Archive - Thursday, 8 February 2001


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East Pier restoration will cost up to £6m

SCARBOROUGH'S East Pier, which has protected the ancient harbour and seafront for some 250 years, is to get a multi-million pound restoration because the structure's future is at risk, say engineers.

A pier has existed on the site since the 7th century, says Scarborough council's principal engineer John Riby, when it was a wall of boulders.

The work, which is likely to cost £5m-£6m, is part of a £20m project to protect the headland of the town's Norman castle, the Homes as well as the pier, he said.

Mr Riby said it was hoped work would start next year on the project, which will need planning approval from English Heritage because the pier is a listed building.

"There is an urgency about the scheme, but we have to get approvals to carry it out and funding from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Food," said Mr Riby, who is nationally recognised as an expert in coast protection. Some of the stone blocks in the pier weigh up to 30 tons.

If the pier was breached by the North Sea's giant waves, there would be catastrophic results, he said. The Vincent Pier, which dates back to 1732 and built from levies on cauldrons of coal landed from Newcastle, would not be able to withstand the battering of the sea in the long term, which would wreck the yachting and fishing industries.

Dr Alan Clark, director of High-Point Rendel, one of the country's goelogical and maritime engineering consultants, says: "If no work is carried out on the East Pier it will fail, either due to erosion at the toe or deterioration of the masonry. This will expose the harbour to inundation, wave action and damage."

Options include building a new pier, but this has been ruled out because of the high cost and the fact that the existing listed structure would be destroyed. Also ruled out is the construction of a new pier on the seaward side of the existing East Pier, but again cost and building problems have ruled it out.

Now experts are exploring the possibility of building large module blocks against the existing coast protection structures. Councillors and officials are to see demonstration models of a possible scheme later this month at Wallingford in Oxfordshire.

Updated: 15:09 Thursday, February 08, 2001