News bulletin: work on the controversial 1.1km West Kirby flood wall begins - what it will look like

Vital work to prepare for the building of a controversial West Kirby flood wall is underway.

This year, a 1.2 metre tall flood wall will be built in the Wirral town, despite campaigners arguing it will stop people coming to West Kirby.

The plan was approved by a Wirral Council committee last year. The meeting heard that over the next 100 years, approximately 26 people will be at risk of being killed if protections are not put in place, and more than 70 properties would also be protected by a flood wall.

In March, campaigner Dawn Wormell, from West Kirby, said: “It will be awful, we’ll have a lot less people coming. Some people may want to stay in their car, park up, and maybe have some chips. The wall would take away the opportunity to park and enjoy the view, I find that quite upsetting.”

Those campaigning against the wall also point to cost issues. Since last November, the official estimate for the cost of the flood defence project has risen by more than £4m to a huge £9.7m due to various issues.

They include rising raw material costs, the need to complete work before this winter in order to minimise the impact on wildlife and the fact the design had to be amended to address ‘very poor’ ground conditions identified along the promenade.

Yet Wirral Council will not be providing the additional money itself. The original £2.4m sum it pledged to the project is still the sum the local authority will be contributing.

Most of the money, £3.3m, will come from the government’s Department For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and a further £535,000 will come from the Environment Agency.

In March, a Wirral Council spokesperson said: “The flood alleviation scheme in West Kirby has been years in planning and has been the subject of at least two public consultation exercises over that time.

“The construction of a physical barrier – a wall – along the length of the promenade is the preferred option as it is the most cost effective way of protecting lives, property and the public realm in West Kirby from severe flooding over the next 100 years.”

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