Plan to replace crumbling sea wall beneath flats

The old steel wall is rusting and full of holes

A company has applied to replace a dilapidated sea wall in front of a block of flats.

The severely rusted sheet pile wall, on the shore at Netley on Southampton Water, protects a wooded bank beneath Netley Cliff apartments.

The block's management company said sections of the slope had washed away with "large, localised failures".

It has applied to Eastleigh Borough Council to drive a new 60m-long (200ft) steel sheet pile wall into the foreshore during the summer months.

Residents in Netley Cliff apartments were having restless nights worrying about the erosion, one woman suggested

The firm said work would take place between May and September to avoid disturbance to overwintering birds.

Thirty-two residents from Netley Cliff apartments have submitted their comments to the council.

One wrote that erosion had become a "hazard" to residents and people walking on the beach.

Another suggested the erosion was causing her and her neighbours "restless nights, worrying about... having major damage to our homes".