Rocks help to hold back sea in £20m road work

A £20m scheme to protect a storm-battered village has started as locals prepare for the area's seascape to change.

About 60,000 tonnes of boulders have arrived to create "rock armour" to protect the shore at Torcross, near Kingsbridge, Devon, from the impact of the sea.

It comes after part of the A379 coast road was washed away earlier this year. Locals said they were sad to lose part of the beach, but understood resilience was needed.

George Arnison, from the Environment Agency, said work was being carried out "at a very accelerated pace, which has been a challenge" to get the scheme in place to absorb wave energy and reduce erosion. It is work estimated to be completed in April 2027.

The boulders have been brought in from Scotland, Ireland and Norway, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Business-owner Natalie Cordrey said it was hard to imagine losing part of the beach.

She said: "I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that is going to save a village.

"I make that trade-off in my head - if we get 30 years left where the sea front can survive and it protects the rest of the village as well, I think that's the trade-off that I'm getting my head around."

Gail Stubbs, from the Start Bay Inn, said: "My grandchildren will have walk a bit further along the coast to see a pebble but, without the boulders, we just wouldn't exist as a community."

Pete Moore, director at the Forest & Beach outdoor company, based at nearby Beesands, said: "I lived on Torcross front when I was at school in the 1980s, when the beach was very wide... The shingle loss has been dramatic over the past 15 years.

"Unfortunately, with this loss of shingle, the storms have meant Torcross front is at real risk, so the rock armour will hopefully help protect the village as it has at neighbouring Beesands over many years.

"The sea defence policy for Torcross has always been 'hold the line' and this should go a long way to doing that."

Moore added: "With the changing climate, a projected increase in the number of storms, and sea levels rising, we are all going to have to get used to changes along our coastline."

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