Old Colwyn (East) Residents’ Association Wednesday 9th January 2008
Minutes of the Talk by Mr. Andrew Wilkinson of Conwy County Borough Council Engineering Department on the subject of the Colwyn Bay Coastal Strategy Plan
Andy Wilkinson introduced himself and his subject which he described as a very important project for the Council and the Town and County as a whole. He said that he is originally from Deganwy but moved away for some time, returning about 5 years ago.
One of the first jobs for the Council on his return that he had to undertake on his return to the area was to supervise works to repair some undermining of the Promenade sea wall in Old Colwyn in February 2005. The beach level had dropped so much that the foundation was completely exposed revealing a huge void about 30 metres long one metre deep and two metres back under the sea wall. Over the next few days they managed with sheet pile and concrete to save what was a very precarious situation. The repair cost about £100,000. Similar works have been going on since along the whole of the Promenade at Colwyn Bay for 30 to 40 years, repairing it in little sections in reactive maintenance.
A decision was taken in 2005 that the Council needed to take a more long term view and put a strategy together to defend the Colwyn section of coast/shoreline. Approximately a year ago the Council did a consultation exercise with the public to identify the problems and examine the different options of tackling them. Andrew alluded to the fact that the association had taken an active part in the consultation and given a comprehensive response for which he was very grateful.
Since then the Council has been examining the options, their impact and also costing the works. Also concurrently there is the Bay Life Initiative and Colwyn Bay Regeneration Program, looking at ways to regenerate Colwyn Bay including the Promenade, including Old Colwyn promenade.
CCBC is looking at putting some Added Value into the Coast Protection scheme to improve the looks and to add new facilities. The hope is that the scheme may qualify for European Funding. The plan is divided into four separate areas, Cayley Promenade area, Beach Zone to the west of the pier and then the water-sports area to below Eirias Park, then the Old Colwyn section to Beach Road.
Preferred options ~ Beach recharge with Y shaped breakwater type control structures in the two central zones. These will hold in place about 200,000 tonnes of imported sand dredged offshore in licensed areas and pumped ashore above high tide from dredging ships.
This will bring the sand level up almost to the top of the sea wall and the structures will hold it in place. The defence in these areas is provided by the sand and the rock structures.
There will be a sea wall similar to that between the pier and the Dingle all along the promenade instead of railings.
The preferred option for the Old Colwyn area is rock revetment as it is most under threat from the sea and rock revetment is the most robust and reliable form of defence. After discussion with Leisure people and Highways and the public it is decided that the promenade strip is not wide enough to retain the parking, cycle path, lighting and all its uses. A wider structure is needed. The rock revetment will enable the promenade to be raised and widened. There will be more access than at present with steps through the revetment. It can be designed so that it looks good.
It is under consultation at present and comments from the public are welcome.
For the Colwyn Waterfront project a design competition has been run to invite landscape designers to bring their concepts and work with the council engineers to enhance the designs. Out of 13 companies, four were selected to submit concept designs on boards. That went out to consultation in October 2007. A design panel of Council Officers interviewed the applicants and eventually one was selected. Fortunately, Andrew said the council ended up agreeing with the public. The winner was LDA Designs from Exeter which has completed many projects in Cornwall and other areas.
They have a concept idea for the water-sports section of a decking boardwalk with steps down to the beach in a short section as a feature. That will not necessarily happen.
They have a concept idea for the water-
On Old Colwyn promenade, they came up with a scheme based on planting and natural coastal plants. The promenade will be wider and at a higher level with steps up to it from the road.
The Council is looking at a possibility of raising the level of the road so that drivers can see over the sea wall from their cars.
The total project estimated cost is approx £25million, including everything on the coast side of the railway. It includes the environmental improvements to the promenade but not the Town Centre.
The Welsh Assembly has £5.6million per year for the whole of Wales. There is a possibility of European Convergence Funding which is a five year round of funding, the successor to Objective One. There is a total pot of around £50million. The Welsh Assembly wishes to distribute that to two large Strategic Projects. The Colwyn project fits the bill and also has a regeneration part and the protection of infrastructure such as the railway and the A55, National cycle route, a walking route and a leisure amenity, which are all at risk.
It is being promoted as a project for European Convergence and a decision will be made within the next 6 months. Price tender documents are required very quickly after the decision. Such a project would normally take a year to design so a start has already been made with a designer and a strategy. Funding has been agreed for the engineering design of the environmental improvements. The council is in talks to the Welsh Assembly to continue with the next stage of the design of the coastal defences (about £200,000 of funding). There will then be a package that can be submitted to the European Convergence Fund for consideration. It is not a “done deal”, the project may have to be phased, with the priority areas done first. From an engineering risk point of view, Old Colwyn is the greatest risk.
A resident interjected to express her delight that Old Colwyn is a priority. She outlined her thoughts echoed by others, that priority has so often been given to other areas of the seafront in previous times. She felt that the project was very exciting.
Andrew continued by saying that the Council is hoping that the whole project is approved but in the event that part only is approved, Old Colwyn is a priority from an engineers viewpoint. At present the railway is in danger in five to twenty years.
Part of the brief that the designers were given was the Coastal defence strategy and waterfront strategy done by Leisure in 2002. One of the new concepts which came from the Waterfront Strategy was a new building at the Old Colwyn end of the promenade, a facility of some sort, perhaps a café or community building. Without new coastal defences, this would not be viable.
This would be called a “landmark building” to give a magnet or anchor at that location and is part of the brief. There is no firm decision on how it will work at this stage, council built or council land and lease or a developer to take over with ideas. This stage will come after the defences have been approved.
A resident said that one issue was conspicuous by its absence, the pier. He also asked about the area beyond the Old Colwyn arches which is starting to look shabby.
Andrew replied the area beyond the arches is owned by Network Rail and therefore is not part of the project. There is comment in the report about the quality and standard of the work done by Network Rail and that will be passed on to them. The area below mean high water is Crown Estate and the Council may look at removing the groynes on the beach as they serve no purpose.
As for the Pier, he acknowledged it as a very good question. It is currently in private ownership so the engineers cannot put forward any plans for it. They can put forward design advice to the owner to make it fit in with what is planned all around it. If everything goes ahead as planned, there will be a very attractive business environment for somebody to operate on the pier. Everything around it will be looking fabulous with a fantastic beach and facilities for water-sports, cyclists and families. The environment is conducive to a refurbished and upgraded pier.
The Council cannot do it as they don’t own it.
A resident asked about compulsory purchase.
Andrew replied The environment will be there for someone to do something, whether or not the current owner can do it. There may be some other developers who look at that as an opportunity. The current political will of the council is not to compulsorily purchase. It is structurally sound as a pier, not necessarily the buildings on it. The ironwork is listed, posts, cross-members and railings. The designers were asked to comment about the pier in the scenario of development in what is a prime situation. Each of the designers said “keep the pier, develop it, it is an asset”.
The Chair added that he was sure the present owner would develop it if he could access the money.
Andrew replied that he new of at least one pier in the south of England which has been developed by the Urban Splash developers who specialize in inner city regeneration, housing etc. they have regenerated a pier and put housing on it, mixed use housing and restaurants, cafes etc. The opportunity will be there as a business opportunity for someone.
CBM Mike Williams asked if once it is finished it will put an end to the road closures.
Andrew replied yes, the design standard which will have to be applied to qualify for Welsh Assembly support will be for water to come over the top only once in 50 years.
A resident asked when it was likely to be started and finished. The reason that he asked he said is that the Old Colwyn Prom is absolutely disgraceful and has been for about four years. We are reassured every time that the delay is caused by this project, they don’t want to spend prior to the project. If the project is going to take years to happen, surely there is a need to brighten it up, even by just painting the railings which are just rusty in the main.
Andrew replied that the surfacing of the cycle path is a bumpy ride. The railings need replacing which is very expensive and that is the reason it has not been done because there will probably not be railings in the new scheme. If funding is granted, start date should be 2009 / 2010. The Convergence funding program is 2008 /2013. It would have to be finished by then. So, 2009 – 2013 is the best estimate if all goes well.
A resident asked How long the promenade will be shut as the village can’t cope with the extra traffic by passing the promenade.
Andrew replied that the prom would not be closed for the whole prolonged period but there will be times of closure necessarily. At this stage he could not guess the period. He also said that the Council had had to confront the question “Do we need that road?” Highways had relied emphatically “Yes we need it”
A resident asked of an estimate the sustainability of the railway embankment, as it stands now without any work. He also asked how confident Andrew was that this project would go ahead.
Andrew replied The strategy engineers report said at risk of failure in the medium term which is five to twenty years if nothing is done at all. He added there will be works done to Old Colwyn prom in the next five years 80% confident; the whole £25million of works; about 50/50 confident. We are in competition with other projects across Wales he said and it is a very big project. Council assets are at risk at the Old Colwyn end of the prom.
A resident said that he had been pleased to hear Andrew talk of a need for the development at Old Colwyn to be robust.
Andrew replied that the rock revetment is a proven method of coastal defence, it works and it’s low maintenance. It is robust. The designer that was chosen came up with simplest and most robust designs for that area.
A Resident asked that as the beach in places was to be raised, He asked if the height of the beach was going to be consistent height and quality of sand throughout its length or will it be patchy depending what sea defences are in place to protect it?
Andrew replied We would not raise the height of the beach in the Old Colwyn section that will be where we will build a rock revetment. What will happen where the beach is recharged, it will be graded at a constant grade away from the sea wall at the same height. Because the sea wall is at differing heights it will appear at different levels below the sea wall but the height of the sand will be the same and it will be just one uniform slope. Once the tide gets to work on the sand the structures will come into play and crescent bays will develop. The design will be such that over a period of time it will reach equilibrium and not move any more. That is the theory… They have built some of these on the south coast, one in Folkstone which is 3 or 4 yrs old and appears to have reached equilibrium as a crescent bay.
A Resident asked carrying on from the last answer, if you are walking along the beach from Old Colwyn and come across the first of the defences, how big a wall are you going to have on the beach? Also how far out do these structures go?
Andrew replied It depends where on the beach, if you are down at water level at low tide, you would face quite a big structure but closer to high tide, the sand will be filled up to the level of the structure, there will be exposed beach at high tide. They will not go out quite as far as the existing rock groynes.
It will have to be low tide to be able to walk around them.
The Chair asked if Network rail would contribute if the embankment was included in the project.
Andrew thought that it was unlikely as the council asset (the promenade) ran in front of the railway assets. Where it is directly their asset endangered, they will do the work.
The secretary handed some prepared photographs and a CD of photos that he had taken recently of the promenade at Aberafon Beach, Port Talbot. This was a rock revetment and they have built walkways across the top of the revetment below the promenade which are well used by walkers. There are seats included and a cycle path. The revetment itself is quite smooth to look at rather than just heaped up. The purpose of the photos was to assist with the thought processes of planning. They have also had European funding for it in Port Talbot. There are also buildings on the front as part of the project.
CBM Mike Williams added that when on the concrete area at the back of the revetment in Rhos on sea, people are isolated in a low area; it would be improved if it was raised so that people could see.
The secretary also wondered if the new concrete slipway should be at an acute angle to the prom instead of a right angle in order to prevent breach by the sea. He supported the point made by Mike Williams that when you walk in the concrete above the revetment at Rhos on sea, you are in a hole and cannot see out. The Port Talbot one is good because it is a pleasant area to walk on with views.
Andrew replied that there are storm gates at the top of the slipway but they are a maintenance nightmare for the council because they take a battering.
There being no further questions, the Chair thanked Andrew for attending and giving such an enlightening talk. There was a round of applause.
