A MULTI-MILLION pound scheme to protect a Somerset coastal town from flooding is due to be completed before Christmas.

Minehead town centre has been prone to coastal flooding for many years, with both residential and commercial properties being damaged or disrupted and Butlins having to temporarily close as a result of torrential rain in September.

The Environment Agency (EA) began work around the time of this heavy rain on a £3.7m scheme to protect two sections of the coast near Minehead and West Somerset Golf Club, stabilising 360 metres of “a vulnerable shingle ridge” in a bid to protect businesses and properties from future flooding.

The EA has now confirmed that the majority of the work will be substantially completed by the end of November, with the final touches being completed by Christmas – including the reopening of the West Somerset Coast Path connecting the town to Dunster.

Two stretches of the beach are being protected using granite rock armour, sourced from the same Scottish quarry which supplied the stone for the Blue Anchor coastal defence scheme further down the coast.

One section lies on the northern edge of the golf course, not far from Warren Road, while the other lies at the eastern edge near the mouth of the River Avill.

While visitors can still use the beach to walk between Minehead and Dunster at low tide, the West Somerset Coast Path remains closed while the work is being carried out.

Those wishing us reach Dunster at high tide, or by avoiding the beach, are currently being diverted down Seaward Way, along the A39 – using the recently-opened £1m cycle route – and through Dunster, passing the West Somerset Railway station on the way to the beach, where the Steam Coast Trail to Blue Anchor begins.

An update on the scheme was published before the EA’s Wessex regional flood and coastal committee met in Yeovil on Thursday morning (October 19).]

Rachel Burden, the EA’s Wessex flood and coastal risk manager, said in her written report: “The works are to the east of the main 1996 Minehead flood defence scheme and aims to address weak points that have appeared following a series of storms.

“A total of 14,500 tonnes of granite is being brought onto the foreshore by barge day and night.

“The rock armour construction is being undertaken with collaborative delivery framework partners, including our lead designers Atkins Réalis and our principal contractor Kier.

“The contractors are working to a £3.7m programme, with an aim to substantially complete the work by the end of November and achieve final completion by late-December 2023.

“These ‘urgent’ works will sustain the current standard of service for Minehead in the medium term.”