Sea wall 'failed' and must be investigated, says councillor

There are calls for a "full and frank investigation" after a councillor claims Wirral's £20m sea wall failed to stop homes and businesses flooding.

Waves spilled over the West Kirby sea wall during a storm on Tuesday.

Liberal Democrat councillor Stuart Kelly called for an investigation into "why the very expensive sea defences" failed "so spectacularly".

Wirral Council leader and Labour councillor Paul Stuart said the wall was not designed to fully stop water.

However, he added "there are clearly issues that need to be addressed".

Flooding saw staff at a seafront bistro on South Parade rescued by RNLI crew and caused damage to properties and cars.

Construction on the controversial project was completed in 2023, coming in £10m over its initial budget.

Conservative councillor Andrew Gardner, who previously called the project "a white elephant" said the flooding had "proved that beyond any doubt".

Mr Stuart said the local authority went ahead with the project based on recommendations from the Environment Agency and the wall was not designed to completely stop water coming over in severe storms as it would have needed to be far higher to do that.

The Environment Agency funded £13.5m towards the project and was a major backer of the scheme.

The new sea wall at West Kirby has been criticised

Mr Stuart said the council would liaise with the Environment Agency over drainage issues "to fully understand what failings there were from the design and how we are going to improve that going forward".

West Kirby and Thurstaston councillor Jenny Johnson said the floods were "devastating" for many businesses and residents the town.

"Given the huge sums of scheme expenditure involved, as well as business losses during construction, there needs to be accountability."

Green party co-leader councillor Pat Cleary defended the project and said the wall wasn't there to "primarily to stop water" but to "remove energy from the waves".

A Wirral Council spokesman said: "Any water that may get over the wall, such as wind-blown spray, will have had its energy reduced by the design of the wall and will no longer travel as waves across the road and into nearby properties.

"Overtopped or surface water will drain away through the existing highway drainage system."

They added: "The wall was designed to minimise the potential for damage to properties, particularly along South Parade, from such events and it did bear the brunt of the power of the tidal surges yesterday, significantly reducing the impact it would have had on properties and infrastructure had it not been there. All the indications so far are that very limited damage was caused at West Kirby yesterday."

An Environment Agency spokeswoman confirmed the sea defence is operated and owned by Wirral Council and it had worked closely with the authority to help refine their procedures around the closure of the gates and barriers.

"In response to the scenes yesterday, we will be working with partners to establish the facts and determine what can be done to mitigate the impacts on South Parade yesterday," she said.