Blackpool 'could lose' beach without new £11m defences

Council bosses are seeking funding to bolster sea defences

Part of a Lancashire beach could be lost forever due to climate change unless an £11m bid for extra funding towards sea defences is successful.

Rising sea levels and extreme storms have been blamed for the risk to the beach at Anchorsholme in Blackpool.

Council chiefs have warned it "could be lost" unless urgent action is taken.

Blackpool Council has bid for extra Environment Agency (EA) funding so the work can take place alongside repairs for cracks in the existing sea walls.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the proposal was to build groynes - rocky barriers stretching into the sea - to trap sand on the beach and reduce the risk of erosion.

A council report warned "the beach levels are lower than expected" and if this is not fixed the "seawall will not be protected and the defences compromised and in addition, there is a danger that the beach will continue to lower and the beach could be lost".

The danger was uncovered in recent inspections as part of £62m work on new sea defences at Bispham.

The report added: "These trends have been identified as being due to climate change, increased storminess, sea level rise, reduced supply of material from offshore, sediment transport along this coast, channels and sandbanks."

The groynes at Anchorsholme would act as headlands to trap and retain the supply of sand while stabilising the beach and deflecting tidal currents.

Funding talks with the EA had been positive, the report said.

The EA has already allocated £62m to replace and upgrade coastal defences in Bispham, along two sections from Princes Way at Little Bispham to Red Bank Road, and from Gynn Square to Cocker Square.

Both schemes will see improvements to access steps and slipways, replacement of the crest wall and beach management measures.

This scheme would reduce the risk of erosion to thousands of properties as well as protecting important infrastructure, including the tramway.