Minehead sea wall reinforced with 14,500 tonnes of rock

14,500 tonnes of granite have been delivered to the beach by boat from Scotland

A £3.7m scheme to protect a coastal town from flooding is on track to be completed before Christmas.

Thousands of tonnes of granite have been delivered by boat onto the beach below Minehead Golf Club in Somerset in the past month.

The Environment Agency said the scheme should help protect 800 homes and businesses from coastal flooding.

It also said it would help reduce the impact of flash flooding, which hit the town in September.

The rocks, weighing between one and three tonnes each, came down by ship from Scotland.

A barge then ferried the rocks onto the beach. They were finally moved up the sand at low tide.

The Environment Agency said this method, which was also used at nearby Blue Anchor beach, avoided 1,000 lorry movements on local roads.

The rocks have been locked together to disperse wave energy and protect the sea defences from further erosion and damage, like they suffered during Storm Eunice in 2022.

The Environment Agency says the scheme is on track to be complete before Christmas

John Buttivant, Environment Agency coastal engineer said: "We were very lucky with the weather when the barge was here dropping the rock off, the weather was calm and kind to us so they were able to drop the rock off quite quickly.

"And now we know when the high tides are so we can make sure we're not on the beach at those high tide times,"

The beach is just below West Somerset and Minehead Golf Course.

Ian Donnelly, the club's general manager, said they had "lost ten yards in the last ten years" to coastal erosion.

"The work they're doing now is incredibly important for the town of Minehead and to save the golf course as well," he said.

Flood risk

Mandy Chilcott, Somerset councillor for Minehead, said the town's flood risk could feel "forgotten".

"You've got the coastal flooding and water coming down off the hills - that can be catastrophic for homes and businesses.

"The greatest risk to Minehead is if you get a flash flood at the same time as a high spring tide and winds on-shore, so hopefully this [scheme] will stop sea water coming into Minehead," she said.

The rocks weighing one to three tonnes each are moved up the beach at low tide

Mr Buttivant said the work to the sea defences should also indirectly help prevent the effects of flash flooding.

"What it will do is prevent the sea water overtopping and ending up in Dunster Marshes, which is where a lot of the surface water from Minehead goes to.

"If it was full of sea water the surface water wouldn't be able to drain into that area. So it's actually a really important part of making sure the surface water drainage continues to function in the way that it does," he said.

The work should be complete, including reopening the West Somerset Coast Path connecting Minehead and Dunster, before Christmas.

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