Sunday, 8 October 2017

Blackhall Colliery and Horden beach ridge concerns

Beach users and members of the public have expressed their concerns to us recently about a high ridge extending north along the beach from Beckett's Bank past Deneholme to Horden.

Looking towards Horden from Deneholme

As can be seen from the images, the ridge is quite high in parts and appears to have been formed naturally over time by the movement of the tide. There are fears that anyone caught on the shore side of the ridge, especially children and young people, could be in serious danger under certain tidal conditions.

Looking towards Blackhall Colliery from Deneholme

We have contacted the council about this matter and we've asked for an inspection to be carried out to assess the risk in advance of any measures recommended to make the area safe.

As there are multiple landownership and responsibility issues at this location, the council's environment and design manager has confirmed his intentions to progress matters as outlined in the email below:

As mentioned in the email trail, this is a cross-service issue which needs some co-ordination to establish the background, current position and how any risks are dealt with going forward.
I will contact a number of service leads and seek a co-ordinated response and shall provide feedback/possible solutions to all concerned as requested.
We will monitor progress closely and update on developments as soon as we have further information.