Spending of £1.8m for coastal walk bridge agreed

The coastal path crosses the national nature reserve at Gibraltar Point

Plans to spend £1.8m on a bridge at Gibraltar Point near Skegness have been agreed by Lincolnshire County Council.

The bridge is part of the King Charles III coastal path which will create a continuous walking route around the English coastline.

The county council is helping to deliver the project which is being fully funded by Natural England.

Chris Miller, head of environment at the county council, said the bridge was a "key piece of infrastructure" for the scheme.

"It is also the single largest and most costly piece of infrastructure across the whole project," he added.

Miller said the council would play a part in route selection and the building works on the path.

"Both of these elements are 100% funded by the government in legal agreements reviewed each year for these works," he explained.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, some councillors raised concerns about the financial risk if there were delays to the project.

At a meeting on Thursday, Miller said there was a 20% risk built into the project.

"We will spend the allocated grant and once that is used up we no longer have to proceed. That's the agreement."

The project is expected to be completed by March 2026, and once the coastal path is completed the county council will maintain it for the first five years.

After that, Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs take over the responsibility for it.

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