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£300,000 boost to save Naze campaign

From the archive, first published Wednesday 11th Nov 1998.

Save the Naze campaigners at Walton were today celebrating a £300,000 boost to help protect the crumbling cliffs.

The money comes after the go-ahead was given for research work to be carried out into the problems of soft cliff erosion at the landmark.

The study - which will be carried out by boffins from the University of Bristol with help from the University of Newcastle - is likely to get under way in the New Year.

It will involve drilling bore-holes in the Naze to take samples of the soft cliff and commissioning a survey of the beach profile.

Most importantly the team will use numerical and physical modelling techniques to recreate the effects of cliff erosion at the Naze - the only unprotected length of soft cliff in Essex.

The bulk of the money - £200,000 - is being put up by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council with an extra £100,000 coming from Tendring Council, the Environmental Agency and Harwich Harbour Authority.

The scheme will run for three years and will be of international importance - helping authorities across the globe combat coastal erosion.

News of the project comes just days after a multi-million pound dredging operation began. Material from the scheme will be used to protect the cliffs.

Work is also well under way to strengthen the sea wall below the historic Naze Tower by creating a wall of six tonne boulders.

The scheme has been welcomed by Harwich MP Ivan Henderson and David Gager, chairman of the Naze Protection Society, who said the high-profile research scheme would draw attention to the plight of the landmark.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.

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