Bank Holiday beach party to highlight fears about £16m sea defence scheme

Environmental protest group Scarborough SOS have gathered over 2,100 signatures on their online petition against the move to put boulders on the beach to fend off the waves.

Council chiefs claim lives will be lost and hundreds of homes could fall into the sea unless erosion is halted around the Grade II listed building.

Yesterday protesters staged a beach party and marked out the beach to show the possible impact of the scheme.

Steve Crawford, the organiser of the event and owner of Fluid Concept Surf Shop, in Scarborough, said: “The idea 
is to mark out on the beach exactly how far the rocks will extend if the council scheme goes ahead.”

Mr Crawford said campaigners had yesterday handed out leaflets to show how: “Come 2016 where they are standing will be covered by a giant pile of rocks.”

Campaigners argue any rock armour scheme would make an eyesore of a much-loved area and reduce the area of the beach that is accessible to members of the public.

Scarborough Borough Council says the spa’s seawall, which dates from the 1840s, is reaching “the end of its serviceable life”.

Studies have revealed that the cliffs are in a precarious state, prompting concerns another major landslip could happen.

The local authority has underlined how the plans are still at an early stage with formal consultation not expected to start until next year.

A spokesman for the council earlier said: “While we fully understand people’s concerns and emotions about the proposed scheme, we cannot avoid the fact that there are some very big issues that we must tackle in the area surrounding the Spa.

“Significant erosion of the toe of the cliff after failure of the sea wall would trigger a large-scale landslide, putting homes and businesses on the Esplanade at risk.

“Although formal planning consultation on the scheme is still some way off, we will be taking all comments on board,” the council spokesman added.

The Scarborough SOS online petition, already signed by more than 2,000 people, can be found at the website: http://www.scarboroughrocks.com