Guernsey WW2 anti-tank wall repairs 'considerably' exceed cost proposals

The wall was built at the order of the German occupying forces as part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall

Repairs to a World War Two anti-tank wall in Guernsey will cost "five times" more than originally proposed, the States of Guernsey said.

Work on the L'Ancresse wall became required after deputies approved a requete, a delaying motion, in April postponing plans to remove a section.

Work on heavily damaged parts of the German defence wall began this week.

They were needed to "reduce the risk of failure in the immediate future", the States confirmed.

The original proposals, which were agreed by the States in 2017, would have cost about £1m to remove a 130m (427ft) section of the wall and installed groynes on the beach to restore natural sand dune barriers.

The requete said the cost of 10 years of maintenance instead would be about £200,000.

A 130m section of the wall was to be removed in plans originally approved by the States in 2017

However, the States said those proposals contained an incorrect assessment of the scale of repairs needed and therefore the overall cost of the project would be about "five times" the original figure, totalling roughly £1m.

A total of 11 panels have been identified as "at risk" over the next five years, it added.

A spokeswoman said: "The precise costs cannot be provided at this time as the works have not yet been tested with the market place and will likely be subject to inflation."

They added it would be "impossible" to predict any further costs caused by storm damage.

Discussion on how to fund the extra repairs are ongoing between the Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure (E&I), which is in charge of the project, and the Committee for Policy and Resources (P&R).

The new president of P&R, Deputy Peter Ferbrache, was one of the signatories to the requete, alongside the new heads of four other senior States committees.

The most urgent works are currently being funded through the reprioritisation of E&I's budget, the States added.