling suggests the raised wall should cope with sea levels expected over the next 50 years, after which a further review will be needed. Detailed designs go out to tender in the coming weeks.